The Interface
This chapter is in progress
An outline is below. Help finish it via Edit this page on GitHub.
A tour of the Lurker window and how messages are organized.
Buffers
- What a buffer is: channels, direct messages, and the system buffer.
- The buffer list: pinning, rearranging, and unread indicators.
Reading and writing
- Message composition, drafts, and tab completion.
- Saved messages and user notes.
Direct messages & presence
- Starting a DM and reading peer presence (online / away / offline).
Link previews & inline media
Links in chat can do more than sit there as text. Two toggles in Settings → Chat control it, and both start off — turn on what you want:
- Link previews — a link to an article or video unfurls into a card below the message: title, description, and a picture when the page offers one.
- Inline media — a link that points straight at an image renders the picture itself below the message instead of just the URL. A link to a video or audio file gets a card naming it; opening one goes to the site hosting it.
They're independent: preview cards without inline images is a perfectly good combination, and so is the reverse. Turning both off returns every link to plain text.
Don't see these settings?
The toggles only appear when your instance has link previews enabled. If they're missing from Settings → Chat, ask your operator — it's one environment variable on the server (self-hosting docs).
Customizing the look
- The 40+ settings and the retro terminal theme.