man(1)

📦

version 0.18.2 · 13 versions

🌸 NAME 🌸

okay so bestie, gather round 💖 this is the man(1) page for the Profanity XMPP client — and it's all about the /roster command. That's it. That's the whole assignment. /roster. Your contact list, your rooms, your whole little social universe, and every knob you can twist to make it look exactly how you want. ✨

✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

Manage your roster, and your roster display settings. 💅 That's the vibe. You're in charge of your contacts and the way they show up on screen — the chars, the indents, the order, the colors, all of it.

And here's the cute part: if you pass no arguments at all, it just lists every single contact in your roster. No setup, no ceremony, just ✨ everyone ✨.

🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

the way that there are SO many of these, i'm obsessed 😭 here's every form of the command, exactly as written:

/roster

/roster online

/roster show
[offline|resource|presence|status|empty|priority|contacts|rooms]

/roster hide
[offline|resource|presence|status|empty|priority|contacts|rooms]

/roster by group|presence|none

/roster count unread|items|off

/roster count zero on|off

/roster color on|off

/roster order name|presence

/roster unread before|after|off

/roster room char <char>|none

/roster room private char <char>|none

/roster room position first|last

/roster room by service|none

/roster room order name|unread

/roster room unread before|after|off

/roster room title bookmark|jid|localpart|name

/roster private room|group|off

/roster private char <char>|none

/roster header char <char>|none

/roster presence indent <indent>

/roster contact char <char>|none

/roster contact indent <indent>

/roster resource char <char>|none

/roster resource indent <indent>

/roster resource join on|off

/roster size <percent>

/roster wrap on|off

/roster add <jid> [<nick>]

/roster remove <contact>

/roster remove_all contacts

/roster nick <jid> <nick>

/roster clearnick <jid>

/roster group

/roster group show <group>

/roster group add <group> <contat>

/roster group remove <group> <contact>

(yes, contat is spelled like that up there in the synopsis. i am ✨not✨ changing a single character of it, that's the rule, we keep it fr 💖)

🎀 ARGUMENTS 🎀

<divider>here we go, one by one, no skipping, i got you 🫶</divider>

online — Show all online contacts in console. the quick little "who's around rn" check 💫
show — Show the roster panel.
show offline — Show offline contacts in roster panel.
show resource — Show the contact's connected resources in roster panel.
show presence — Show the contact's presence in roster panel.
show status — Show the contact's status message in roster panel.
show empty — Show empty groups in roster panel.
show priority — Show resource priority in roster panel.
show contacts — Show contacts in roster panel.
show rooms — Show chat rooms in roster panel.
hide — Hide the roster panel.
hide offline — Hide offline contacts in roster panel.
hide resource — Hide the contact's connected resources in roster panel.
hide presence — Hide the contact's presence in roster panel.
hide status — Hide the contact's status message in roster panel.
hide empty — Hide empty groups in roster panel.
hide priority — Hide resource priority in roster panel.
hide contacts — Hide contacts in roster panel.
hide rooms — Hide chat rooms in roster panel.
by group — Group contacts in roster panel by roster group.
by presence — Group contacts in roster panel by presence.
by none — No grouping in roster panel. just raw, ungrouped chaos, iconic honestly 💀
count unread — Show unread message count with roster headers.
count items — Show item count with roster headers.
count off — Do not show any count with roster headers.
count zero on — Show roster header count when 0.
count zero off — Hide roster header count when 0.
color on — Enable generated color names (XEP-0392). pretty name colors, slay 🌈
color off — Disable generated color names (XEP-0392).
order name — Order roster contacts by name only.
order presence — Order roster contacts by presence, and then by name.
unread before — Show unread message count before contact.
unread after — Show unread message count after contact.
unread off — Do not show unread message count for contacts.
room char <char> — Prefix rooms with the specified character.
room char none — Remove the room character prefix.
room private char <char> — Prefix private room chat with the specified character when displayed with room.
room private char none — Remove the private room chat character prefix when displayed with room.
room position first — Show rooms first in the roster.
room position last — Show rooms last in the roster.
room by service — Group rooms by chat service.
room by none — Do not group rooms.
room order name — Order rooms by name.
room order unread — Order rooms by unread messages, and then by name.
room unread before — Show unread message count before room.
room unread after — Show unread message count after room.
room unread off — Do not show unread message count for rooms.
room title bookmark|jid|localpart|name — Display the bookmark name, JID, JID localpart, or room name as the roster title for MUCs.
private room — Show room private chats with the room.
private group — Show room private chats as a separate roster group.
private off — Do not show room private chats.
private char <char> — Prefix private room chats with the specified character when displayed in a separate group.
private char none — Remove the private room chat character prefix.
header char <char> — Prefix roster headers with the specified character.
header char none — Remove the roster header character prefix.
contact char <char> — Prefix roster contacts with the specified character.
contact char none — Remove the roster contact character prefix.
contact indent <indent> — Indent the contact line by <indent> spaces (0 to 10).
resource char <char> — Prefix roster resources with the specified character.
resource char none — Remove the roster resource character prefix.
resource indent <indent> — Indent the resource line by <indent> spaces (0 to 10).
resource join on|off — Join resource with previous line when only one available resource.
presence indent <indent> — Indent presence line by <indent> spaces (-1 to 10); a value of -1 will show presence on the previous line. 👀
size <percent> — Percentage of the screen taken up by the roster (1-99).
wrap on|off — Enable or disable line wrapping in roster panel.
add <jid> [<nick>] — Add a new item to the roster. new bestie acquired 🫶
remove <jid> — Removes an item from the roster.
remove_all contacts — Remove all items from roster.
nick <jid> <nick> — Change a contact's nickname.
clearnick <jid> — Removes the current nickname.
group show <group> — List all roster items in a group.
group add <group> <contact> — Add a contact to a group.
group remove <group> <contact> — Remove a contact from a group.

🌈 EXAMPLES 🌈

real-world receipts, bestie, copy these exactly:

/roster

/roster add odin@valhalla.edda

/roster add odin@valhalla.edda Allfather

/roster remove loki@ownserver.org

/roster nick odin@valhalla.edda "All Father"

/roster clearnick thor@valhalla.edda

/roster size 15

/roster group

/roster group show friends

/roster group add friends fenris@ownserver.org

/roster group add family Brother

/roster group remove colleagues boss@work.com

notice the quotes around "All Father" — that's a whole nickname with a space in it, keep the quotes, she's delicate 💅

and that's the whole page, no cap. 💖✨

this was 0.18.2, dated 2026-06-08 — that's the manual for the Profanity XMPP client, and it's the man(1) page 🎀

go forth and organize your roster, main character. periodt. 👑🦋🌸

📦 where this page comes from

ubuntu stonking: profanity 0.18.2-1 · GPL-3.0-or-later WITH OpenSSL exception
ubuntu stonking: profanity-light 0.18.2-1 · GPL-3.0-or-later WITH OpenSSL exception
💖 girlified by deepseek-ai/DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash on 2026-11-03: a language model's rewrite of the original, under its terms