What is the server address of OFTC?

OFTC is reachable at ircs://irc.oftc.net:6697 — hostname irc.oftc.net, port 6697 over TLS/SSL.

Yes. OFTC is a free, public IRC network. Connect with any IRC client — no account required to start chatting.

How many users are on OFTC?

OFTC typically has around 30k users online across 200+ indexed channels.

How do I join a channel on OFTC?

After connecting to irc.oftc.net, type /join #channelname in your IRC client to enter a room.

Public network

Join OFTC

Open, free network for FOSS projects. Here's the OFTC server address, the busiest channels, and exactly how to connect from any IRC client.

Server

irc.oftc.net

Port

6697 TLS

Users

≈30k

Channels

200+

How to connect to OFTC

Point your IRC client at the address below. The connection is encrypted with TLS — use the secure port.

ircs://irc.oftc.net:6697

Open your IRC client (HexChat, WeeChat, irssi, mIRC, Textual…).
Add a new network with the command /server irc.oftc.net +6697.
Choose a nickname and connect (make sure TLS/SSL is enabled).
Type /list to browse channels, or /join #channel to jump straight in.

Popular channels on OFTC

The busiest rooms on OFTC right now, indexed automatically by our directory bot from 200 public channels. Type /join <channel> after connecting.

Channel	Users	Topic
#fdroid	1156	F-Droid, the free and open source app repository (official channel bridged with #fdroid:f-droid.org on Matrix) \| Public logs at https://matrix.f-droid.org/alias/%23fdroid:f-droid.org \| https://forum.f-droid.org \| https://floss.social/@fdroidorg \| Development discussion: #fdroid-dev \| Matrix bridge c
#asahi	786	Asahi Linux: porting Linux to Apple Silicon macs \| "Does XXX work yet?": https://alx.sh/fs \| GitHub: https://alx.sh/g \| Wiki: https://alx.sh/w \| Topics: #asahi-dev #asahi-re #asahi-gpu #asahi-alt #asahi-stream #asahi-offtopic \| Keep things on topic \| Logs: https://alx.sh/l/asahi
#postmarketos	778	https://postmarketos.org \| PLEASE READ: https://postmarketos.org/chat \| Please be kind to each other: https://postmarketos.org/coc \| Don't paste logs directly, use e.g. https://bpaste.net \| Tor Users register nick & get a cloak to unmute: https://www.oftc.net/UserCloaks \| This channel is logged:
#alpine-linux	757	Alpine Linux, the secure lightweight distro \| release 3.24.1 is out! \| slow channel, ask your question and wait for a response. :) This channel is logged: https://irclogs.alpinelinux.org
#asahi-dev	535	Asahi Linux: porting Linux to Apple Silicon macs \| Non-development talk: #asahi \| General development \| GitHub: https://alx.sh/g \| Wiki: https://alx.sh/w \| Logs: https://alx.sh/l/asahi-dev
#oftc	493	https://www.oftc.net \| OFTC's public support channel. Our social channel is #moocows \| Do NOT paste spam when reporting it \| Want a cloak/vhost? See https://www.oftc.net/UserCloaks/ \| https://www.oftc.net/Privacy_Policy/
#dri-devel	474	<ajax> nothing involved with X should ever be unable to find a bar
#debian-next	473	testing → forky \| you may need to debug sometimes \| faq: https://deb.li/sidfaq \| ongoing transitions: https://deb.li/xns \| multiarch fun: /msg dpkg multiarch failures \| NO FLOOD: /msg dpkg paste \| \| /msg bots NOT people \| offtopic → #debian-offtopic \| oldstable, stable → #debian \| can't talk? /msg
#chimera-linux	471	https://chimera-linux.org \| matrix: #chimera-linux:matrix.org \| read first + links: https://chimera-linux.org/community
#pipewire	426	PipeWire multimedia daemon. See https://pipewire.org. Latest version: 1.6.8. You must be registered with NickServ to speak (due to bot spam). Bridged to #pipewire:matrix.org
#tor	400	Welcome to #tor, which is for asking questions about using Tor \| FAQ: https://support.torproject.org/ \| Forum: https://forum.torproject.org \| Developer discussion on #tor-dev \| Relay operator discussion on #tor-relays \| It's 'Tor', not 'TOR'
#linux	368	Get Linux help \| Please be patient when asking \| You'll need to authenticate to talk.
#alpine-devel	359	Alpine Linux distribution development \| release 3.24.1 is out!
#debian-mentors	354	Get help contributing (inc packaging, infra) \| Join #packaging for other packaging \| Join #debian for user support \| Thanks for being friendly and helpful \| Links: https://www.debian.org/intro/help https://mentors.debian.net/intro-maintainers https://wiki.debian.org/Glossary https://wiki.debian.org/
#why2025	350	WHY2025, Aug 8-12 2025 % Compliments and feedback: 2029@why2025.org & https://wiki.why2025.org/Feedback
#virt	315	libvirt, virt-manager, gtk-vnc, virt-top and virt-p2v \| For oVirt, goto #ovirt \| Please STAY and wait for an answer.. \| https://libvirt.org
#aarch64-laptops	314	Linux support for AArch64 Laptops (Various Snapdragon laptops) - WIP kernel: https://gitlab.com/Linaro/arm64-laptops/linux/-/commits/qcom-laptops - Chat archives: https://oftc.irclog.whitequark.org/aarch64-laptops
#tor-project	303	Welcome to #tor-project, a channel for non-technical discussions by the Tor project community --- feel free to watch, or become a Tor person and participate. \| Tor usage questions in #tor \| Cypherpunks are writing code in #tor-dev \| Relay operators are talking in #tor-relays
#freedesktop	302	https://www.freedesktop.org infrastructure and online services \|\| for questions about freedesktop.org projects, please see each project's contact \|\| for discussions about specifications, please use https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/xdg or xdg@lists.freedesktop.org
#debian-offtopic	290	#debian social and offtopic chatter \| try to keep it mildly family-friendly \| not a support channel → #debian \| rants → /dev/null \| a minute of silence, please: <roryms> i've run out of strawberry mentos :(
#asahi-gpu	286	Asahi Linux GPU development (no user support, NO binary reversing) \| Keep things on topic \| GitHub: https://alx.sh/g \| Wiki: https://alx.sh/w \| Logs: https://alx.sh/l/asahi-gpu
#asahi-re	276	Asahi Linux: porting Linux to Apple Silicon macs \| Hardware / boot process / firmware interface reverse engineering \| WARNING: this channel (only) may contain binary reverse engineering discussion \| RE policy: https://alx.sh/re (MANDATORY READ) \| GitHub: https://alx.sh/g \| Wiki: https://alx.sh/w \| L
#ceph	268	http://ceph.com/get \|\| dev channel #ceph-devel \|\| test lab channel #sepia \|\| dashboard channel: #ceph-dashboard
#llvm	258	The official LLVM community real-time chat is now at https://discord.com/invite/xS7Z362
#asahi-alt	254	Asahi Linux: porting Linux to Apple Silicon macs \| User-contributed/unofficial distribution ports \| Logs: https://alx.sh/l/asahi-alt
#moocows	220	This is #moocows, OFTC's social channel. Moooooo! \| Get Network/IRC/Services related help in #oftc \| Please dont antagonise the cows. \| Polite conversation only
#postmarketos-devel	219	postmarketOS, pmbootstrap and tools development \| This channel is logged: https://irclogs.dersco.re/OFTC:~h~postmarketos-devel
#mesonbuild	217	Discussion about the Meson build system \| 1.12.0 rc1 is out, test, test, test \| You must be registered or connected via Matrix to join due to spam.
#suckless	215	suckless.org \| EN \| Use your brain \| No patch handholding
#tor-dev	212	This is the channel for developing Tor. Feel free to watch, but please take commentary to #tor-project and usage questions to #tor. \| Relay operator discussion at #tor-relays \| Commit and bug notifications -> #tor-bots \| "it's a simple fix, just have to work out which lines to change" -- teor
#debian-rust	205	https://salsa.debian.org/rust-team/debcargo-conf/ see https://deb.li/rtbook for intro & docs \| team meeting TBD \| https://rustsec.debian.net/
#freerdp	201	FreeRDP library \| last old-stable release: 2.11.7 \| last stable release: 3.18.0 \| https://github.com/FreeRDP/FreeRDP/ (issues, source, docs) \| https://www.freerdp.com
#feather	178	A free Monero desktop wallet. \| Feel free to ask for help or a feature. \| Beware of PMs from scammers. \| https://featherwallet.org \| RSK: 8185 E158 A333 30C7 FD61 BC0D 1F76 E155 CEFB A71C
#debian-bsb	172	Canal Matrix: #debian-bsb:matrix.debian.social \| Reunião Semanal Quintas às 19h no https://meet.debianbsb.org \| https://pad.riseup.net/p/debianbrasilia-keep
#tor-relays	170	Welcome to #tor-relays, a channel for discussions by the Tor relay operator community --- feel free to watch, or become a Tor relay operator and participate. \| Tor usage questions in #tor \| Cypherpunks are writing code in #tor-dev \| Non-technical community discussions are happening at @tor-project \|
#linux-msm	166	—
#freedombox	165	FreedomBox user support and discussion \| https://freedombox.org \| https://wiki.debian.org/FreedomBox/Manual \| #freedombox-dev for developers
#alpine-offtopic	159	Alpine Linux \| Friendly, offtopic chat. Keep it respectful and non-political \| MTBF: 2 days \| Use #alpine-linux for support
#nouveau	150	[Logged] https://nouveau.freedesktop.org \| Please read TroubleShooting, Bugs and FAQ first. \| IRC Logs: https://people.freedesktop.org/~cbrill/dri-log/index.php?channel=nouveau
#radeon	147	Support and development for open-source radeon/amdgpu drivers - http://wiki.x.org/wiki/radeonBuildHowTo
#libcamera	143	Welcome to the libcamera.org official development channel \| Bugs are tracked in https://bugs.libcamera.org/
#mm	140	#mm-chat for off-topic talk \| as for me, -mm code doesn't pass my blood brain barrier \| Free/alloc optimizations are scary, without reading the code. \| do not trust a computer with a mmu \| swap is what happens when mm people try to write a filesystem \| oh god this is more subtle than I remembered \|
#debian-social	137	IRC channel for Debian Social \| https://wiki.debian.org/Teams/DebianSocial/
#asahi-stream	135	Asahi Linux: porting Linux to Apple Silicon macs \| Stream chat
#webengineshackfest	133	Web Engines Hackfest 2022 - https://www.webengineshackfest.org/2022/ - June 13 & 14 - https://twitter.com/webhackfest - https://github.com/Igalia/webengineshackfest/wiki
#s6	132	s6, the skarnet.org supervision suite, and related software.
#ovirt	127	"This chat is bridged to matrix channel: https://matrix.to/#/#ovirt:ovirt.tech"
#C	126	Welcome to #C. Everything relating to the programming language is on-topic here. For sockets programming, Google for "Beej Network Guide".
#linux-media	124	Linux Kernel Media Subsystem (LinuxTV) \| only registered users can talk \| https://linuxtv.org \| logs: https://linuxtv.org/irc/oftc/log/linux-media \| bugs: http://bugzilla.kernel.org (v4l-dvb category) \| repo: https://linuxtv.org/git/media_tree.git \| linux-media ML: http://vger.kernel.org/vger-list
#videocore-ci	124	Reports from videocore CI runners
#lk2nd	120	Custom bootloader for Qualcomm devices (apq8084, mdm9607, msm8226, msm8610, msm8909, msm8916, msm8952, msm8953, msm8960, msm8974, msm8994, msm8996) and more! \| https://github.com/msm8916-mainline/lk2nd \| Bridged to #lk2nd:postmarketos.org on Matrix
#intel-gfx	116	https://drm.pages.freedesktop.org/intel-docs/ - Intel kernel & media graphics development discussion \| For Intel 3D discussion, join #intel-3d \| How to report bugs: https://drm.pages.freedesktop.org/intel-docs/how-to-file-i915-bugs.html \| Register your nick to talk: https://www.oftc.net/Services/
#panfrost	105	Panfrost - FLOSS Mali Midgard + Bifrost + Valhall - Logs https://oftc.irclog.whitequark.org/panfrost
#stagex	104	[Stageˣ]: container-native, full-source bootstrapped, and reproducible toolchain to build all the things \| https://codeberg.org/stagex \| https://stagex.tools (soon)
#msm8916-mainline	99	Mainline Linux and related projects for Qualcomm MSM8909, MSM8916 and MSM8939 \| https://github.com/msm8916-mainline \| Bridged to #msm8916:postmarketos.org on Matrix
#postmarketos-immutable	98	u can't touch this \| Working Group for designing and implementing immutable rootfs support in postmarketOS \| Join us on the 3rd Tues of every month @ 18:00 UTC: https://meet.jit.si/moderated/ce5286dded0220c49b5417744e0927a64276983b4799a7b23f13ec3f471e7f71 \| This channel is logged: https://irclogs.de
#/s/oftach	97	s@ \| /s/elf ho/s/ters \| IRC - #/s/oftach on irc.oftc.net, XMPP - #\2fs\2foftach@ircgate.dulo.rocks
#debian-games	96	Help with packaging games for Debian \| Join #debian for user support \| About: https://wiki.debian.org/Games/Team \| Email: https://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-games/
#sm8250-mainline	93	Mainline Linux for Qualcomm Snapdragon 865/865+/870 (SM8250) \| Bridged to #sm8250-mainline on matrix.org
#debian-mg	93	Oficina Livre => http://oficina.minaslivre.org

About OFTC

Open, free network for FOSS projects. OFTC is an independent public IRC network with around 30k users.

Official website: www.oftc.net

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Frequently asked questions

What is the server address of OFTC?: OFTC is reachable at ircs://irc.oftc.net:6697 — hostname irc.oftc.net, port 6697 over TLS/SSL.
Is OFTC free?: Yes — it's a free, public IRC network. No account is required to start chatting.
How do I join a channel?: After connecting, type /join #channelname in your client.