ii-IRC

Persistent IRC presence using ii (minimalist file-based IRC client) with event-driven mention detection. Use when setting up an AI agent on IRC, monitoring IRC channels, sending IRC messages, or integrating OpenClaw with IRC via ii. Covers ii setup, mention watcher, systemd services, and message sending/reading.

Security Scan

The skill is internally consistent: it installs/uses ii, creates local watcher and management scripts, and forwards IRC mentions to the OpenClaw agent as described — nothing requested or installed is disproportionate to its purpose.

Purpose & Capability

Name/description align with what the skill installs and does. The only required binary is ii (used to connect to IRC), and the install options (apt/pacman/build from suckless) are appropriate. Creating ~/irc, FIFOs and watcher scripts is coherent with providing a persistent IRC presence.

Instruction Scope

SKILL.md and scripts stay within IRC-related actions (starting ii, joining channels, tailing channel logs, writing to FIFO to send messages, and invoking OpenClaw via `openclaw system event`). Important data flow: any message that matches the nick is forwarded into OpenClaw as event text. The README warns not to read entire logs. This forwarding is expected for the stated purpose but it does mean channel text will be provided to the agent — review that data flow if channel contents are sensitive.

Install Mechanism

Install spec uses package managers (apt/pacman) or building from a well-known source (git.suckless.org). These are standard and proportionate for installing ii. No obscure URLs, shorteners, or arbitrary binary downloads are used.

Credentials

The skill declares no environment variables, credentials, or config paths. The runtime scripts call `openclaw` CLI (to emit events) and expect usual system tools (pgrep/pkill/tail/echo). No unrelated credentials or secrets are requested.

Persistence & Privilege

The skill does not request always:true and recommends user-level systemd services (only user account scope). It doesn't modify other skills or system-wide settings beyond user-level service files and files in the user's home directory.

Assessment

This skill appears to do what it says: run ii, create ~/irc, start a watcher that watches channel logs and sends an `openclaw system event` when your nick is mentioned. Before installing, consider: (1) Privacy: any mention text matched by the watcher will be sent into the OpenClaw agent — don't enable this on channels with sensitive data. (2) Trust in the agent: the watcher forwards raw message text into `openclaw`; verify how your OpenClaw CLI/agent handles event text and whether it logs or transmits it externally. (3) Safety: the scripts run as your user and set up systemd user services — review the generated service file contents and the created scripts (they live in ~/irc) before enabling them. (4) Package source: the build-from-source option points to git.suckless.org (expected), but if you use any other install command, prefer official package repos. If you want extra caution, run the watcher under a restricted account or add explicit sanitization/length checks before invoking `openclaw`.

ii-IRC: Event-Driven IRC for AI Agents

ii writes all channel activity to plain files. A watcher script monitors for mentions and triggers OpenClaw system events. Responses are sent by writing to a FIFO.

Architecture

~/irc/
├── irc.sh              # Management script (start/stop/status/send)
├── watch-daemon.sh     # Mention watcher → openclaw system event
└── <server>/
    └── <channel>/
        ├── in          # FIFO - write here to send messages
        └── out         # Append-only log of all channel messages

Quick Setup

1. Install ii

ii is in most package managers. On Arch: pacman -S ii. On Debian/Ubuntu: apt install ii. Or build from suckless.org.

2. Create scripts

Run the bundled setup script (creates ~/irc/irc.sh and ~/irc/watch-daemon.sh):

bash scripts/setup.sh --server irc.example.org --port 6667 --nick MyBot --channel "#mychannel"

Or create them manually — see scripts/irc.sh.template and scripts/watch-daemon.sh.template.

3. Create systemd user services (recommended)

For auto-start on boot:

mkdir -p ~/.config/systemd/user

# IRC connection service
cat > ~/.config/systemd/user/irc-bot.service << 'EOF'
[Unit]
Description=IRC connection (ii)
After=network-online.target
Wants=network-online.target

[Service]
Type=simple
ExecStart=/usr/bin/ii -s SERVER -p PORT -n NICK -i %h/irc
ExecStartPost=/bin/bash -c 'sleep 3 && echo "/j CHANNEL" > %h/irc/SERVER/in'
Restart=always
RestartSec=10

[Install]
WantedBy=default.target
EOF

# Mention watcher service
cat > ~/.config/systemd/user/irc-watcher.service << 'EOF'
[Unit]
Description=IRC mention watcher
After=irc-bot.service
Wants=irc-bot.service

[Service]
Type=simple
ExecStart=%h/irc/watch-daemon.sh
Restart=always
RestartSec=5

[Install]
WantedBy=default.target
EOF

# Replace SERVER, PORT, NICK, CHANNEL in the service files, then:
systemctl --user daemon-reload
systemctl --user enable --now irc-bot.service irc-watcher.service

Sending Messages

# Via the management script
~/irc/irc.sh send "Hello, world!"

# Or write directly to the FIFO
echo "Hello, world!" > ~/irc/<server>/<channel>/in

Important: ii splits long messages at byte boundaries, which can break mid-word or mid-UTF8 character. Keep messages under ~400 characters. For longer content, split into multiple messages with brief pauses between them.

Reading Context

# Last N messages (token-efficient)
tail -n 20 ~/irc/<server>/<channel>/out

# Quick status (last 5 messages)
~/irc/irc.sh status

Never read the entire out file — it grows indefinitely. Always use tail with a limit.

How Mention Detection Works

1. watch-daemon.sh runs tail -F on the channel's out file
2. Each new line is checked (case-insensitive) for the bot's nick
3. Own messages and join/part notices are skipped
4. On match → openclaw system event --text "IRC mention: <message>" --mode now
5. OpenClaw wakes and can respond via the in FIFO

This is event-driven — zero polling, instant response, minimal resource usage.

Joining Multiple Channels

ii supports multiple channels on the same server. For each additional channel:

echo "/j #other-channel" > ~/irc/<server>/in

To watch multiple channels, either run separate watcher instances or modify watch-daemon.sh to monitor multiple out files.

Troubleshooting

• Not connecting: Check ii is running (pgrep -f "ii -s"), verify server/port
• Not joining channel: The in FIFO must exist; check ExecStartPost timing (increase sleep if needed)
• Mentions not triggering: Verify watcher is running (pgrep -f watch-daemon), check nick matches
• Messages splitting weirdly: Shorten messages; ii has a ~512 byte IRC protocol limit
• Reconnection: systemd Restart=always handles this; ii exits on disconnect, systemd restarts it