Protocol references¶

Cascade implements the IRC client protocol against the community's canonical specifications. These are the primary sources we check behavior against — use them when adding a capability, parsing a new numeric or ISUPPORT token, or deciding how something should render.

Primary references¶

• IRC Definition Files — defs.ircdocs.horse The de-facto registry of IRC protocol constants: numeric replies, channel/user modes, channel membership prefixes, channel types, RPL_ISUPPORT tokens, client capabilities, message tags, CTCP messages, extended bans, and the formatting / colour codes. When in doubt about what a token or numeric means, start here.

• IRCv3 — ircv3.net The working group behind modern IRC extensions. The specifications index covers every capability Cascade negotiates (SASL, server-time, message-tags, batch, labeled-response, chathistory, extended-monitor, the draft reply/react/typing/channel-context tags, and more). The capability registry lists ratified vs. draft status.

Related¶

• Modern IRC client protocol — modern.ircdocs.horse A readable, consolidated prose specification of the core client protocol (a practical successor to RFC 1459 / 2812), maintained alongside the definition files above.

How Cascade uses these¶

• The IRCv3 capabilities Cascade negotiates and what it does with each are documented in IRCv3 Support, with a checkbox-tracked backlog in the IRCv3 Roadmap.
• ISUPPORT-driven behavior (PREFIX, CHANMODES, CHANTYPES, CASEMAPPING, EXTBAN, BOT, MONITOR, WHOX, UTF8ONLY) is parsed from RPL_ISUPPORT (005) so Cascade adapts to each server rather than hardcoding assumptions.