Frequently Asked Questions

How to find Libera Chat staff?

Immediately available staff

Staff make use of a list to highlight staff members who are immediately available. This allows you to find and contact staff discreetly and is our preferred method of taking questions.

The list may appear in your network window instead of the current one. Request the list by doing:

/stats p

Contacting staff privately

You do not need to ask permission to send private messages to any staff member. They will answer if they notice your message in time. If they’re not responsive, you may attempt to talk to other staff members instead.

You can confirm that someone you are talking to is a member of network staff by their @libera/staff/<TheirNick> vhost, also known as a cloak.

In many clients the cloak might appear at the top of a PM window. If not, it will show in the information you get when you /whois <TheirNick>. For example, the first line of the output for /whois el looks like:

06:50 -- [el] (~el@libera/staff/el): el

Other ways to find staff

If no staff are listed with /stats p you can find staff you share channels with by doing:

/who libera/staff/*

Additionally, most staff have the operator mode in #libera to make them easy to find when they’re connected. There are also some robots, currently ChanServ and ozone, with that mode. The robots do not answer questions.

If you are unable to connect to the network at all, you can contact staff by email: support@libera.chat.

The server says I am banned! Why?

If you are unable to connect to the network and have received a message that you are banned, first ensure that you are using SASL as sometimes we need to restrict some IPs to require the SASL authentication method. This requires you to have registered an account already. Use another internet connection to make an account first, if you’re unable to connect on your regular internet connection.

If you are still unable to connect, or if you get banned again once you do connect, you can enquire about the ban by sending an email to us at bans@libera.chat.

You need to identify via SASL to use this server

You have tried to connect from a SASL access only range.

Cannot send to nick/channel

Cannot change nickname while banned on channel

First, check that you are registered.

If you already have an account then identify to it.

Some channels require users to be registered to participate. This is because most botnets and disruptive people do not make accounts.

If you are both registered and identified and still cannot join or talk, you might be banned or quieted in that channel.

You must log in with services to message this user

Some people do not wish to get messages from unregistered users. If you are not currently logged in then you will also be affected.

This is probably not targeted at you personally.

First, check if you are registered. If you do have an account then make sure you have identified to it.

How do I get unbanned or unquieted?

If you have been banned from or quieted in a channel, you will need to resolve the issue with the people who run the channel. If you cannot remember who banned or quieted you, there are a few options.

You can try to find your ban/quiet, and the operator who set it, by viewing the ban and quiet lists for the channel (this may output a lot of lines):

/mode #channelname bq

If that is too overwhelming, or if PUBACL (public access control lists) is off, or if all the bans are attributed to Libera.Chat domains, you can instead try to find out who runs the channel.

Remember, channel ops are not obligated to negotiate with you, and evading bans (sneaking back in) usually makes the matter worse.

Asking network staff will not work as we will not override a ban or quiet set by a channel operator, and will not reveal information that is private. We also will not confiscate channels for “unfair” banning practices.

If all this fails it is likely best for everyone involved if you just move on.

How to find out who runs a channel?

There are several ways to find who owns or runs a channel. ChanServ might show you some information.

/msg ChanServ info #channelname
/msg ChanServ flags #channelname

You can also see if there is a -ops or -mods channel mentioned in the topic:

/topic #channelname

If the channel is set PRIVATE then you will not get information with those commands.

Your only remaining option is to find someone else in the channel who might help you get in contact.

Be considerate of other channels when doing this as it can be seen as dragging drama in from other places!

Nick/channel is temporarily unavailable

Why is my nickname in use?

Nicknames are only reserved for you if you have registered them and they have not expired.

If someone else is currently using an unexpired nick you have registered, you can use RELEASE to bounce them off it onto a Guest nick and then REGAIN use of that nick for yourself. If you are not logged in, please first identify to the account, then:

/msg NickServ RELEASE yournick
/msg NickServ REGAIN yournick

If your nickname was requested by someone else because it had expired, the above process will not work. You may be able to request it back if it becomes expired again.

Why are people trying to log in as me?

When you have BADPASSWDMSG enabled, you might get alerts from NickServ or SaslServ about attempts to log in to your account. These alerts are almost always caused by clients that are misconfigured.

If you have lots of nicks grouped or if you have a common name or word grouped, you will get an above average number of alerts.

You do not need to worry if you have chosen a strong password that is not used in other places.

If the attempts are very frequent and persistent, feel welcome to let staff know, just in case. Libera.Chat does stop actual brute force attacks and these messages were disabled by default, due to excessive noise. To disable them:

/msg Nickserv SET BADPASSWDMSG OFF

What are Global Notices and Wallops, and can I opt out of them?

Global Notices are network wide messages that staff can send to everyone on the network, and are reserved for important news, warnings, or explanations about network related things such as netsplits or downtime. You cannot opt out of global notices.

Wallops are messages sent to everyone who has the +w user mode set. These messages might be additional information about an incident mentioned in a global notice, messages that are intended to encourage community building, or to celebrate milestones in the projects and communities that are the network’s primary stakeholders. Messages sent with wallops can be opted out of with /mode yourname -w. This will need to be done each time you connect to the network as this is a default user mode on Libera Chat. Nearly all clients can send commands at connection time; see their documentation or support channels for details.

Warez or Adult content sharing?

This is explicitly unwanted content on Libera.Chat.

You can find other networks which may be ok with these activities on netsplit.de.

What is meant by “bot”, “bouncer”, or “bridge”?

Bots, bouncers, and bridges are different types of client applications that connect to the IRC network. Sometimes these clients match multiple of the following definitions.

A bot is a utility client that provides automated responses to private input or channel activity from others connected to the network.

Some bots can roam around the network without being piloted. Roaming bots can be a big problem and are generally not allowed on Libera.Chat. You must ask staff before deploying them.

A bouncer connects to the network on behalf of one or more clients. The bouncer acts like both a server and a client; a client app would act like it is a network, and a network’s server would act like it is a client.

Both people and bots can connect through bouncers. Users of a bouncer can roam around the network. They can join and leave channels, send private messages to other users, and authenticate to network services.

Bouncers do not explicitly connect channels together. Each user on a bouncer has their own puppeted client connected on the IRC network.

A bridge does explicitly connect a channel to another, and relays the conversation and actions in each channel to the other one. In general, these channels or rooms are on different networks and sometimes on different protocols. IRC can be connected to IRC, or IRC can be connected to Discord, Telegram, Matrix, XMPP, etc.

Bridging can either connect one client to represent multiple people, or one client per participant. Most per-participant connections of bridges cannot roam around the network and are confined to the channel that has been connected. Additionally, some bridges also have the bouncer abilities available.

Are bots allowed?

Users may run bots that connect to Libera.Chat. Please get permission from the operators of any channels that the bot is in.

While operators may not notice a quiet bot, they very likely will notice and may take offence to unauthorised bots that are noisy or interactive.

If your bot is storing information in a publicly accessible way, you should follow our public logging policy.

Flood exemptions for bots

Users and bots with the flags +v or +o within a channel have protection against triggering flood mitigation. For this reason, it is recommended that noisy bots have one of these flags.

Additional exemptions may be allocated when the need for them is demonstrated. If you find that your bot is hitting limits, email support@libera.chat for advice.

Workaround for bots that don’t support SASL

If you’re trying to run a bot on a SASL-only range, your bot will need SASL support. If it lacks this support, you can connect it through a bouncer that does support SASL.

Are LLMs allowed?

We have outlined some best practices for using LLMs on the network.

Training AIs on channel content is considered scraping or public logging, which are covered by our network policies.

Are bridges allowed?

We do allow user operated bridges on Libera.Chat. Please get permission from the operators of channels that you bridge.

You also need to be prepared to moderate the content that is bridged.

Consider informing users that what they say may be visible to people not represented in the channel at the time. The spirit of our public logging policy applies here.

It is recommended that your bridge has an account and some way to identify who runs it, such as in the gecos or “real name” field.

We prefer one to many bridging over one to one bridging, especially if the majority of users are not on irc.

We also recommend that staff are notified about one to one bridging as it may hit connection limits or trip anti-abuse measures. Please contact support@libera.chat about such issues.

Can I connect with Matrix?

Please consult our Matrix FAQ for information on connecting with Matrix, getting support for Matrix, and other Matrix related questions.

Can I connect with XMPP?

Third-party operated XMPP bridges are allowed on Libera.Chat, however we prohibit double bridging, including over XMPP. We also request that XMPP bridges are configured to display the JID in the connection’s gecos field to allow individuals to be banned instead of the entire bridge, since JID hashes in idents can collide.

We prohibit bridging Matrix to IRC over XMPP due to abuse, and XMPP bridges that allow this might end up blocked as a result.

We do not maintain a directory of XMPP bridges.