2025.12

Added:

• Ability to exclude previews from specific server messages (e.g. topic, part, quit)
• Ability to expand & contract condensed messages via left-click
• Ability to hide nickname for consecutive messages from the same user
• Ability to hide the indicator when a new version of Halloy is available
• Ability to set Emacs-like keybindings for text input
• Ability to specify a distinct sound for each match highlight set
• Border radius on both image previews and cards displaying images through meta tags (configurable)
• Change-host and kick server messages messages can be condensed
• Context menu added to text input when right clicking
• Context menu item added to server-wide buffers to close all queries
• Exit application from user menu
• Fuzzy matching when searching in command bar
• Keyboard shortcuts can now be unset
• Messages that fail to send are dimmed and marked, and can be deleted or re-sent (for servers that support the echo-message capability)
• Per server custom proxy configuration option
• Reload Halloy by sending SIGUSR1 on Unix system
• Setting to disable file transfers (DCC), removing it from the UI
• Setting to notify for every message in a channel
• /plain command to send text with automatic formatting disabled
• Whowas instead of Whois action in context menu for offline nicknames

Fixed:

• Channels with the same name as servers now appear before servers when searching in command bar
• Flickering logo on Welcome screen
• Hide jitter in backlog divider caused by read marker updates when marking read on send
• Larger fonts (and font sizes) can be used without blanking out the input box
• NumLock status respected in input box & shortcuts
• Server messages reporting an inability to send to a nick/channel are routed to the relevant buffer
• Standard Exif rotation data is used when displaying images

Changed:

• Buffer context menu items in sidebar are sorted alphabetically
• By default the backlog separator is hidden when all messages in a pane have been marked as read (buffer.backlog_separator.hide_when_all_read)
• Unicode nicknames are now supported
• User menu configuration moved to [sidebar.user_menu] section

2025.11

Fixed:

• Regression when loading chat history in a channel

Thanks:

• Bug reports: @Erroneuz

2025.10

Added:

• /sysinfo command to send system information to current buffer
• Copy URLs from context menu by right-clicking on links
• Settings to condense multiple consecutive server messages into a single abbreviated message
• /detach command to detach from channels (soju feature)
• Support for USERINFO CTCP query
• Configurable anti-flood protection for servers that do not advertise SAFERATE
• Channel modes will be retrieved on joining a channel (to be shown in the pane title bar)
• Display own nickname next to text input field
• Server messages can be dimmed (enabled by default), to lessen their visual impact relative to user messages
• Context menu to timestamps that shows the message date, and will copy the timestamp to the clipboard when clicked
• Setting to open new buffers scrolled to the bottom (rather than scrolled to the last unread message, the default and current behavior)
• macOS: Ability to adjust content rendering to account for titlebar
• Setting to remove all window decorations
• New sounds: Zone, Bloop, Drop, Tweep.

Fixed:

• Enforce delay between notifications
• Larger fonts (and font sizes) can be used without blanking out the sidebar or pane title bar(s)
• The primary clipboard (with copy on selection & paste with middle click) is supported on Linux
• Sound effects are now properly reloaded when config file is refreshed from within the application
• Filters are applied only to the server they are specified for
• Filters are renormalized properly when ISUPPORT is updated
• Crash when typing /bouncer into the message box
• Scroll state no longer changes rapidly when long previews for URL(s) are present in history
• Sidebar menu always takes one click to open (would sometimes require two clicks)

Changed:

• The logs pane will only contain log messages since the last of launch of Halloy (i.e. for the current session only)
• Always show version number in user menu

Thanks:

• Contributions: @Toby222, @Frikilinux, @4e554c4c, @apollo7321, @Bartkk0, @seraxis
• Bug reports: @Toby222, @deepspaceaxolotl, @zhelezov, @Erroneuz, @dgz0, @csmith, @otonoton, @mefistoso
• Feature requests: @j0lol, @xcfrg, ThePendulum, i_like_halloy

2025.9

Added:

• Added different unread icons for highlights vs regular unread messages
• Setting to change icons for unread messages and unread highlight messages
• Setting to change server icon size
• Setting to control spacing between messages in buffers
• Ability to specific multiple themes which then gets picked randomly at launch
• Notification indicator on sidebar menu for warning & error log messages
• Ability to mark as read on buffer close only if scrolled to the bottom of the buffer (new default behavior)
• /part, /topic, /mode, /kick, and /ctcp commands can have their target(s) argument skipped when it can be inferred from context (e.g. /topic will target the current channel by default when used in a channel buffer)
• /cleartopic command to remove a channel's topic (will target the current channel by default when used in a channel buffer)
• Ability to hide and theme kick server messages
• Setting to control whether or not to restore on launch the panes that were open when Halloy last closed
• Setting for split axis chosen as the shorter dimension of the focused pane (new default behavior)
• Setting for split axis chosen as the shorter dimension of the largest splittable pane
• soju.im/bouncer-networks support
• Setting to hide the backlog divider when all messages in the buffer have been read
• Setting to specify whether nickname highlighting is case sensitive
• Setting to hide topic changes

Fixed:

• Receiving files over DCC will no longer stall when sender stops accepting received receipts
• Attempting to navigate to the next/previous unread buffer, when there is no such buffer, will no longer clear the buffer
• Window position is now validated, preventing windows from opening on disconnected monitors
• When kicked from a channel the kick message will be broadcast in the server buffer (which remains open) as well as in the channel history (which is closed on kick)
• Preview images with large dimensions will not be displayed if larger than the allowed buffer size
• Do not activate the mark as read buffer when blocked/hidden messages are unread in the buffer
• Nickname highlighting is case insensitive by default (and uses the server's specified casemapping)
• Nickname changes properly broadcast in all channels user is in
• Page up/down behavior moves by consistent page length, and will no longer get stuck at the top of a buffer
• file_transfer.save_directory is now affected by path substitutions (tilde expansion & relative path prefixing)

Changed:

• Relative paths in configuration files are now prefixed with config dir

Thanks:

• Contributions: @Death916, @4e554c4c, @freakyy85, @hashcatHitman, @5GameMaker
• Bug reports: @privacyadmin, @rlndd, @wingedonezero, @Seishiin, @Erroneuz, @andar1an, freakyy85, ThinkT510, alexia, @darienm, quaff, @zhelezov
• Feature requests: @deepspaceaxolotl, @4e554c4c, @seraxis, RebeLLz, @cvengler, @barretgoat, @remexre, @dmd

2025.8

Added:

• Clear buffers with /clear command
• Notification indicator on sidebar menu for application updates and file transfers

Fixed:

• Nicknames in query was always shown as offline
• macOS now properly prioritizes XDG config directory (~/.config/halloy) over user config directory (~/Library/Application Support/halloy)

2025.7

Added:

• Ability to ignore nicknames on server level or on a per-channel basis
• Ability to truncate nicknames in buffer
• New option to customize the appearance of offline nicknames
• Specify whether nicknames in buffers appear with the user's current status or status at time of sending the message
• Log level filtering for the log buffer (ctrl + l) and log file
• Per toast type setting for showing content in toasts
• Ability to hide nick and mode change server messages
• Context menu item added to server-wide buffers to mark all messages as read
• Auto-accept file transfers, with support for nick and mask filtering
• Adjustable scrollbar sizing

Fixed:

• Sidebar menu is now drawn with the correct offset
• Prevent messages with previews from shifting position on hover
• Recognize registration completion on older servers without capability negotiation (i.e. send on_connect, umodes, etc.)

Changed:

• Optimized message loading by implementing lazy loading: buffers now load only enough messages to fill the visible area instead of always loading 500+ messages.
• The [buffer.away] section has been split into [buffer.channel.nicklist] and [buffer.nickname] for greater flexibility
• Colorize the level text in log buffer based on theme
• Scrollbars now use a dedicated scrollbar color instead of horizontal_rule
• Tor is now an optional feature. Build with --features tor to enable Tor proxy support
• Topic "set at" time is now shown with local timezone offset, instead of UTC's

Thanks:

• Contributions: @4e554c4c, @KE0VVT, @englut, @KaiKorla, @root-goblin
• Bug reports: @darienm, @mercster, @ChrisRenfrow, @glguy
• Feature requests: @rossburton, death916, @Celeo, @TehPeGaSuS, @gdluca, @darienm, @RealKindOne, @Tahomaru, @tribly

2025.6

Find full documentation at https://halloy.chat/

Added:

• New application icon
• Show channel mode in panel if available
• Configuration options for font weight and bold weight
• /delay <seconds> command that can be used to control the timing of commands sent on connect
• Configuration option for the ordering of servers in the sidebar

Fixed:

• Handling of RPL_NOWAWAY & RPL_UNAWAY to reflect user's own AWAY state
• Draft messages are saved while navigating message history (i.e. pressing ↑ then ↓ in the input box will restore an unsent message after displaying sent message history)

Thanks:

• Contributions: @englut, @KaiKorla, @kit-ty-kate, @mhegreberg, @ohhskar, Rune Seir
• Bug reports: @awbradle
• Feature requests: @darienm, @kasper93, @auronandace, @n-kalosha

2025.5

Find full documentation at https://halloy.chat/

Added:

• Ability to show a modal prompt before opening a URL
• WHOIS command now accepts optional server parameter
• CTCP requests through commands and user context
• Title bar button and keyboard shortcut to mark a buffer as read (will update the read marker as well, if the read-marker capability is available)
• Mark as Read settings to control when buffers are automatically marked as read
• /hop command. /hop parts the current channel and joins a new one
• Settings to limit passwords read from a file to the first line of the file only (on by default)
• Receive WALLOPS messages in the server buffer (color configurable in themes)

Changed:

• Clicking to insert a username will now use same suffixes specified for autocomplete
• Emoji picker will only show once there are two characters after : (by default, configurable)
• Autocomplete will match users based on how recently they were seen in the channel (by default, configurable)
• Include & exclude settings for previews apply to queries as well as channels

2025.4

Find full documentation at https://halloy.chat/ (Yes, we got a new fancy domain!)

Added:

• All toast notifications now display the server name
• Server messages (join, part, etc.) are now user-aware and will color nicknames accordingly
• Actions will be colored with the same features as regular messages (nicknames, urls, etc)
• Shortcuts for cycling buffers with unread message(s)
  • Cycle to next buffer with unread message(s) ctrl + `
  • Cycle to previous buffer with unread message(s) ctrl + ~
• Navigate commands & emoji picker with↑ & ↓ (as well as Tab &Shift +Tab)
• Expanded command completion and error checking/reporting
• Various shortcuts for https://themes.halloy.chat/
  • The Command Bar now includes a "Discover More Themes" action, which opens the website
  • The Theme Editor now has a "Share Theme with Community" option that opens the submit page with the theme payload pre-filled
• Ability to adjust alpha value of away users
• New action settings section with settings to control how to open buffers in response to various user actions

Fixed:

• No longer freezes under Wayland when window(s) are not visible
• Emoji picker is no longer case sensitive (i.e. 🤔 and :THINKING: will both match 🤔)
• Full support for the /notice command
  • Message text will no longer be truncated to the first word
  • Sent notices appear in message history
  • /notice <targets> (without any message text) will open a pane for the target(s) without sending a message
• /msg <targets> supports more than one target when opening pane(s) without sending a message

Changed:

• Improved font rendering on Windows for better readability
• Sidebar buffer action settings have been moved to the new action settings section
  • sidebar.buffer_action → actions.sidebar.buffer
  • sidebar.buffer_focused_action → actions.sidebar.focused_buffer

2025.3

Find full documentation at https://halloy.squidowl.org/.

Added:

• Highlights by regex and words
• Time remaining is now displayed during file transfers
• Sidebar now automatically adjusts its width based on content
• Ability to customize default pane splitting direction (vertical or horizontal)
• Clicking a nickname is now configurable. The default behavior has changed to open a query.
• Ability to quit Halloy through commandbar and keyboard shortcut
• New shortcuts for scrolling a buffer:
  • Scroll buffer up a page pageup (Fn + ↑ on macOS)
  • Scroll buffer down a page pagedown (Fn + ↓ on macOS)
  • Scroll to top of buffer ctrl + ↑ (⌘ + ↑ on macOS)
  • Scroll to bottom of buffer ctrl + ↓ (⌘ + ↓ on macOS)

Changed:

• [file_transfer.save_directory] is now default download path for transfers. If set, files will be downloaded there by default. Otherwise, you'll be prompted to choose a location
• Ability to dynamically select dark or light theme based on OS appearance.
• /msg <target> (without any message text) will now open a pane for the target without sending a message
• Text input of the active pane will remain focused after all actions
• Focus last known active pane on launch
• Changed maximize / restore buffer shortcuts to ctrl + shift + ↑ / ctrl + shift + ↓ (⌘ + shift + ↑ / ctrl + shift + ↓ on macOS) to prevent collision with new scroll shortcuts