Why WeeChat?

WeeChat stands for "Wee Enhanced Environment for Chat".

“ In early 2003, I looked for an IRC client with following features:

My search was unsuccessful!

And thus WeeChat was born, on June 2003. ”

Key dates

Date Version Features
06/2003 First line of code.
09/2003 0.0.1 First version.
01/2004 0.0.4 Perl plugin.
03/2005 0.1.1 Dcc chat and file, fifo plugin.
05/2005 0.1.2 Python plugin.
07/2005 0.1.3 Proxy support, IPv6, SSL.
11/2005 0.1.6 Full UTF-8 support.
01/2006 0.1.7 Ruby plugin.
03/2006 0.1.8 Lua plugin.
08/2006 0.2.0 Aspell plugin.
03/2007 0.2.4 Incremental text search in buffers.
09/2007 0.2.6 Last version before a major rewrite of WeeChat.
09/2009 0.3.0 New site weechat.org, major rewrite of WeeChat with new plugin API, tcl plugin.
04/2010 0.3.2 SASL authentication.
01/2011 0.3.4 256 colors, irc proxy, rmodifier, redirection of irc commands.
05/2011 0.3.5 Dynamic allocation and attributes for colors.
10/2011 0.3.6 Mouse support, cursor mode.
02/2012 0.3.7 Guile plugin, support of python 3.x, weechat protocol in relay (remote interfaces), URL transfer in API.
09/2012 0.3.9 Plugin "script" (scripts manager), SSL in relay.
01/2013 0.4.0 Command /eval, aspell suggestions, IPv6 in relay, irc backlog in relay.
05/2013 0.4.1 Multiple layouts, auto-unmask IRC joins, WebSocket support in relay.
10/2013 0.4.2 Secured data, search of regular expression in buffer with text emphasis, dynamic day change message.
02/2014 0.4.3 Gaps in buffers numbers, IPv6 for DCC file/chat, command /print.
08/2014 1.0 Trigger and Exec plugins, bare display, hidden buffers, unit tests.
05/2015 1.2 Javascript plugin, IRC SASL mechanism "ecdsa-nist256p-challenge".
01/2016 1.4 Inherited values in options.
05/2017 1.8 Plugin "buflist" (list of buffers).
12/2017 2.0 Fset plugin (fast set of WeeChat and plugins options), PHP plugin.
03/2018 2.1 Headless mode, creation of buffers with commands /buffer and /print.
07/2018 2.2 Indexed ban list in IRC plugin, support of IRCv3.2 Client Capability Negotiation, invite-notify and chghost.
10/2018 2.3 Add hook "line".
02/2019 2.4 Add support of TOTP (Time-based One Time Password).
06/2019 2.5 Add support of UNIX socket in Relay plugin.
09/2019 2.6 Use Python 3 by default.
12/2019 2.7 Add calculation of expression in evaluation of expressions, add colors in log files, add filters on IRC raw buffer.
03/2020 2.8 Add support of password hash in API and weechat relay protocol (PBKDF2, SHA256, SHA512).
07/2020 2.9 Add handshake, nonce, completion in weechat relay protocol, add background color for inactive bars, support of multiple lines in command line.
11/2020 3.0 Opt-in option to download scripts from weechat.org.
03/2021 3.1 Integration of secured data with external password manager, add edition of filters.
06/2021 3.2 Use XDG directories by default, add IRC SASL SCRAM mechanisms, add options to customize commands executed on system signals received.
09/2021 3.3 Plugin typing, enable all IRC capabilities by default.
12/2021 3.4 Add command /toggle, improve IRC message parser.
03/2022 3.5 Add command /autojoin, add IRC option "autojoin_dynamic", add IRC tags in messages displayed, add Zstandard compression support in Relay plugin (weechat protocol).
07/2022 3.6 Add command /item, add bar item "spacer".
10/2022 3.7 Add log file rotation and compression, add option -save in command /upgrade, add key alt+backspace.
01/2023 3.8 Add commands /allbuf and /hotlist, improve case insensitive comparisons, add identifier in buffer lines, add trigger regex command to translate chars.
06/2023 4.0.0 Practical semantic versioning, 256 colors by default, multiline support, human readable key bindings, many identifiers case sensitive, TLS used by default.
10/2023 4.1.0 Buffer for /list output, buffer properties auto-saved in configuration, passive DCC.
01/2024 4.2.0 Add incremental search in commands history, add optional tag for ignored IRC messages, add support of RGB colors in IRC messages, use milliseconds for IRC anti-flood, add syntax highlighting in evaluated expressions.