WEECHAT(1)

📦
version 4.10.2 · 13 versions
, in arch rolling, nixpkgs unstable

💬 NAME 💬

weechat — the extensible chat client, bestie. That's literally the whole assignment 😌 (and yes the manual itself is called WEECHAT(1), in case u were wondering 🫶)

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

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 ✨

Okay so WeeChat stands for Wee Enhanced Environment for Chat (yes that's the actual acronym, it's giving very "we named it at 3am and it stuck" but we love her 💖). She's a free chat client — fast, light, and built to run on so many operating systems. And she's highly customizable and extensible with scripts, which is the fancy way of saying u can make her literally anything u want. main character energy fr 👑

🎀 OPTIONS 🎀

  • -a, --no-connect — stops WeeChat from auto-connecting to servers the second she boots up. no surprise connections, no cap 🙅‍♀️
  • -c, --colors — shows u the default colors right there in ur terminal. a little palette moment 🎨✨
  • --daemon — runs WeeChat in the background like a daemon. ⚠️ heads up: this only works with the weechat-headless command.
  • --stdout — log messages go to standard output instead of getting written into the log file. Also only works with weechat-headless, and it's not compatible with --daemon — pick a lane bestie 💅
  • -d, --dir <path> — forces ONE single directory for all ur WeeChat files (she'll create it if it's not there, she's thoughtful like that 💖). U can actually pass four directories separated by colons, and the order is sacred: config, data, cache, runtime. If u don't use this option, the environment variable WEECHAT_HOME gets used instead (as long as it's not empty).
  • -t, --temp-dir — makes a temporary WeeChat home directory and deletes it when u exit. Lowkey iconic for testing. Not compatible with -d 🙈 WeeChat builds the directory name herself using this template: weechat_temp_XXXXXX (where XXXXXX is random). She creates it in the first available directory from this list:
    • environment variable TMPDIR
    • /tmp (this may be different depending on ur operating system)
    • environment variable HOME
    • the current directory

The temp home directory gets permissions 0700 — meaning only the owner can read, write and execute. privacy queen 🔒

  • -h, --help — displays help. ur friendly little "what does this do again" button 🫶
  • -i, --build-info — shows build information and dips. ✌️
  • -l, --license — displays the WeeChat license. legal slay 📜
  • -p, --no-plugin — disables plugins auto-loading. no plugins, no problem 😌
  • -P, --plugins <plugins> — loads only these plugins at startup (peep /help weechat.plugin.autoload for the deets). If u use this option, the option weechat.plugin.autoload is ignored entirely. she said "my list only" 💅
  • -r, --run-command <command> — runs command(s) after startup. many commands can be separated by semicolons, and u can pass this option multiple times. stack 'em up 🔥
  • -s, --no-script — disables scripts auto-loading. scripts stay in bed today 😴
  • --upgrade — upgrades WeeChat using session files generated with the command /upgrade -quit. glow-up szn ✨
  • -v, --version — displays the WeeChat version. identity check 💖
  • plugin:option — an option for a plugin. plugin-specific, iykyk 🦋

💀 DEBUG OPTIONS 💀

WARNING: these options are for debug purposes only. DO NOT USE IN PRODUCTION! fr fr, i'm not kidding, these are for the lab only 🧪
  • --no-dlclose — doesn't call the function dlclose after plugins are unloaded. this is useful with tools like Valgrind to display the stack for unloaded plugins.
  • --no-gnutls — doesn't 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 — doesn't 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 doc on plugin options, pls go look at the plugins documentation in the WeeChat user's guide over at <https://weechat.org/doc/> 📚

So with the irc plugin, u 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

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

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

see how that works? brackets, then port, then channel. chef's kiss 👨‍🍳💋

🌈 FILES 🌈

  • $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 — the WeeChat log file 📝

⭐ SEE ALSO ⭐

weechat-headless(1) — her headless sister, go say hi 🫶

💜 AUTHORS 💜

This manpage was written by Sébastien Helleu. ty for ur service king 🫡

WeeChat is written by Sébastien Helleu and contributors (the complete list lives in the AUTHORS.md file, no gatekeeping 💖).

Copyright © 2003-2026 Sébastien Helleu

WeeChat is free software; u 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 ur option) any later version.

Please read the COPYING file for more information 📄

Web: <https://weechat.org/> 🌐

🍓 SUPPORT / REPORTING BUGS 🍓

Need help or wanna report a bug? Right here bestie: <https://weechat.org/about/support/> 🫶

🧚 AUTHOR 🧚

Sébastien Helleu

and that's the whole manpage, bestie 💅✨ this was WeeChat 4.10.2 — WEECHAT(1) — go forth and chat, u absolute icon 🎀🦋💖

📦 where this page comes from