CTCP Version 1

Klaus Zeuge Troy Rollo Ben Mesander May 1993

The Client-To-Client Protocol (CTCP)
Version One

KNOWN EXTENDED DATA

Extended data passed between clients can be used to pass structured information between them. Currently known extended data types are: ACTION - Used to simulate "role playing" on IRC. DCC - Negotiates file transfers and direct tcp chat connections between clients. SED - Used to send encrypted messages between clients.

ACTION

This is used by losers on IRC to simulate "role playing" games. An action message looks like the following:

         \001ACTION barfs on the floor.\001

Clients that recieve such a message should format them to indicate the user who did this is performing an "action". For example, if the user "actor" sent the above message to the channel "#twilight_zone", other users clients might display the message as:

         [ACTION] actor->#twilight_zone: barfs on the floor.

Presumably other users on the channel are suitably impressed.

DCC

DCC stands for something like "Direct Client Connection". CTCP DCC extended data messages are used to negotiate file transfers between clients and to negotiate chat connections over tcp connections between two clients, with no IRC server involved. Connections between clients involve protocols other than the usual IRC protocol. Due to this complexity, a full description of the DCC protocol is included separately at the end of this document in Appendix A.

SED

SED probably stands for something like "Simple Encryption D???". It is used by clients to exchange encrypted messages between clients. A message encoded by SED probably looks something like:

        \001SED encrypted-text-goes-here\001

Clients which accept such messages should display them in decrypted form. It would be nice if someone documented this, and included the encryption scheme in an Appendix B.

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