chat-summaries/2026-03-10_21-00-summary.md

# Debug: IRC + WebSocket connection failures

## Task
Investigated why both IRC and WebSocket connections were failing immediately after connecting, entering infinite reconnection loops with exponential backoff.

## Findings

Both issues were **external/environmental**, not code bugs:

1. **IRC** (`irc.zeronode.net`): Server was rejecting with `ERROR :Closing link: ... [No more connections allowed from your host via this connect class (global)]`. Too many existing connections from the same host IP.

2. **WebSocket** (`wss://owncast.bowlafterbowl.com/ws`): Caddy proxy successfully upgraded (101), but the Owncast backend immediately reset the connection. Owncast instance was offline.

## Changes Made
None (instrumentation added for debugging was fully reverted after diagnosis).

## Follow-up Items
- Consider logging the actual IRC ERROR message content instead of the generic "IRC stream ended" — would make future diagnosis faster without instrumentation.
- Consider detecting fatal IRC errors (connection class limits, K-lines) and stopping reconnection attempts rather than continuing to hammer the server.
fix: HTML-escape IRC username in Owncast chat, fix WebSocket auth, fix echo suppression - Escape angle brackets around IRC username so Owncast doesn't swallow them as HTML tags (<nick> instead of <nick>) - Register a chat user via POST /api/chat/register to obtain an accessToken, then pass it as a query param when connecting to /ws (Owncast closes the WebSocket immediately without one) - Cache the access token across reconnections; re-register only on rejection - Add ws_display_name config option (default "IRC Bridge") - Fix echo suppression: record_sent and is_echo now both compare raw body instead of mismatched formatted/raw values Made-with: Cursor 2026-03-12 14:06:41 -04:00			`# Debug: IRC + WebSocket connection failures`

			`## Task`
			`Investigated why both IRC and WebSocket connections were failing immediately after connecting, entering infinite reconnection loops with exponential backoff.`

			`## Findings`

			`Both issues were external/environmental, not code bugs:`

			1. IRC (`irc.zeronode.net`): Server was rejecting with `ERROR :Closing link: ... [No more connections allowed from your host via this connect class (global)]`. Too many existing connections from the same host IP.

			2. WebSocket (`wss://owncast.bowlafterbowl.com/ws`): Caddy proxy successfully upgraded (101), but the Owncast backend immediately reset the connection. Owncast instance was offline.

			`## Changes Made`
			`None (instrumentation added for debugging was fully reverted after diagnosis).`

			`## Follow-up Items`
			`- Consider logging the actual IRC ERROR message content instead of the generic "IRC stream ended" — would make future diagnosis faster without instrumentation.`
			`- Consider detecting fatal IRC errors (connection class limits, K-lines) and stopping reconnection attempts rather than continuing to hammer the server.`