Irssi Tips and Tricks

Here you can read about some scripts/plugins and settings to make your irssi experience even better.

Feel free to add your own suggestions, it's a wiki.

If you want to see how it may look head over to the IRC client gallery

Advanced Window List

Script name: adv_windowlist.pl (Author: Nei, License: GPLv2)

Shows a list of your open windows whith the actual name of the channel/query nick. This makes it a lot easier too see which channels there has been activity in by displaying the name instead of just a number.

Trackbar

Script name: trackbar.pl (Author: Peter 'kinlo' Leurs, License: GPLv2)

This script draws a line when you switch away from a window, that way you know where to start reading the next time you switch back to that window. Makes it a lot easier if you often switch around between windows.

Aligned nicknames

Right-aligns the nicknames so that everyone's text starts at the same position. Some people think this makes it easier to read this way.

Color nicknames

Script name: nickcolor.pl (Author: Timo Sirainen, Ian Peters, License: Public Domain)

Each nickname in the chat is given a specific color. This makes it easier to follow a conversation and see who typed what.

Terminal font

Use a terminal font that is monospaced but easy to read. Check out Terminus for example.

Wireless connection

If you're on a wireless connection or just any Internet connection with a high latency, try using Mosh to connect to the server. This should make the connection feel less laggy. It's also great if you change IPs a lot or sleep your computer because you won't have to reconnect.

Auto-away

Script name: screen_away.pl (Author: Andreas 'ads' Scherbaum, License: GPLv2)

This script will mark you as away on IRC if your screen is detached.

Irrsi notifier

This is an app that you can run on your smartphone to receive hilights on the smartphone. It can be configured to only send hilights to your phone when you're marked as away. That way you can check if anyone has hilighted you while you're out and not attached to your IRC client.

URL: https://irssinotifier.appspot.com/

irssi-connectbot

A modified version of the connectbot SSH app for Android: http://code.google.com/p/irssi-connectbot/

Hilight window

Script name: hilightwin.pl (Author: Timo 'cras' Sirainen, Mark 'znx' Sangster, License: Public Domain)

Shows all recent hilights in a new window, preferrably a split window so you can always see the latest hilight messages without having to switch to the window of the hilight.