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Building RAVEIRC: a Modern IRC Client with an Operator's Toolkit

Building RAVEIRC: a Modern IRC Client with an Operator's Toolkit

Long before Coders Republic, there was RAVE — an mIRC script suite I wrote back in 2002 for running channels on DALnet. It handled the unglamorous but essential work of being a channel operator: protection against floods and takeovers, ban management, and the day-to-day controls that keep a channel safe. It served #Makati and plenty of other channels for years.

IRC is still very much alive, and the tooling around it deserves a modern take. So we're rebuilding RAVE from scratch as RAVEIRC — not a script bolted onto someone else's client, but a native, cross-platform IRC client with the operator and channel-protection toolkit built right in.

Status: RAVEIRC is in active development. This is an early look at what we're building.

What it is

  • A real IRC client for macOS, Windows, and Linux — one codebase, native everywhere.
  • An operator's toolkit, baked in. Channel protection, ban/quiet management, and the op workflows that used to require a pile of scripts — first-class, in the client itself.
  • Built for people who run channels, not just join them — though it's a clean, modern client for everyone.

Why a ground-up rebuild

The original RAVE was tied to mIRC and Windows. A 2002 script can't follow you to a Mac or a Linux box, and it can't be hardened the way a modern app should be. Rebuilding from scratch lets us bring the toolkit to every platform and give it a foundation that's fast, small, and secure.

The stack

We're building RAVEIRC on Tauri (Rust) — which gives us a tiny, native, cross-platform binary with a hardened, memory-safe core, without the bloat of shipping a whole browser engine. It's the right fit for a tool that should feel instant and stay out of your way.

What's next

We're heads-down on the core client and the operator toolkit. We'll post dev updates here as it takes shape — and you can see it (and our other projects) on the apps page.

In the meantime, if you want a feel for the community RAVE grew up in, the #Makati DALnet channel is still going strong.

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