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Dialova

IRC Documentation · Intermediate

Understanding and Designing an IRC Bot

An IRC bot is a program connected to the network like a client. It can listen for events, respond to commands, or animate a channel. Its reliability depends primarily on protocol handling, permissions, and the rate of sending messages.

Dialova Team · Verified on

A Bot's Lifecycle #

  1. Open a TLS connection and verify the certificate.
  2. Negotiate CAPs, then authenticate the account if policy requires it.
  3. Declare the IRC identity and wait for registration to complete.
  4. Join authorized channels and handle messages, errors, and events.
  5. Respond to PINGs, limit sends, and implement progressive reconnection.
Excerpt from an already registered and authorized session
S: PING :jeton-123
C: PONG :jeton-123
S: :Alice!alice@cloak.example PRIVMSG #atelier :!bonjour
C: PRIVMSG #atelier :Bonjour Alice !

This excerpt illustrates the flow; it is not a complete program to execute. A maintained IRC library can handle transport and grammar, rather than assuming a network read receives an entire line on each call.

Separate protocol, rules, and actions #

PartResponsibility
Transport and parserTLS, bytes, CRLF, partial messages, boundaries.
IRC stateRegistration, capabilities, channels, identity, and changes.
Bot logicRecognize a request, verify its conditions, and produce an intention.
Output fileLimit the rate, maintain order, and avoid repetitive sending upon reconnection.

Do not trust the nickname alone. #

A participant can change their nickname or imitate a syntax. For sensitive actions, use a server-attested identity when available, then verify the permissions for that action. Do not grant operator rights to a game bot simply to allow it to speak.

Received texts are untrusted inputs: do not pass them to a shell, a query constructed by concatenation, or a code executor. Connection secrets remain in a private configuration, not in a repository or bot response.

Avoid flooding and loops. #

The network sets the limits: there is no universally safe sending cadence. Respond to errors, group outputs when it makes sense, and limit actions per user and channel. A reconnection should have a progressive delay rather than an immediate loop.

Do not automatically respond to NOTICE and do not execute an old user command during a history replay. With echo-message, your own output can return: distinguish it from incoming requests.

Bobot on Dialova #

Bobot animates, among other things, Dialova's chatroom games. It remains distinct from the site's graphical games and the accounts of its members. This example shows that an automated client can enrich a community without requiring a proprietary discussion protocol.

Sources & Verification

Examples use pseudonyms and fictional domains, except for explicitly documented connection points. Network-specific extensions and settings are noted in the text.