IRC stands for Internet Relay Chat.

If you're looking for an existing server to join, connect to irc.devdungeon.com on port 6667.

irc.devdungeon.com
# or
192.53.170.182

There are many clients out there, but here are a few:

• XChat (GUI) - For Windows, download and install from the website. For Debian, install with apt install xchat.
• Pidgin (GUI) - For Windows, download and install from the website. For Debian, install with apt install pidgin. Pidgin is nice because it supports other protocols too so you can have your XMPP account and IRC setup together.
• irssi (Terminal) - For Windows, use Debian WSL. In Debian, install with apt install irssi. In Mac, brew install irssi. Use the normal IRC slash commands like /list and /join #general. Use alt keys plus window number to switch between chat windows. E.g. ALT-1 and ALT-2.

Once you are connected to an IRC server like irc.devdungeon.com you can start running commands. Commands start with a /. Here are the essential commands you need to know.

• /list - List chat rooms and participant count
• /who #general - See who is in the channel named #general
• /join #general - Join channel named #general
• /part #general - Leave channel named #general
• /msg nanodano hey - Send private message to NanoDano
• /quit - Disconnect from server

Other commands:

• /away Be back in a few - Set an away message
• /back - Turn off away status
• /me is not surprised - Emote something; e.g. “NanoDano is not surprised”
• /motd - See the server's message of the day

Inspircd is software for running your own IRC server.

• Source (C++) https://github.com/inspircd/inspircd
• Installation instructions https://docs.inspircd.org/3/installation/

Quick setup notes:

setup_inspircd.sh

# Get latest .deb from https://github.com/inspircd/inspircd/releases
cd ~
wget https://github.com/inspircd/inspircd/releases/download/v3.10.0/inspircd_3.10.0.deb10u1_amd64.deb
apt install ./inspircd_3.10.0.deb10u1_amd64.deb
cp /usr/share/doc/inspircd/inspircd.conf.example.gz ~
gunzip inspircd.conf.example.gz
mv inspircd.conf.example /etc/inspircd/inspircd.conf
echo "Welcome!" > /etc/inspircd/motd.txt
vim /etc/inspircd/inspircd.conf
  # Edit bind ip
  # Edit server name
  # Edit motd text file path to ''motd.txt''
systemctl start inspircd
# Then connect on port 6667

Anope is the partner service that should be installed for NickServ and ChanServ for people to register nicknames and channels.