ii-irc

What This Skill Does

The ii-irc skill provides a minimalist, robust, and file-based bridge between an AI agent and IRC networks. Leveraging the 'ii' IRC client, this skill transforms standard IRC channels into a readable and writeable interface via the file system. Instead of relying on complex WebSocket APIs or heavy libraries, ii-irc treats IRC channels as directories where incoming messages are appended to an 'out' file and outgoing messages are handled by writing to a FIFO 'in' file. The skill includes a persistent mention watcher daemon that monitors activity, allowing the AI agent to react in real-time when it is addressed, effectively turning any IRC channel into a collaborative workspace for your agent.

Installation

To install this skill, use the Clawhub CLI: clawhub install openclaw/skills/skills/destructatron/ii-irc. After installation, execute the provided setup script bash scripts/setup.sh with your specific server, port, nick, and channel details. For production environments, it is highly recommended to set up the provided systemd user services. This ensures that the IRC connection and the mention watcher daemon persist across system reboots and restart automatically if the network connection drops. You can enable these by moving the generated service files to ~/.config/systemd/user/ and running systemctl --user enable --now irc-bot.service irc-watcher.service.

Use Cases

• Autonomous Support Bots: Deploy an AI agent in a support channel to monitor for user queries and provide automated technical documentation or troubleshooting steps.
• IRC-Based Command Center: Use an IRC channel as a lightweight, text-only dashboard where you can send commands to your agent from any device using any IRC client.
• Channel Monitoring: Task the agent with summarizing ongoing discussions or logging channel activity for later analysis without needing heavy GUI clients.
• Cross-Platform Bridge: Connect local OpenClaw agents to remote IRC communities without needing to expose internal APIs or browser-based interfaces.

Example Prompts

1. "OpenClaw, please monitor the #development channel and alert me if anyone asks about the recent API deployment."
2. "Send a message to the #bot-testing channel saying 'Hello everyone, the integration tests have finished successfully.'"
3. "Summarize the last 20 messages in #general to catch me up on what the team has been discussing."

Tips & Limitations

• Message Length: Always keep your outgoing messages under 400 characters. Because ii processes files directly, exceeding buffer limits can result in truncated words or corrupted UTF-8 sequences.
• File Management: Never read the entire out log file, as it grows indefinitely. Always use tail -n [number] to fetch only the relevant recent context to keep token usage low.
• Persistence: Ensure your systemd services are properly configured. If the bot stops responding, check systemctl --user status irc-bot to verify the connection status.
• Performance: Since this uses raw file I/O, it is extremely lightweight but requires standard Unix permissions to be configured correctly on the ~/irc/ directory.