SESSION KEEPER

Stay in the room
while you're away.

An IRC Session Keeper, also known as a bouncer, is a small program that keeps your seat warm in IRC when you close the app. Here is how it works.

Close the app and you leave the room.

Think of a group phone call. Hang up and you stop hearing it, and nobody records it for you. IRC works the same way.

Without a Session Keeper

  • You close the app and leave the room.
  • Messages sent while you are away never reach you.
  • Each device starts from scratch.

With a Session Keeper

  • You close the app. Your Session Keeper stays on.
  • It keeps what was said and hands it over when you return.
  • Phone and laptop see the same rooms.

HOW IT WORKS

Keep your seat warm.

Imagine a friend sits in your chair at the table while you step out. They listen to everything. When you come back, they catch you up.

That friend is your Session Keeper: a small program on a computer that is always on. It stays logged in to IRC as you, day and night.

YouPhone or laptop
Your Session KeeperAlways on
IRCRooms and people
01

It joins IRC as you.

Your nickname. Your rooms.

02

It listens.

It saves what you miss.

03

You connect to it.

Use it instead of the network.

04

It catches you up.

Open the app and see it all.

WHY PEOPLE USE ONE

Small thing. Big difference.

Catch what you missed

Read the overnight conversation in order, with its original timestamps.

One chat on every device

Start on your laptop and finish on your phone. Same rooms in both.

Keep your seat

You never drop out of your rooms, so there is nothing to rejoin.

You own the history

Messages are saved on your own Session Keeper, and Textce never sees them.

Calmer phone

Your Session Keeper stays connected, so the app only runs when you chat.

A clear "where I left off"

Textce shows a catch-up summary and a new-message marker on reconnect.

To the network, your Session Keeper looks like an ordinary user, and to your apps it looks like an ordinary IRC server, which is why every device shows the same rooms. Because it stays connected, other people in the room see you as present even when you are away, so set an away message to let them know. Keep your Session Keeper private with a strong password, since it stores your messages.

IS IT REALLY FREE?

The software costs nothing.

The most popular Session Keeper programs, such as ZNC or Soju, are free and open source. Textce does not charge for connecting to one either, and it works perfectly well without one.

The only thing a Session Keeper needs is a computer that stays on. Here are the options.

Where it runsCostEffort
A computer you already own, like a spare laptopFreeMedium
A free-tier cloud server, where a provider offers oneFreeMedium
A shared Session Keeper run by a community or hostFree or lowEasiest
A small rented serverA few dollars a monthMedium

Free tiers and prices change, so check the provider's current terms. Whatever you pick, read the rules of the IRC network you use, as a few have their own policies about Session Keepers.

SET ONE UP

Setup in about 15 minutes.

Pick a computer that stays on.

A spare computer at home or a small rented server. It does not need to be fast.

Install a Session Keeper program.

ZNC and Soju are popular free ones. Their setup asks for a username, a password and which IRC networks to join.

Turn on encryption.

Say yes when it asks about SSL. This protects your password on the way to the Session Keeper.

Add it to Textce.

Add a network in Textce using your Session Keeper's address, port, username and password instead of the network's.

Chat. Close app. Come back.

Your Session Keeper keeps your seat, and Textce catches you up when you return.

Exact steps differ between Session Keeper programs and computers. Each Session Keeper has built-in instructions.

QUICK ANSWERS

Questions people ask.

No. Textce works on its own. A Session Keeper is for people who want to catch up on what they missed while away.

Yes. "Bouncer" is the traditional IRC name, and ZNC and Soju are two popular ones. We call it a Session Keeper because it describes what it does: it keeps your session going while you are away.

Yes, because your Session Keeper stays in the room. You can set an away message so people know you are not at the keyboard.

It is as safe as you make it. Use a strong password and turn on encryption (SSL/TLS). Because you run it, your messages stay on a machine you control.

Many do, but each network sets its own rules, and some limit how many connections you can have. Check the network's rules before you set one up.

Then you are back to normal IRC: you only see messages while you are connected. Nothing is lost that was not already unsaved, and your Session Keeper picks up again when it is back on.

Never miss the conversation.

Textce is free and works with or without a Session Keeper.

Download Textce