How to join conversations with Tor Project teams on Matrix and IRC

This article explains how to chat directly with Tor developers, relay operators, and community members via Matrix or IRC.

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The Tor community is opening up its day-to-day conversations by bridging our IRC community to the Matrix network. For regular Tor users, it means that you can chat with us using a friendly App like Element. The #tor:matrix.org room or the #tor IRC channel are connected: whichever platform you chose, your message will be shared on both platforms.

To join the conversation with Tor contributors on Matrix, you need a Matrix account. Several providers can get you one. One of these is the Matrix.org Foundation, which allows people to register an account for free. You can register an account on app.element.io.

Once you have a Matrix account, you can either join the Tor Matrix Space to browse the Tor rooms, or directly join the #tor:matrix.org user support room. Please, don't ask to ask, just ask your question.

For a long time, the Tor Project has been running many day-to-day activities using the IRC network known as OFTC. OFTC often doesn't allow people to use their webchat over Tor, but you can use an IRC client to connect using Tor. Check out our list of channels.

Please, don't ask to ask, just ask your question. People may be able to answer right away, or there may be a bit of a delay (some people are listed on the channel but are away from their keyboards and record channel activities to read later).

Register your nickname

Here's how to reach #tor and other registered channels.

  1. Using an IRC client, log onto OFTC (irc.oftc.net).
  2. Type: /msg nickserv REGISTER yournewpassword your@email.address
  3. Hit enter.

If all goes well, you will receive a message that you are registered. The system may register you as your nick instead of your nick. If so, just go with it but remember you are user and not user.

Every time you log on to IRC, to identify your registered nick, type:

/nick yournick
/msg nickserv IDENTIFY your-password

Verify your nickname

After registering your nickname, to gain access to the #tor and other protected channels, your nickname must be verified.

  1. When you register an account, NickServ will give you a link to a web page where you can verify your account. You will need to solve a Captcha in order to verify your account. The link will expire after one hour, but you can ask for a new link by typing: /msg nickserv REVERIFY
  2. If all is well, you will receive a message confirming the nickname verification : 
    -NickServ- Successfully set +R on your nick.

Joining a IRC channel

To join #tor IRC channel, you can just type /join #tor and hit enter.