Set up ERC, Emacs IRC client, with automated windowed layout and connection

I’ve set up an Emacs function my-open-irc that connects to all IRC channels I am interested in and sets up a 2×2 layout with the channels:

See the screenshot:

my-open-irc called at any time either (re)connects to irc and sets up the layout or restores the old buffers. It also saves anything I have been doing before under register ?8 so I can come back to it with C-x r j 8. If you are not aware of this functionality, see the documentation of window-configuration-to-register.

You can think of as my-open-irc as “turn IRC on” and C-x r j 8 as “turn IRC off”, all from within emacs. I have bind the my-open-irc to some key with the global-set-key.

It lets me to take a quick glance at “what’s going on”, and if anything appears interesting investigate it further.

Code is not of “production” quality, I may clean it up one day if it becomes problematic. I know I shouldn’t hardcode passwords in my .el config, but I do not expose my config and irc is not sensitive.

Just add below to your emacs config, add your nick/password in my-open-irc, and call my-open-irc. Joining my take a few seconds, but you don’t need to do anything manually besides calling my-open-irc.

(setq my-freenode-channels '("#archlinux" "#emacs"))
(setq my-gitter-channels '("#ensime/ensime-emacs" "#ensime/ensime-server"))
(setq my-erc-channel-buffer-regexps '("^#ensime\/ensime-emacs" "#ensime\/ensime-server" "^#archlinux" "^#emacs"))

(defun my-buffer-match-regex (buf)
  (string-match buffer-regex (buffer-name buf)))

(defun my-switch-to-buffer-by-regex (buffer-regex)
  (switch-to-buffer (find-if 'my-buffer-match-regex (buffer-list))))

(require 'erc-sasl)

(setq erc-hide-list '("JOIN" "PART" "QUIT"))
(setq erc-prompt-for-password nil)

;;;;; JOIN Channels after connection ;;;;;

(defun my-join-freenode-channel (channel)
  (message "Attempting to connect to freenode channel %s" channel)
  (my-switch-to-buffer-by-regex "^irc.freenode.net")
  (erc-cmd-JOIN channel))

(defun my-join-gitter-channel (channel)
  (my-switch-to-buffer-by-regex "^irc.gitter.im")
  (erc-cmd-JOIN channel))

(defun myerc-autojoin-channels (server nick)
  (message "Connected to IRC server %s" server)
  (when (s-contains-p "freenode.net" server)
    (mapc 'my-join-freenode-channel my-freenode-channels))
  (when (s-contains-p "gitter.im" server)
    (mapc 'my-join-freenode-channel my-freenode-channels)))

(add-hook 'erc-after-connect 'myerc-autojoin-channels)

;;;;; Set up 2x2 layout when getting all 4 channels ;;;;;

(defun my-setup-windows-in-two-by-two ()
  (call-interactively 'delete-other-windows)
  (my-switch-to-buffer-by-regex (nth 0 my-erc-channel-buffer-regexps))
  (split-window-vertically)
  (split-window-horizontally)
  (windmove-down)
  (split-window-horizontally)
  (my-switch-to-buffer-by-regex (nth 1 my-erc-channel-buffer-regexps))
  (windmove-right)
  (my-switch-to-buffer-by-regex (nth 2 my-erc-channel-buffer-regexps))
  (windmove-up)
  (my-switch-to-buffer-by-regex (nth 3 my-erc-channel-buffer-regexps))
  (windmove-left)
  (window-configuration-to-register ?9)
  (erc-fill-mode -1) ;; Do not wrap lines
  )

(defun my-is-wanted-erc-channel (channel-name)
  "Erc sometimes joins me to random channels lol"
  (-any-p (lambda (regex) (string-match regex channel-name)) my-erc-channel-buffer-regexps))

(setq my-irc-joined-count 0) ;; so hack.
(defun my-post-join-on-hook ()
  (message "Got channel %s in my-post-join-on-hook" (buffer-name))
  (when (my-is-wanted-erc-channel (buffer-name))
    (progn
      (setq my-irc-joined-count (+ 1 my-irc-joined-count))
      (message "Connected to IRC channel %s" (buffer-name))
      (message "my-open-irc, my-irc-joined-count: %s" my-irc-joined-count)))
  (when (equal my-irc-joined-count 4)
    (my-setup-windows-in-two-by-two)))
(add-hook 'erc-join-hook 'my-post-join-on-hook)


;;;;; Auto re-connect function ;;;;;

(setq erc-join-buffer 'bury)

(defun my-maybe-reconnect-buffer (buffer)
  (message "Attempting to reconnect %s" buffer)
  (my-switch-to-buffer-by-regex buffer)
  ;; (when (not erc-server-connected)
  ;;   (message "%s not connected ! %s\n" buffer (not erc-server-connected))
  ;;   (erc-server-reconnect))
  )

(defun my-maybe-reconnect-irc ()
  (mapc 'my-maybe-reconnect-buffer my-erc-channel-buffer-regexps))

;;;;; Tie it all together ;;;;;
(defun my-open-irc ()
  (interactive)
  (window-configuration-to-register ?8) ;; Save old layout under 8
  (if (> 4 my-irc-joined-count)
      (progn
        (erc-tls :server "irc.gitter.im" :port 6697 :nick "kozikow" :password "")
        (erc :server "irc.freenode.net" :port 6667 :nick "kozikow" :password "")
        (my-freenode-force-join))
    (progn
      (my-maybe-reconnect-irc)
      (jump-to-register ?9)
      )
    )

  (setq erc-modified-channels-alist nil) ;; Clean up old notifications
  (erc-modified-channels-update) ;; Update changes
  (erc-fill-mode -1))

(setq erc-insert-timestamp-function 'erc-insert-timestamp-left)
(global-set-key (kbd "C-S-c i") 'my-open-irc)
(define-key erc-mode-map (kbd "M-b") 'erc-button-press-button)

(require 'notify)
(erc-track-disable)
(defun my-erc-message-on-hook (erc-message)
  (when (or (s-contains-p "ensime" (buffer-name))
            (s-contains-p "kozikow" erc-message))
    (notify (format "Irc %s" (buffer-name)) (format "%s" erc-message))))
(add-hook 'erc-insert-pre-hook 'my-erc-message-on-hook)

After all of this I think ERC is more of a library that you implement your own IRC client on, rather than actual IRC client.

• At any time, when I feel like checking out IRC I call the my-open-irc via the keybinding. It either connects, reconnects or opens the existing ERC buffers in 2×2 layout.
• When I feel like doing some work after chatting on IRC I call C-x r j 8.
• If there are any notifications, my-open-irc cleans them all (I still have some bug when it leaves some notifications hanging in mode buffer).