<img src="https://github.com/nutjob-laboratories/merk//raw/main/graphics/banner.png"> <big>Open Source IRC Client</big> A multiple-document interface IRC client for Windows, Linux, and macOS <big>Current stable release: <a href="https://github.com/nutjob-laboratories/merk/releases/tag/0.051.700">MERK 0.051.700</a></big> Current development version: 0.051.711 <a href="https://merk.chat">Visit us at https://merk.chat!</a> <a href="https://buymeacoffee.com/danhetrick">Help Fund MERK!</a>

I finally found a job! But MERK still needs your help. If you'd like to help me and help support MERK, please consider donating. Anyone who donates $50 or more will get their name immortalized on the "patrons" tab in MERK's "about" dialog. MERK will always be free, and will always be open source. Thanks for your time, and I hope you enjoy MERK! Let's keep IRC alive in the 21st century!

Downloads
Summary
Running MERK on Windows
Running MERK on Linux
Running MERK on macOS
Running MERK with Python
Python Requirements
Features
Screenshots
Usage
Commands
MERK "Markdown"
Plugins
Example command-line usage
Why does MERK exist?
What does MERK mean?
Does MERK need any help?

Downloads

All files are packed in ZIP archive files, unless otherwise noted. All files available for direct download below are for the current development version of MERK. If you have previously installed MERK and would like to update to a new version, just download the installer and install MERK again; your install will be updated to the latest version.

Summary

MERK is a graphical open source Internet relay chat client. The current development version is 0.051.711. It uses a multiple-document interface, much like the popular Windows IRC client mIRC. MERK is written in Python 3, using the PyQt5 and Twisted libraries, and runs on Windows, Linux, and macOS. MERK has a rich plugin framework; plugins can be created, written, and exported directly inside the application with no need of outside tools. MERK is updated frequently with new features and bugfixes.

MERK is explicitly designed to be easy and intuitive to use, but powerful. Users never have to delve deeper into the interface than they want to.

MERK has a new domain! You can visit this repository at https://merk.chat, get the latest release at https://download.merk.chat, and download the latest development version from https://latest.merk.chat.

MERK is still in active development, but it works, and can be used for most IRC activities. The current stable release of MERK is version 0.051.700. MERK has a user guide, which can be viewed here. The CHANGELOG reflects changes in the client in the current development version which will be present in the next release.

Join me on the official MERK IRC channel, #merk on the MansionNET network! Connect to MansionNET in the client as one of the built-in server suggestions, or at irc.inthemansion.com, port 6697 (via SSL). I'm also an IRCop on MansionNET! I'm usually in #merk and #lobby.

Running MERK on Windows

MERK has a version built with PyInstaller which you can run without having to install Python or any of the requirements. You can download the current stable release (0.051.700) here. For more information on MERK and how it works, check out the user guide.

To run the current development version of MERK, download this zip file and unzip to any directory, and double click on merk.exe to run the client. If you download the installer, unzip and double click on setup.exe to install MERK. You can install MERK any place you'd like.

If you have previously installed MERK and would like to update to a new version, just download the installer for the newer version and install MERK again; your install will be updated to the newer version. To update the merk.exe version, extract the zip file, overwriting the older version of MERK.

A note: all command-line arguments, as documented below, work on the all versions of MERK.

Running MERK on Linux

MERK has a version built with PyInstaller which you can run without having to install Python or any of the requirements. For more information on MERK and how it works, check out the user guide. MERK supports both X11 and Wayland.

To run the current development version of MERK, download this zip file and unzip to any directory, and double click on merk to run the client, or execute merk from a console window.

If you have Flatpak installed, you can install the Flatpak distribution. Download the Flatpak of MERK, and save it. Then, navigate to where ever you saved the file with the console, and enter:

flatpak install --user merk-latest.flatpak

You may have to restart your window manager for the entry in the application menu(s) to appear. The same instructions work for releases of MERK, just replace merk-latest.flatpak with the filename of the Flatpak release. To update MERK to the latest version, just download the Flatpak of the latest version and install it.

A note: all command-line arguments, as documented below, work on the all versions of MERK.

Running MERK on macOS

First, install Python 3.13 with HomeBrew.

brew install python@3.13

Now, download MERK. Extract the zipfile to a directory of your choice using your favorite archive/zip program. With that done, we need to build a virtural environment to run MERK in. Open a console, and navigate to wherever you extracted MERK to, and execute these commands:

python3.13 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
pip install --upgrade pip
pip install pyqt5 Twisted

If you'd like to connect to servers via SSL/TLS, run these commands to install the necessary libraries:

pip install pyOpenSSL service_identity

You're all set! You can run MERK with:

python merk.py

To run MERK from a shortcut or script, you have to make sure that the virtual environment is initialized before you can run merk.py. For example, if you installed MERK into /Users/your_name/merk, you could execute:

source /Users/your_name/merk/.venv/bin/activate && python /Users/your_name/merk/merk.py

A note: all command-line arguments, as documented below, work on the all versions of MERK.

Merk

Install / Use

README

Downloads

Summary

Running MERK on Windows

Running MERK on Linux

Running MERK on macOS

Runnin