category: plan

tags: [minsky, irc, mcp, bridge, implementation]

last_updated: 2026-03-17

The minsky project needs an IRC MCP bridge — a FastMCP server that wraps IRC as MCP tools so that Claude Code SDK agents can communicate over IRC channels. This is the standalone communication layer from the [[Design/Agent_IRC_Architecture]] spec. The bridge has independent utility: any MCP client can use it to interact with IRC.

The original MVP plan specified `bottom`. After evaluating both against the installed source:

- **pydle** auto-handles PING/PONG, NICK registration, NAMES/member tracking, and IRCv3 CAP negotiation. `on_channel_message(target, by, message)` is a clean override. `ClientPool` manages multiple connections. Less manual wiring = fewer bugs over time.

- **bottom** 3.0 requires manual PING handling, manual NAMES parsing, manual event handler lifecycle management, and all `send()` calls are async with quirky kwargs. Every protocol detail is DIY.

The transport abstraction means we can swap later, but pydle is the better long-term choice for infrastructure code.

Bridge only — no supervisor, no agent lifecycle, no docker-compose. Files live under `bridge/`.

Also at project root: `.env.example`

**`bridge/pyproject.toml`** — hatchling build, Python 3.12+, deps: `mcp[cli]>=1.0`, `pydle>=1.0`. Dev deps: `pytest>=8.0`, `pytest-asyncio>=0.23`. `asyncio_mode = "auto"`. Script entry: `minsky-bridge = "minsky_bridge.__main__:main"`.

**`bridge/src/minsky_bridge/__init__.py`** — empty.

**`.env.example`** — `TRANSPORT_TYPE`, `IRC_SERVER`, `IRC_PORT`, `IRC_NICK`, `MCP_PORT`.

Init git repo.

class Message:

channel: str

sender: str

text: str

timestamp: datetime

class Transport(Protocol):

async def send(self, channel: str, message: str, sender: str) -> None: ...

async def read(self, channel: str, since: datetime | None = None, limit: int = 50) -> list[Message]: ...

async def create_channel(self, name: str) -> None: ...

async def list_channels(self) -> list[str]: ...

async def get_members(self, channel: str) -> list[str]: ...

**`bridge/tests/test_memory_transport.py`** — write tests first:

- `test_create_channel` / `test_send_and_read` / `test_read_returns_newest_first`

- `test_read_since_filters_by_time` / `test_read_limit` / `test_read_empty_channel`

- `test_get_members` / `test_send_auto_creates_channel`

**`bridge/src/minsky_bridge/memory_transport.py`** — implement to pass tests. Dict-based storage, `reversed()` for newest-first.

**`bridge/tests/test_server.py`** — write tests first using `create_app(MemoryTransport())` + `app.call_tool(name, args)`. Returns `Sequence[ContentBlock]`; check `result[0].text`.

**`bridge/src/minsky_bridge/server.py`** — `create_app(transport, **kwargs) -> FastMCP`. 5 tools as closures over transport:

| Tool | Params | Returns |

|------|--------|---------|

| `send_message` | `channel, text, sender` | Confirmation string |

| `read_messages` | `channel, since?, limit?` | `[HH:MM:SS] <nick> text` lines, newest first |

| `create_channel` | `name` | Confirmation string |

| `list_channels` | — | Bulleted channel list |

| `get_members` | `channel` | Bulleted member list |

`since` is ISO 8601 string, parsed to datetime internally. `**kwargs` forwarded to `FastMCP()` constructor for `port`, `lifespan`, etc.

**`bridge/src/minsky_bridge/irc_transport.py`** — the real IRC backend.

pydle API (verified against installed 1.1.0):

- Subclass `pydle.Client`, override `on_channel_message(self, target, by, message)`

- `on_connect(self)` — auto-join channels

- `self.channels` — built-in dict tracking joined channels + members

- `await self.join(channel)`, `await self.message(target, text)`

- PING/PONG handled automatically

- `pydle.ClientPool` for managing observer + per-sender connections

Design:

- **Observer client** (subclass of `pydle.Client`): joins all channels, overrides `on_channel_message` to buffer `Message` objects into `dict[str, list[Message]]`

- **Per-sender clients**: lazy-created, each a plain `pydle.Client` with its own nick. Join channels on demand. Used only for `send()` so agent messages have the right nick.

- **Member tracking**: pydle's built-in `self.channels[channel]['users']` set — no manual NAMES query needed

- **Pool management**: `pydle.ClientPool` to run all clients in one event loop

- **Lock**: `asyncio.Lock` on `_get_sender()` and `create_channel()` for concurrency

**`bridge/tests/conftest.py`** — `pytest_addoption` for `--run-irc`.

**`bridge/tests/test_irc_transport.py`** — integration tests, skipped without `--run-irc` flag.

def main():

transport_type = os.environ.get("TRANSPORT_TYPE", "irc")

port = int(os.environ.get("MCP_PORT", "8090"))

if transport_type == "memory":

transport = MemoryTransport()

app = create_app(transport, port=port)

elif transport_type == "irc":

transport = IrcTransport(server=..., port=..., observer_nick=...)

@asynccontextmanager

async def lifespan(app):

await transport.connect()

try:

yield {}

finally:

await transport.disconnect()

app = create_app(transport, port=port, lifespan=lifespan)

app.run(transport="sse")

The lifespan pattern lets IRC connect/disconnect share FastMCP's event loop (FastMCP calls `anyio.run()` internally).

**Event loop concern**: pydle uses `asyncio` internally. FastMCP uses `anyio` (asyncio backend). These are compatible — pydle's client pool needs to run inside the same loop. The `lifespan` context manager handles this: connect observer + start pool inside FastMCP's loop, tear down on shutdown.

- Message chunking for `maxline` (add later when ergo is running)

- TLS for IRC connection

- Docker/Dockerfile

- Supervisor, agent lifecycle, prompts

- `names.txt`, `docker-compose.yml`

- stdio MCP transport

1. **Unit tests**: `cd bridge && uv run pytest tests/test_memory_transport.py tests/test_server.py -v` — all pass, no IRC needed

2. **Smoke test with memory transport**: `TRANSPORT_TYPE=memory MCP_PORT=8090 uv run minsky-bridge` — starts SSE server on port 8090, verify with curl or MCP client

3. **Integration test** (requires ergo): `uv run pytest tests/test_irc_transport.py -v --run-irc`