Ergo on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS

Ergo is a modern IRC server (IRCd) written from scratch in Go. Unlike a traditional IRC daemon that needs a separate services package for user accounts and channels, Ergo bundles NickServ account registration, ChanServ channel registration, native TLS, persistent message history and modern IRCv3 capabilities into a single self contained binary, so a full featured chat network runs from one process with no external database or runtime to manage. This cloudimg image runs Ergo on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS as a hardened systemd service, security patched and kept current by unattended upgrades.

The server listens on the standard plaintext port 6667 and the standard TLS port 6697 across all interfaces, so it is reachable inside your virtual network. Ergo brings built in NickServ and ChanServ services, always on clients, server side message history with CHATHISTORY playback, and IRCv3 features including SASL, message tags and labeled responses, with per IP connection limits and account registration throttling left on at safe defaults.

Security is built in. There is no default operator password inside the image: a unique operator password is generated on this virtual machine's first boot, hashed with bcrypt into the configuration, and written to a root only file. A unique self signed TLS certificate for the encrypted 6697 listener is generated on first boot too, so the private key is never baked into the image, and the account and channel database is created fresh on each machine. systemd manages the service for automatic restarts and clean logging.

Ergo is distributed under the MIT license, free and open source with no per CPU or per deployment fee. cloudimg is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Ergo project; Ergo is a mark of its owner. cloudimg provides packaging, the secure by default first boot posture with a per VM operator password and TLS certificate, security patching, and 24/7 support with a guaranteed 24 hour response SLA.