zeroclaw-labs/zeroclaw · error · anyhow::Error

IRC channel requires the `channel-irc` feature

Error message

IRC channel requires the `channel-irc` feature

What it means

Raised by build_channel_by_id when channel_id = "irc" is requested but the binary lacks the `channel-irc` feature. The enabled arm reads config.channels.irc (verify_tls defaults to true, mention_only passthrough); without the feature only the bail arm is compiled. Note channel-twitch depends on channel-irc, so any twitch-enabled build also has IRC compiled in.

Source

Thrown at crates/zeroclaw-channels/src/orchestrator/mod.rs:9509

            };
            Ok(Arc::new(IrcChannel::new(crate::irc::IrcChannelConfig {
                server: irc_cfg.server.clone(),
                port: irc_cfg.port,
                nickname: irc_cfg.nickname.clone(),
                username: irc_cfg.username.clone(),
                channels: irc_cfg.channels.clone(),
                alias,
                peer_resolver,
                server_password: irc_cfg.server_password.clone(),
                nickserv_password: irc_cfg.nickserv_password.clone(),
                sasl_password: irc_cfg.sasl_password.clone(),
                verify_tls: irc_cfg.verify_tls.unwrap_or(true),
                mention_only: irc_cfg.mention_only,
            })))
        }
        #[cfg(not(feature = "channel-irc"))]
        "irc" => {
            anyhow::bail!("IRC channel requires the `channel-irc` feature");
        }
        #[cfg(feature = "channel-twitch")]
        "twitch" => {
            let tw_cfg = config
                .channels
                .twitch
                .get("default")
                .context("Twitch channel is not configured")?;
            let alias = "default".to_string();
            let peer_resolver: Arc<dyn Fn() -> Vec<String> + Send + Sync> = {
                let cfg_arc = config_arc.clone();
                let alias = alias.clone();
                Arc::new(move || cfg_arc.read().channel_external_peers("twitch", &alias))
            };
            Ok(Arc::new(TwitchChannel::new(
                tw_cfg.bot_username.clone(),
                tw_cfg.oauth_token.clone(),
                tw_cfg.channels.clone(),

View on GitHub (pinned to 88bb9c8533)

Solutions

  1. Rebuild with cargo build --release --features channel-irc
  2. Or use --features channels-full
  3. Or remove [channels.irc] and "irc" bindings from config
  4. Check zeroclaw_channels::listing::is_channel_type_compiled("irc") before startup

Example fix

# before
 cargo build --release

 # after
 cargo build --release --features channel-irc
Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

use zeroclaw_channels::listing::is_channel_type_compiled;

if !is_channel_type_compiled("irc") {
    eprintln!("rebuild with --features channel-irc or remove [channels.irc]");
}

Type guard

fn irc_available() -> bool {
    zeroclaw_channels::listing::is_channel_type_compiled("irc")
}

Try / catch

match build_channel_by_id(&config_arc, "irc") {
    Ok(ch) => { /* use */ }
    Err(e) if e.to_string().contains("requires the `channel-irc` feature") => {
        // skip; rebuild hint
    }
    Err(e) => return Err(e),
}

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: start_channels / build_channel_by_id selecting "irc" from an [channels.irc] block or agent binding in a build without --features channel-irc.

Common situations: Default-feature builds (irc is in channels-full only); slim daemon builds where IRC was excluded to trim the dependency footprint; configs carried over from a full build.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of zeroclaw-labs/zeroclaw@88bb9c8533 (2026-08-23). Data as JSON: /api/errors/b626d8b4ed9450aa. Report an issue: GitHub.