A modern web-based IRC client inspired by the classic mIRC desktop application. Connect to IRC networks from your browser with a nostalgic Win32 aesthetic, persistent message history, and real-time WebSocket communication.

Architecture

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                    Internet                               │
│              mirccloud.com (DNS → 24.144.124.133)        │
└─────────────────┬───────────────────────────────────────┘
                  │
┌─────────────────▼───────────────────────────────────────┐
│           DigitalOcean Edge Node                         │
│           nginx-public ingress controller                │
└─────────────────┬───────────────────────────────────────┘
                  │ WireGuard tunnel
┌─────────────────▼───────────────────────────────────────┐
│              k3s Homecloud Cluster                        │
│                                                          │
│  ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────┐       │
│  │           mirccloud namespace                 │       │
│  │                                               │       │
│  │  ┌─────────┐  ┌──────────┐  ┌──────────┐   │       │
│  │  │   App   │  │ Postgres │  │  Redis   │   │       │
│  │  │ (x2)    │──│  (16)    │  │ (7-alp)  │   │       │
│  │  │ :3000   │  │  :5432   │  │  :6379   │   │       │
│  │  └─────────┘  └──────────┘  └──────────┘   │       │
│  │       │                                       │       │
│  │  ┌────▼────┐                                 │       │
│  │  │ NFS PVC │  (uploads, postgres, redis)     │       │
│  │  │Synology │                                  │       │
│  │  └─────────┘                                  │       │
│  └──────────────────────────────────────────────┘       │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Components:

Client — React + Vite SPA with mIRC-inspired dark theme
Server — Express + WebSocket server handling IRC connections
PostgreSQL — Message persistence, user accounts, connection configs
Redis — Pub/sub for real-time event distribution across app replicas
NFS (Synology) — Persistent storage for all stateful data

Local Development

Prerequisites

Node.js 20+
Docker & Docker Compose

Quick Start

# Start infrastructure (postgres + redis)
docker compose up postgres redis -d

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Run database migrations
cd server && npx drizzle-kit push

# Start the server (watches for changes)
npm run dev --workspace=server

# In another terminal, start the client
npm run dev --workspace=client

Using Docker Compose (full stack)

docker compose up

The app will be available at http://localhost:3000 (API) and http://localhost:5173 (client dev server).

Deployment

Build & Push Container Image

# Login to Gitea registry
docker login git.lab.fairings.org

# Build and push
docker build -t git.lab.fairings.org/jpreston/mirccloud/app:latest .
docker push git.lab.fairings.org/jpreston/mirccloud/app:latest

Deploy to Kubernetes

# Create namespace
kubectl apply -f kubernetes/namespace.yaml

# Create secrets (copy from example first)
cp kubernetes/secrets.yaml.example kubernetes/secrets.yaml
# Edit kubernetes/secrets.yaml with real base64-encoded values
kubectl apply -f kubernetes/secrets.yaml

# Deploy everything
kubectl apply -f kubernetes/configmap.yaml
kubectl apply -f kubernetes/pvc.yaml
kubectl apply -f kubernetes/postgres.yaml
kubectl apply -f kubernetes/redis.yaml
kubectl apply -f kubernetes/deployment.yaml
kubectl apply -f kubernetes/service.yaml
kubectl apply -f kubernetes/ingress.yaml
kubectl apply -f kubernetes/networkpolicy.yaml

DNS Setup

Point these records to the edge node:

mirccloud.com → A record → 24.144.124.133
www.mirccloud.com → A record → 24.144.124.133

TLS certificates are automatically provisioned by cert-manager using the letsencrypt-prod ClusterIssuer.

Environment Variables

Variable	Description	Default
`PORT`	Server listen port	`3000`
`DATABASE_URL`	PostgreSQL connection string	—
`REDIS_URL`	Redis connection string	—
`JWT_SECRET`	Secret for signing JWT tokens	—
`CORS_ORIGIN`	Allowed CORS origin	`http://localhost:5173`
`NODE_ENV`	Environment (development/production)	`development`
`POSTGRES_PASSWORD`	PostgreSQL password (used in k8s)	—

Project Structure

mirccloud.com/
├── client/              # React frontend (Vite)
│   ├── src/
│   │   ├── components/  # UI components (TreeBar, MessagePanel, etc.)
│   │   ├── pages/       # Login, Register pages
│   │   ├── stores/      # Zustand state (auth, irc, websocket)
│   │   ├── styles/      # mIRC theme CSS
│   │   └── utils/       # IRC color parser, helpers
│   └── index.html
├── server/              # Express + WebSocket backend
│   └── src/
│       ├── auth/        # JWT + bcrypt authentication
│       ├── db/          # Drizzle ORM schema + connection
│       ├── irc/         # IRC connection manager + event handlers
│       ├── routes/      # REST API routes
│       └── websocket/   # WebSocket server
├── kubernetes/          # Production deployment manifests
├── Dockerfile           # Multi-stage production build
├── docker-compose.yml   # Local development stack
└── package.json         # Workspace root