---
title: "Internet Relay Chat (IRC)"
---

# Internet Relay Chat (IRC)

IRC stands for "Internet Relay Chat". It's a chat protocol used extensively at W3C.

The CSSWG's channels aren't particularly busy except during meetings or events, but they're a critical part of our communication tools. You're most likely to run into people during West Coast daytime / Europe evenings.

## Server Info

The main CSSWG channel is used by the CSS Working Group members during meetings and for quick coordination during off-hours. Topic is anything we work on. (Help with using CSS is off-topic.)

Server : irc.w3.org

Port : 6679 (or 80 if 6665 is blocked on your end)

Channel : #css

We also have a channel dedicated to CSS conformance testing. Here's the information you'll need:

Server : irc.w3.org

Port : 6679 (or 80 if 6665 is blocked on your end)

Channel : #css-test

## IRC Clients

You'll need an IRC client. Opera has one built-in. Mozilla has "Chatzilla", which is part of Seamonkey and available as an add-on for Firefox. Pidgin and Trillian can also do IRC. There's a web interface to IRC called [Mibbit](http://www.mibbit.com/) (type 'irc.w3.org:6665' as the server name). And there are various stand-alone programs you can download.

## IRC Commands

IRC commands are prefixed with a slash. (Any other text you type into a channel gets posted as a message to the channel.) Some basic commands:

/nick gabriele : change your IRC nick to gabriele

/join #css-test : join the #css-test channel

/query fantasai : start a private chat with fantasai

/me waves hi : speak in the third person

/away sleep : set your away message to "sleep"

/away : remove your away message

/whois fantasai : see information about user fantasai including idle time and away msg (if any)

## IRC Log

The main CSSWG channel is archived by day at:
- https://logs.csswg.org/irc.w3.org/css/