
IRCCloud - jacobr
http://irccloud.com
======
metabrew
Hi, one of the irccloud team. Can answer any questions if you like.

Some info:

* Erlang, haproxy, rabbitmq, redis, postgres, cassandra, chef

* 10+ billion irc lines stored at the last count

* Thousands of IPv6 IRC connections - we give each user their own IPv6 address. Main site also works over ipv6.

* Thousands of IPv4 connections too

* Open source android and ios apps: [https://blog.irccloud.com/mobile-apps-open-sourced/](https://blog.irccloud.com/mobile-apps-open-sourced/)

* API: [https://github.com/irccloud/irccloud-tools/wiki/API-Overview](https://github.com/irccloud/irccloud-tools/wiki/API-Overview)

* Details on our security, password storage, etc: [https://www.irccloud.com/privacy](https://www.irccloud.com/privacy)

I've mentioned this on HN before, but we moved our hosting off Hetzner and on
to Black Lotus for the ddos-protection.

We see fairly frequent ddos attacks, from a few hundred mbit to 10+ gbit. They
aren't impacting service since we moved to black lotus.

~~~
cmsj
Please can you wire up some unicorns to some rainbows and make it so I can
have irssi act as a client for irccloud? ;)

I really want an IRC kernel with an API, so I can have all sorts of clients on
different machines/platforms, but it seems to be impossible at the moment,
without using the horrible bouncers.

~~~
nly
What's wrong with bouncers? ZNC has been serving me well over 5 networks for
years now. I don't see the appeal in an in-browser solution at all.

------
vinkelhake
From the captain obvious department: you can get most (or all) of these
features by running a terminal irc client like irssi or weechat in
screen/tmux. That's what I've been using for the last 15 years or so.

If you're not comfortable with terminal based clients, you can run a bouncer
like znc and connect with your irc client of choice.

But then again, if you're using IRC today then you probably have this figured
out already.

~~~
gtaylor
I think this may be overlooking the primary benefit of IRCCloud: This is a
service that makes it someone else's problem.

I ran a bouncer for a while, but honestly, it's really nice being able to pay
these guys a few bucks and have them deal with it. It has a matching Android
app, and the transition between my various machines is very smooth.

But really, the main reason I use them is because I don't _have_ to mess with
running a bouncer or using a console-based IRC client. It's one less piece of
mental clutter for me.

~~~
callahad
I've been wondering about this effect... is everyone else feeling it? I'm
loathe to use anything other than a static site generator. Managing a database
feels burdensome. I'd hardly think of running my own mailserver. All things
I've done in the past without a second thought.

Do I just have less time? Are the services just better? Or is something more
fundamental changing in the fabric of the web? (Maybe this is what the
indieweb folks are trying to harken back to?)

~~~
gtaylor
Some call it laziness, but I like to think of it more as simplification. I
used to run a handful of VMs for various things, did a lot more myself, and
maintained it all.

I don't feel like doing that anymore. I'd rather spend the time on something
else.

------
dijit
Hey! my IRC network is on the default drop-down of this service, they're also
based near me.

As much as I love the interface and idea (I really do) and I love the App, for
me as an operator it requires making large exceptions in my connection
limiting.

I usually only allow 25 connected users from a single IP, and I use GeoIP to
get people a node near them- so- when people connect using irccloud they lose
that benefit, and it means I have 100's of connections from
ealing.irccloud.com-

in the past there has also been some issue with availability, it's weird when
netsplit like events happen and you have no control. (although I believe they
fixed the issue with ddos)

personally, I don't use irccloud day to day, I use xchat and 'Palaver' for
iPhone, which my friend develops- he also maintains ZNC so his app has push
notifications on highlight. (as long as you're not connected to ZNC or your
client is marked 'Away')

Everything of his is open source (except palaver I think, it's paid), so; if
you're interested in IRC I'd take a poke.

[https://github.com/Palaver/znc-palaver](https://github.com/Palaver/znc-
palaver)

he also intends on making a web client, similar to irccloud, however he's
terrible at design so don't hold your breath.

[https://github.com/Palaver/palaverweb](https://github.com/Palaver/palaverweb)

~~~
metabrew
btw our preferred solution for the IP session limit is for everyone to hurry
up and deploy IPv6 everywhere ;)

Some ircds by default limit sessions per ipv6 /64, but that's easily changed
if needed.

~~~
dijit
I have ipv6 on all my nodes, but we still get connections from a single
outbound source.

~~~
metabrew
ah, perhaps the domain in our list doesn't have an AAAA record. let me know if
you want us to update it.

we always use ipv6 if an AAAA record exists, and fall back to v4 if that
fails.

------
cjbprime
Here's an open source competitor:
[https://github.com/thedjpetersen/subway](https://github.com/thedjpetersen/subway)

~~~
ndesaulniers
And a much less feature complete: [https://github.com/nickdesaulniers/fxos-
irc](https://github.com/nickdesaulniers/fxos-irc) (100% client side, no
websockets proxy or such)

or better:

[http://firessh.net/](http://firessh.net/) (add-on)

~~~
Arelius
But the websockets proxy is the primary advantage.

------
jbergstroem
A combo I recently moved to – after using 5+ years irssi, 5+ years weechat –
is the graphical client Textual[1] (OS X only) backed by znc. It's smart
enough to do replaying backlog and similar for you.

I also really admire their licensing strategy. The entire project is open
source; build it yourself or pay us to do it (then we'll throw in support as
well)[2].

[1] [http://www.codeux.com/textual/](http://www.codeux.com/textual/)

[2] [https://github.com/codeux/textual](https://github.com/codeux/textual)

~~~
pyre
In the copy on your front-page, I would say "Extendable" or "Extensible"
instead of "Expandable" here:

    
    
      Expandable using scripts written in AppleScript, Ruby,
      Python, Perl, PHP, and Objective-C.
    

It took me a second to figure out what you meant when I first read it. I
initially read it in more of a Minimize/Expand sense.

[Though maybe I'm just being pedantic.]

------
binaryatrocity
[http://quassel-irc.org/](http://quassel-irc.org/)

I've been running Quassel-core on a linux-server and the client on all my
endpoints and it works fantastically. Plus I am in control of everything.
Replaced irssi+tmux for me instantly.

From their website: "Quassel IRC is a modern, cross-platform, distributed IRC
client, meaning that one (or multiple) client(s) can attach to and detach from
a central core -- much like the popular combination of screen and a text-based
IRC client such as WeeChat, but graphical."

------
bitcrusher
Hmmm.. So this is a SaaS IRC bouncer, in a web-app, without the ability to use
an actual IRC client.

Seems too limited to be useful. Setting up an IRC server, with a bouncer on a
$5/month droplet would be more useful.

~~~
metabrew
We also have nice android and ios apps, with push notifications and
synchronised read status.

But we don't act as a traditional bouncer yet. Maybe in future.. it's all
about the web app and mobile apps for the time being.

------
TylerE
Seems to be missing the one feature I'd actually want - IRC server emulation
so I can connect via my normal IRC client.

~~~
pearkes
This is a shameless plug, but with IRCRelay[1] we focus on the "I want to use
my client" crowd. It seems to be a different group of IRC users (also,
IRCCloud I think is a fair bit larger and more successful then us) but we have
been running in that niche for a year and a bit and it's been going well.

We were on the HN frontpage when we first launched[2]. It went ok, but we got
a strong message that we needed a free plan.

After holding out for a year, we've finally added one. You should try it out!
:)

[1]: [https://www.ircrelay.com/](https://www.ircrelay.com/)

[2]:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4877626](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4877626)

~~~
BinaryBrainz
I recently hopped on your service (found with a quick Google search) and it
seems to work well and does exactly what I need it to do. I recently started
getting big into the Freenode chatrooms for several projects hosted there and
realized I needed to setup a bouncer again to catch some of the chatter that
goes on during my offline hours. I'm glad your service was there to fill my
need.

One question: how do you compete with some of the other IRC bouncer services
that seem to offer their bouncers for free? It seems like there are at least a
couple that are running on just donations (found with the same search 'irc
bouncer hosting').

~~~
pearkes
Hopefully not too late but:

I think it comes down to reliability. We offer a service with very little
downtime (only a few hours in 2013 during a large, planned transition we were
doing).

Additionally, we do a lot of support for folks, usually with fast response
times.

I've talked to a few folks coming from community hosted bouncers and I hear,
anecdotally, stuff in line with the above.

------
jahaja
I find IRC being perfect for a desktop app, when I tried this previously I
just found myself constantly forgetting about it and closing it just as
another tab. Anyway, it's a great service but I just can't get it to fit my
usage pattern.

------
unethical_ban
For anyone setting up a non-federated chat system, why not Mumble?

Sure, it's primarily used for gaming, but the ability exists to use a text-
based client, and everything is encrypted by default.

------
arvindravi
That certainly looks cool. Though, Recently I came across a similar site that
provides the service for free.

[http://irc.lc/](http://irc.lc/)

You connect to a server using
[http://irc.lc/<servername>/<channel>](http://irc.lc/<servername>/<channel>),
say like [http://irc.lc/freenode/ruby](http://irc.lc/freenode/ruby). Its
pretty cool too, worth checking out.

------
leokun
This didn't work for grove.io. Nobody pays money for IRC. There is a tiny, in
the not worth it department, fraction of people willing to pay a couple of
dollars for an IRC client.

At best you could build something like HipChat or Olark using IRC as a
backbone and hide all the complexity of it from the end user and maybe then
you have a chance.

Finally, less people are using IRC all the time. If you look at channels that
have been around a long time, they've got less users than they used to.

~~~
martindale
I pay money for grove.io. Not because it provides IRC, but because it provides
a smooth, asynchronous communication tool for my team, and defers IRC to what
it should be; a _protocol_.

~~~
toomuchtodo
Honest question: Why is IRC > XMPP?

~~~
dijit
Plain text vs rich text.

as a result, despite the awesome features of XMPP, IRC is simply more
extentable and easy to develop around- whilst also being basic to implement.

~~~
pyre
> whilst also being basic to implement

Maybe it's changed, but I remember trying to communicate w/ IRC servers via
telnet (prior to netcat) a while ago (maybe 8 years) and I do recall that most
of them have deviated from the 'official' spec (specifically the initial
connection handshake). I actually had a chat about this with the epic4 devs at
the time.

At least XMPP has an official spec. My impression of the IRC world is that
it's a de-facto standard. Though there are many implementations that one can
clean the details from, cracking open irssi-core to figure out what the
protocol is seems a little more difficult than reading an RFC and dealing w/
XML (it's not like we don't have tools built around XML; I would lean heavily
on XPath).

------
Morphling
Looks cool, but you from what I gather you can get a service such as this
running for free with just a little effort.

Personally I use Irissi with an extension that pushes hilights to my phone and
connecting via SSH isn't a big issue on any device.

------
LukeHoersten
This is actually fairly old. I used it a few years ago and it had some kind of
memory leak or something in it's JS and would eventually stop working. Perhaps
that's fixed now but I switched back to native clients as a result.

~~~
mongrelion
Yes, I remember giving it a try when it got out but got very annoyed by the
fact that after being open for a few hours or days it would make my Chrome
very laggy and unresponsive. Then somebody told me that in Firefox it would
resist more but it would just give it some more time gap but at last it was
the same crap (and I was also leaving behind my favorite browser). Now I'm
just all irssi + tmux and can't be more happy. I host my personal website
(blog) and have a tmux + irssi 24/7 running on a DigitalOcean VPS for
USD$5/mo. IRCCloud can't give me all that for so less money.

------
Karunamon
I love this just for the web UI, but it's impossible for me to justify $60 a
year for that - the lion's share of the implementation can be had, without any
such limits, by spending 10 minutes setting up ZNC on a free VPS.

------
rly_ItsMe
What are the benefits of IRCCloud compared to a bouncer?

I'm using my bouncer on for about 10 years now and never missed one line of
chat in about 5 IRC Networks (Quakenet/ Freenode/ ETG/ Gamesurge/ OFTC).

------
jimmaswell
I just use remote desktop to my windows server.

------
cryptocoin
OTR is missing, could you add it for PMs ?

