# Channel specific chat server vs. irc.twitch.tv?

**URL:** <https://discuss.dev.twitch.com/t/channel-specific-chat-server-vs-irc-twitch-tv/3608>\
**Category:** Chat and IRC\
**Created:** [October 14, 2015, 7:34pm UTC](https://discuss.dev.twitch.com/t/channel-specific-chat-server-vs-irc-twitch-tv/3608 "2015-10-14T19:34:48Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 2

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**Author:** ![george](https://d3ovvz0v2ajtpu.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/discuss.dev.twitch.com/george/32/120_2.png) [@george](https://discuss.dev.twitch.com/u/george)\
**Post date:** [October 14, 2015, 9:02pm UTC](https://discuss.dev.twitch.com/t/channel-specific-chat-server-vs-irc-twitch-tv/3608/2 "2015-10-14T21:02:55Z")

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See my comment here:

> [@Multiple IRC connections](https://discuss.dev.twitch.com/t/multiple-irc-connections/3466/2):
>
> For most IRC users there are two chat clusters you need to be concerned with: _main_ and _event_. **You can access a particular channel from any server within a cluster to which it is assigned.** Almost all channels will be on the _main_ cluster with the exception of extremely large channels (riotgames) or events (esports, E3, TwitchCon, etc.).
> 
> There are various API endpoints you can use to determine which cluster a channel resides on including the one you mentioned above. For example:
> 
> Main: [http://tmi.twitch.tv/servers?channel=lirik](http://tmi.twitch.tv/servers?channel=lirik)
> 
> Event: [http://tmi.twitch.tv/servers?channel=riotgames](http://tmi.twitch.tv/servers?channel=riotgames)
> 
> The `cluster` value will tell you which you need to connect to and the `servers` array will give you a list of IRC compatible servers. (Note: you can also use port 6667)
> 
> How many connections you uses depends on how active the channels and bot is. If they are a few smaller channels you can probably group them on a single connection. If you are receiving too many messages on a single connection you might reach the limit of the server’s sending buffer and get disconnected.

tl;dr - “[irc.twitch.tv](http://irc.twitch.tv)” will work in almost all cases. The exception being channels on the event chat cluster.

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_[View the full topic](https://discuss.dev.twitch.com/t/channel-specific-chat-server-vs-irc-twitch-tv/3608)._