WEECHAT(1)

📦
version 4.10.0 · 6 versions
, in ubuntu stonking

💖 WEECHAT(1) — the WeeChat Manual, but make it cute 💖

okay bestie, sit down, hydrate, because we're learning weechat and honestly?? it's giving main character energy. this is the manual page for weechat — the extensible chat client. let's get into it 🫶

✨ NAME ✨

weechat — the extensible chat client 💬✨

🌈 SYNOPSIS 🌈

like, here's how you actually call her:

weechat [-a|--no-connect] [-d|--dir <path>] [-t|--temp-dir] [-p|--no-plugin] [-P|--plugins <plugins>] [-r|--run-command <command>] [-s|--no-script] [--upgrade] [debug-option...] [plugin:option...]
weechat [-c|--colors]
weechat [-h|--help]
weechat [-l|--license]
weechat [-v|--version]

💅 DESCRIPTION 💅

so WeeChat stands for Wee Enhanced Environment for Chat, and no cap, it's a free chat client — fast, light, built to run on literally so many operating systems. it's highly customizable and extensible with scripts. the way that it just works everywhere?? obsessed. 🦋

🎀 OPTIONS 🎀

every single one, bestie, we're not skipping a single flag:

  • -a, --no-connect — turns off auto-connect to servers when WeeChat boots up. no surprise joins, periodt. 🙈
  • -c, --colors — shows the default colors in your terminal. vibe check the palette ✨
  • --daemon — runs WeeChat in the background, as a daemon. ⚠️ heads up: this only works with the command weechat-headless.
  • --stdout — prints log messages to standard output instead of writing them to a log file. again, only works with weechat-headless, and it is not compatible with the --daemon option. pick a lane, babe 💀
  • -d, --dir <path> — forces a single directory for all the WeeChat files (and yes, the directory gets created if it's not found). you can pass up to four directories separated by colons, in this order: config, data, cache, runtime. if you don't give this option, the environment variable WEECHAT_HOME is used (as long as it's not empty).
  • -t, --temp-dir — makes a temporary WeeChat home directory and deletes it on exit. 🚨 incompatible with the -d option. the directory name is auto-built by WeeChat using this template: weechat_temp_XXXXXX (where XXXXXX is random). it gets created in the first available directory from this list: environment variable TMPDIR, /tmp (which may be different depending on your operating system), environment variable HOME, then the current directory. the temp home directory has permissions 0700 — only the owner can read, write and execute. very exclusive, very VIP 👑
  • -h, --help — displays help.
  • -i, --build-info — displays build information and exits.
  • -l, --license — displays the WeeChat license.
  • -p, --no-plugin — disables plugins auto-load.
  • -P, --plugins <plugins> — loads only these plugins at startup (see /help weechat.plugin.autoload). if you use this option, the weechat.plugin.autoload option is not used. choose one, bestie.
  • -r, --run-command <command> — runs command(s) after startup. you can separate multiple commands with semicolons, and you can give this option more than once. so many commands, so little time 💅
  • -s, --no-script — disables scripts auto-load.
  • --upgrade — upgrades WeeChat using session files generated with the command /upgrade -quit. glow up ✨
  • -v, --version — displays the WeeChat version.
  • plugin:option — an option for a plugin.

💀 DEBUG OPTIONS 💀

⚠️ WARNING: these options are for debug purposes only. DO NOT USE IN PRODUCTION! like, fr fr, do not. this is not the vibe for a live setup, bestie 😭
  • --no-dlclose — does not call the function dlclose after plugins are unloaded. this is useful with tools like Valgrind to display the stack for unloaded plugins.
  • --no-gnutls — does not call the init and deinit functions of the GnuTLS library. useful with tools like Valgrind and electric-fence, to prevent GnuTLS memory errors.
  • --no-gcrypt — does not call the init and deinit functions of the Gcrypt library. useful with tools like Valgrind, to prevent Gcrypt memory errors.

🧚 PLUGIN OPTIONS 🧚

for the complete documentation on plugin options, please look at the plugins documentation in the WeeChat user's guide at <https://weechat.org/doc/>. iykyk 📚

with the irc plugin, you can connect to a server with a URL like this:

irc[6][s]://[[nickname][:password]@]server[:port][/#channel1[,#channel2...]]

to join the WeeChat IRC channel support with the nick mynick:

irc://mynick@irc.libera.chat/#weechat

an IPv6 address can be enclosed in brackets to add a port after the address, for example:

irc://mynick@[2001:db8:0:85a3::ac1f:8001]:6668/#test

🌸 FILES 🌸

here's where everything lives, bestie — write these down:

  • $HOME/.config/weechat/weechat.conf — main WeeChat configuration file
  • $HOME/.config/weechat/plugins.conf — plugins configuration file
  • $HOME/.config/weechat/sec.conf — configuration file with secured data
  • $HOME/.config/weechat/alias.conf — configuration file for alias plugin
  • $HOME/.config/weechat/buflist.conf — configuration file for buflist plugin
  • $HOME/.config/weechat/charset.conf — configuration file for charset plugin
  • $HOME/.config/weechat/exec.conf — configuration file for exec plugin
  • $HOME/.config/weechat/fifo.conf — configuration file for fifo plugin
  • $HOME/.config/weechat/fset.conf — configuration file for fset plugin
  • $HOME/.config/weechat/guile.conf — configuration file for guile plugin
  • $HOME/.config/weechat/irc.conf — configuration file for irc plugin
  • $HOME/.config/weechat/javascript.conf — configuration file for javascript plugin
  • $HOME/.config/weechat/logger.conf — configuration file for logger plugin
  • $HOME/.config/weechat/lua.conf — configuration file for lua plugin
  • $HOME/.config/weechat/perl.conf — configuration file for perl plugin
  • $HOME/.config/weechat/php.conf — configuration file for php plugin
  • $HOME/.config/weechat/python.conf — configuration file for python plugin
  • $HOME/.config/weechat/relay.conf — configuration file for relay plugin
  • $HOME/.config/weechat/ruby.conf — configuration file for ruby plugin
  • $HOME/.config/weechat/script.conf — configuration file for script plugin
  • $HOME/.config/weechat/spell.conf — configuration file for spell plugin
  • $HOME/.config/weechat/tcl.conf — configuration file for tcl plugin
  • $HOME/.config/weechat/trigger.conf — configuration file for trigger plugin
  • $HOME/.config/weechat/typing.conf — configuration file for typing plugin
  • $HOME/.config/weechat/xfer.conf — configuration file for xfer plugin
  • $HOME/.local/share/weechat/weechat.log — WeeChat log file

🦋 SEE ALSO 🦋

👑 AUTHORS 👑

this manpage was written by Sébastien Helleu. king behavior 👑

WeeChat is written by Sébastien Helleu and contributors (the complete list is in the AUTHORS.md file).

Copyright © 2003-2026 Sébastien Helleu

WeeChat is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

please read the COPYING file for more information.

Web: <https://weechat.org/> 🌈

🫶 SUPPORT / REPORTING BUGS 🫶

for help or a bug report: <https://weechat.org/about/support/>

💜 AUTHOR 💜

Sébastien Helleu

aaaand that's the whole thing bestie, you ate that 💅✨

WeeChat 4.10.0 — yep, that's the version, and this whole glow-up was the WeeChat Manual for WEECHAT(1). go forth and chat, you iconic legend 🎀🦋💖

📦 where this page comes from