Vaughn Live Chat Protocol

1. Quick start#

WebSocket client (browser)#

1. Connect: wss://<chat host>/mvn (through nginx).
2. Log in: send MVN AUTH <username> <token> #vl-mark. Guests send MVN AUTH guest.
3. Wait for the reply that starts with ACK . If you get disconnected instead, the login failed.
4. Join: JOIN #vl-mark. You get your own JOIN line, then chat history, then MVN HISTORYEND.
5. Chat: CHAT #vl-mark :Hello everyone
6. Stay alive: when you receive PING, send PONG.

IRC client#

1. Connect to the chat server port with any IRC client.
2. Set the server password to your chat token and your nick to your username. This sends PASS and NICK.
3. Wait for numerics 001 … 376. Only VIP accounts are allowed on IRC. Others are disconnected.
4. JOIN #vl-mark, then PRIVMSG #vl-mark :Hello.

2. Basics#

2.1 Message format#

COMMAND arg1 arg2 :free text until end of message

• Separator: fields are separated by single spaces.
• Free text: starts after : (space, colon) and runs to the end.
• Case: commands are UPPERCASE and case-sensitive.
• One command per message:
  • WebSocket: one command per text frame.
  • Raw TCP and IRC: one command per line, ending with \n.
• Two command families:
  • Top-level commands: CHAT, JOIN, PART, PONG, PRIVMSG, …
  • Server commands, which start with MVN : MVN AUTH, MVN BAN, …

⚠️ MVN CHAT does not exist. CHAT is top-level. Sending MVN CHAT … is an unknown MVN command, and the server disconnects you.

2.2 Unknown commands disconnect you#

2.3 Channel names#

#<site>-<streamer>

• Lookup: channel names are matched in lowercase.
• # is optional: JOIN vl-mark and JOIN #vl-mark are the same channel.
• Stream owner: the user whose name matches the part after - is the streamer (caster) of that channel.

2.4 Text the server changes in your messages#

Before handling a message, the server replaces these characters. Clients receive the replaced form and must decode it for display.

• < is turned back into <, and > into >.
• The server does NOT escape <, > or &. The web client escapes them before sending. Any client that displays chat as HTML must escape incoming text itself.
• IRC receivers: for IRC clients the server decodes " ' \ < > back to plain characters.

2.5 Limits#

Idle means nothing has been received from the client. Any message resets the timer, not only PONG.

3. Connecting#

3.1 WebSocket#

Standard RFC 6455 handshake.

GET /mvn HTTP/1.1
Host: <chat host>
Upgrade: websocket
Connection: Upgrade
Sec-WebSocket-Key: <key>
Sec-WebSocket-Version: 13

• Path: the server does not check the path. /mvn is the convention.
• Header case: Upgrade: websocket is accepted in any letter case.
• Real IP: through nginx, the client IP comes from CF-Connecting-IP. That header is only trusted when the connection comes from an IP listed in trusted_proxies in Settings.mvn.
• Text frames: client frames must be masked (standard). Each server frame is one message, and its payload ends with \0, which you should strip.
• Control frames:
  • Close (opcode 8) disconnects you.
  • Ping (opcode 9) is answered with pong (opcode 10).
• No fragmented frames: continuation frames are not supported. Send each command as one complete frame.

3.2 Raw TCP (Android app)#

• Plain text lines ending with \n, using the same commands as WebSocket.
• Log in with MVN AUTH_ANDROID … (section 5.1).
• Server lines end with \n.

3.3 IRC#

• Plain IRC lines ending with \n.
• Log in with PASS and NICK (section 6).

4. Top-level commands (client → server)#

4.1 Chat "dot commands"#

A CHAT message starting with . is treated as a command. These need the same permissions as the matching MVN command (section 5).

Any other text starting with . is sent as normal chat.

5. MVN commands (client → server)#

Format: MVN <ACTION> <arg1> <arg2> …

5.1 Login#

The arguments:

• <token> is the account's chat token. The server checks it with the auth API (chatAuth2_dapi.php) and does not check it itself.
• <#chan> is the channel you are logging in from.
  • Its site prefix (vl-, btv-) sets your site tag.
  • Your follow/subscriber status for that channel is loaded at login.

Possible results:

ACK format. All fields after the first space are joined with ;:

ACK <name>;<color>;<level>;<username_font>;<username_color>;<chat_font>;<chat_color>;<chatclearing>;<secondary_timestamp>;<fontsize>;<theme>;<theme_color>;<confirmed 0/1>;<following 0/1>;<following_epoch>

The server then also sends MVN IMSTATUS <vn:name>1</vn> (or …>0</vn>).

User levels:

Quirk: login replies come in the background. If you send JOIN or CHAT before ACK arrives, you are not logged in yet and get disconnected.

5.2 Channel info#

Important: a web or Android client only receives other users' JOIN and PART lines for a channel after it has sent MVN CHATTERS #chan for that channel. IRC clients always receive them.

5.3 Moderation#

Permissions:

• "Mod rights" means: staff, the streamer, a moderator of the channel, the bot account, or a chat relay. Tech accounts also have them in a few house channels.
• Protected targets: staff, crew, tech and the streamer can't be targeted.
• Mods vs mods: a moderator can't act on another moderator. The streamer or staff can, and doing so removes the target's mod status first.

Staff-only (global):

Quirk: for GLOBAL*, channels receive the whole original line with /all removed, for example MVN GLOBAL Server restart in 5 minutes.

5.4 Channel modes#

Who: staff, the streamer or a moderator, unless noted. <seconds> is optional.

5.5 Messaging and other#

6. IRC#

6.1 Login#

PASS <chat token>
NICK <username>

• Order: either order works. Login starts once both have been received.

• Nick prefixes: tags like [vip] and [ Mod ] are stripped from the nick.

• VIP only: non-VIP accounts are disconnected after the auth API replies.

• On success:

  TEXT

  :<irc_name> 001 <tagged nick> :Connected to VaughnSoft IRC
  :<irc_name> 002 <tagged nick> :Welcome to the VaughnSoft IRC Network
  :<irc_name> 003 <tagged nick> :This server was created on <date>
  :<irc_name> 004 <tagged nick> VaughnSoft IRC by VaughnSoft Media Corporation
  :<irc_name> 005 <tagged nick> PREFIX=(aqhgov)~&%^@+ :
  :<irc_name> 376 <tagged nick> END OF MOTD

  <irc_name> is the irc_name value in Settings.mvn.

6.2 Name tags#

User names sent to IRC clients carry role tags in front:

Quirk: tags contain spaces, so a source like :[vip] [ Mod ] Bob PRIVMSG #vl-mark :hi doesn't follow strict IRC syntax. Most IRC clients show it, but parsers may split it.

6.3 Joining and chatting#

What IRC clients receive from others:

• Chat: :<tag>name PRIVMSG #chan :text
• Joins and parts: :<tag>name JOIN :#chan and :<tag>name PART #chan

Quirk: channel events like bans and mode changes reach IRC clients as raw MVN lines, for example MVN BAN #vl-mark bob alice, not as IRC messages.

When you run a moderation command, you get a readable line instead, for example :vn PRIVMSG #vl-mark :alice banned bob.

6.4 Names and keep-alive#

7. Chat messages#

7.1 Sending#

CHAT #vl-mark :This is my chat message to mark's stream on Vaughn Live

You must be logged in and have joined the channel. The bot and relay accounts don't need to join.

When the message is not sent:

Who skips slow mode: bots, relays, the streamer, mods, staff, crew, tech and regulars.

7.2 Receiving (text format)#

<user info> CHAT #chan :<text>

<user info> is 11 fields joined with ;:

Example:

Alice;blue;1;1;vl;-1;-1;-1;-1;bWVzc2FnZV9pZCw...;0f8e...c2 CHAT #vl-mark :hello

Payload field. Decode the base64. You get key,value; pairs:

• subscriber,<base64("1;<ISO date>")>; when the sender is a subscriber of the channel
• message_id,<GUID>;

You don't receive your own messages back. The server confirms them with MVN MSGID (7.3).

7.3 Message IDs#

CHAT #vl-mark,<your uuid> :hello

• The server answers MVN MSGID <your uuid> <server GUID>.
• If you don't send a UUID, the server makes one up and still sends MVN MSGID.
• The server GUID is the ID other users see and the one MVN PURGE_ID uses.

7.4 JSON format#

When the sender logged in with MVN AUTH2…, their messages go out as JSON. This happens for every recipient, not just JSON clients.

{"id":"abc-123456789","type":"chat","site":"vl","platform":"vaughnlive","channel":"mark",
 "username":"Alice","user_level":1,"user_vip":true,"username_font":-1,"username_color":-1,
 "chat_font":-1,"chat_color":-1,"message":"hello",
 "channel_subscribed":false,"channel_subscribed_level":0,"channel_subscribed_months":0,
 "channel_subscribed_dt":0,"channel_subscribed_dt_iso":"",
 "channel_followed":false,"channel_followed_months":0,"channel_followed_dt":0,"channel_followed_dt_iso":"",
 "dt_epoch":1793500000,"dt_iso":"2026-11-01T12:00:00.000Z"}

Quirks:

• The format follows the sender's login, not the receiver's.
• The channel_subscribed* and channel_followed* fields are always defaults.
• message is not JSON-escaped beyond the character replacements in 2.4.

8. Joining a channel (web and raw TCP)#

8.1 What you receive#

1. Your JOIN line:

   TEXT

   <name>;<color>;<level>;<vip>;<site>;<gold badge>;<payload> JOIN #chan <channel settings>

   <channel settings> is 17 fields joined with ;:

   | # | Field | |---|---| | 1 | guest chat on | | 2 | slow on | | 3 | slow seconds | | 4 | confirmed-only on | | 5 | username_font | | 6 | username_color | | 7 | chat_font | | 8 | chat_color | | 9 | VPN filter | | 10 | guest VPN filter | | 11 | confirmed VPN filter | | 12 | followers-only on | | 13 | followers seconds | | 14 | followers VPN filter | | 15 | you follow | | 16 | follow date ISO | | 17 | seconds followed |

2. History, up to 64 lines:

   TEXT

   <user info>;<message_id> HISTORY <ISO date> #chan :<text>

   • The user info has the same 11 fields as 7.2, followed by the message ID again.
   • Purged messages read <purged message>.
   • Superchats look like <id> HISTORY_SC <ISO date> <payload>.

3. End of history: MVN HISTORYEND. WebSocket only. Web and raw TCP clients get all history in one message separated by \n.

8.2 What can stop the join#

8.3 Other users joining and leaving#

You only see these after you have sent MVN CHATTERS #chan (5.2).

• Joins: <name>;<color>;<level>;<vip>;<site>;<gold badge>;<payload> JOIN #chan <guest>;<slow>;<confirmed-only>
• Leaves: <name>;<color>;<level> PART #chan
• Not shown: guests, and users who already have another connection in the channel.

9. Messages the server sends on its own#

9.1 Keep-alive and errors#

9.2 Channel events from the website#

These are pushed through the HTTP API.

10. Example session (WebSocket)#

→ MVN AUTH alice 3f9c…|vn| #vl-mark
← MVN IMSTATUS <vn:Alice>1</vn>
← ACK Alice;blue;1;-1;-1;-1;-1;-1;-1;-4;-4;-4;1;1;1790000000
→ JOIN #vl-mark
← Alice;blue;1;1;vl;0;… JOIN #vl-mark 0;1;10;1;-1;-1;-1;-1;0;0;0;0;10;0;1;2026-01-01T00:00:00.000Z;26000000
← Bob;purple;1;0;vl;…;9a1e… HISTORY 2026-11-01T11:59:00.000Z #vl-mark :hi all
← MVN HISTORYEND
→ MVN CHATTERS #vl-mark
← MVN CHATTERS #vl-mark Bob;purple;1;0,Alice;blue;1;1
← MVN CHATTERSEND #vl-mark
→ CHAT #vl-mark,7d0c2c1e-0000-4000-8000-000000000001 :hello!
← MVN MSGID 7d0c2c1e-0000-4000-8000-000000000001 5b6f…
← PING
→ PONG

(→ is client to server, ← is server to client. Each ← WebSocket frame payload ends with \0.)