A fast, secure, IRCv3-featured IRC client built with Qt6 and C++.
uplinkirc.chat, Default network: irc.libera.chat:6697, channel #uplinkirc

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App Icon

    

_{22 icon variants, from flat black to Gruvbox to circle bubbles: pick yours in Settings → Preferences → App Icon}

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Features

🔒 Security & Authentication

Feature	Details
TLS by default	All connections via QSslSocket. TLS is the default and strongly recommended; plaintext is available via ssl = false in config for local/test servers but is not supported or recommended for production use.
TLS certificate verification	Invalid or self-signed certificates disconnect immediately with an error. No silent bypass.
SASL PLAIN	Set sasl_user + sasl_password in config. Full CAP flow: AUTHENTICATE, 903/904/906.
SASL EXTERNAL	Certificate-based auth. Set sasl_external = true, client_cert, and client_key. RSA and EC (ECDSA) PEM keys supported. The TLS client cert is presented during the handshake; the server derives your identity from it: no password sent.
DCC Send File	Right-click any nick → Send File (active) or Send File (Passive). Active: sender opens a TCP listener (works when the sender has a reachable port). Passive: receiver opens the port instead; use this when the sender is behind NAT. Standard 4-byte ACK protocol. Both sides get a live progress dialog with cancel; stalled transfers are detected and aborted automatically. Outgoing filenames are sanitized: control characters are stripped before the filename is embedded in the CTCP message, preventing CTCP injection.
NickServ auto-identify	Set nickserv_password to send IDENTIFY on RPL_WELCOME.
Credential redaction	PASS, OPER, AUTHENTICATE, and NickServ IDENTIFY payloads are never echoed in the raw log or any visible panel.
OS keychain password storage	Passwords (password, sasl_password, nickserv_password) are stored in the OS keychain (Secret Service / macOS Keychain / Windows Credential Manager). The config file holds "<keychain>" as a sentinel: no plaintext secrets on disk. Existing plaintext passwords migrate automatically on next save.
Config file hardening	config.toml is written with owner-only permissions (mode 0600). Saves are atomic via QSaveFile; a crash mid-save cannot corrupt the file.
Link preview privacy	Auto-previews skip loopback, RFC 1918 private ranges, link-local, and .local addresses. A malicious user cannot cause the client to probe your LAN.
DoS resistance	Inbound IRC data is capped at 64 KB (oversized streams disconnect). Batch messages cap at 1 000 per batch, 8 open batches maximum. Each buffer keeps at most 500 messages in memory, so busy channels cannot grow RAM indefinitely.
CTCP rate limiting	VERSION and PING CTCP replies are limited to once per nick per 5 seconds. Reflected PING payloads are capped at 32 bytes to prevent amplification.

🌐 IRC Protocol & IRCv3

Feature	Details
CAP LS 302	multi-prefix, away-notify, server-time, message-tags, batch, chathistory, draft/chathistory, labeled-response, typing, draft/typing, echo-message, chghost, draft/react, sasl, account-notify, account-tag, extended-join, invite-notify, setname, userhost-in-names, draft/message-redaction, draft/multiline, sts, standard-replies, cap-notify, draft/metadata-2, draft/metadata-3, draft/read-marker, no-implicit-names, draft/persistence
Netsplit / netjoin collapse	Server-sent netsplit and netjoin batch types collapse into a single summary line per channel instead of flooding the buffer with individual quit/join lines.
Standard Replies	FAIL, WARN, and NOTE server commands displayed in the relevant channel or server buffer with clear [FAIL]/[WARN]/[NOTE] prefixes.
STS (Strict Transport Security)	When a server advertises STS, Uplink upgrades plain connections to TLS automatically and caches the policy to ~/.config/uplink/sts.ini. Future connections enforce TLS regardless of ssl in config. Equivalent to HSTS for IRC.
Chat history replay	Requests the last 100 messages via CHATHISTORY LATEST on join. Scrolling to the top fetches older messages via CHATHISTORY BEFORE: infinite scrollback until the server runs out. On servers without chathistory, your local log files stand in: buffers open with the last 100 logged messages already loaded, and scrolling up pages further back (requires logging enabled). History messages display dimmed with original timestamps.
Bouncer support	First-class ZNC and soju: znc.in/playback, soju.im/bouncer-networks, soju.im/read, self-message echo.
mIRC formatting	Renders bold, italic, underline, strikethrough, reverse, and 16 IRC colors (fg + bg). Apply them in your own messages too: Ctrl+B/I/U/S, plus color via Ctrl+Shift+K or right-click → Color.
CTCP	Auto-replies to VERSION and PING. /ping <nick> shows round-trip time in channel. /time <nick> shows the user's local time in channel. Manual /ctcp <target> <cmd> for anything else.

🎨 Interface & Themes

Feature	Details
297 built-in themes	57 hand-picked originals (Catppuccin, Dracula, Nord, Gruvbox, Tokyo Night, Solarized, One Dark, and more) plus 240 themes from the base16 catalog, named with a -base16 suffix. Your favorite is almost certainly already in there; browse with arrow keys, apply with Enter.
Follow system light/dark	Tick Follow System Light/Dark (Auto) in Preferences, Appearance and pick a day and a night theme; Uplink switches between them live whenever the desktop flips its color scheme (Qt 6.5+). A manual theme pick always wins and turns Auto off.
Theme-colored chat	Timestamps, mention and keyword highlights, and every event line (joins, parts, quits, nick changes, notices, errors) draw their colors from the active theme's palette, so switching themes recolors the whole conversation, not just the chrome. Themes can override per event type via an [events] section (format).
Per-buffer drafts	Half-typed messages stay put: switch channels mid-sentence and your text is waiting in that buffer's input box when you come back.
Reworked Preferences	Theme as a collapsible list: browse and apply without closing. App icon as a grid of 22 clickable icon tiles. Hanging indent toggle and all other UI options. Open with Settings → Preferences or Ctrl+,.
Hanging indent	Wrapped messages align past the timestamp+nick column. Toggle from Preferences → Hanging Indent or hanging_indent = true in config.
Menu bar	A lean File / Edit / View / Settings / Help / Find bar: joins the KDE global menu automatically, renders in-window everywhere else. Prefer a chrome-free window? menu_style = "hidden" keeps everything reachable by shortcut (Ctrl+, opens Preferences, Ctrl+Q quits).
Auto-join channels	Each server keeps an auto-join list; those channels open by themselves at startup. Edit it under File → Manage Servers → Edit → Auto-join.
Channel panes	Right-click any #channel in the sidebar → Open in Pane. Each pane has its own chat history, nick list, topic bar (with toggle), search, and input bar. Opening one splits the roomiest view in half along its longer side, so panes stay near-square and every split keeps its own direction: a column of rows beside a single view is a layout you can build. Panes stop when the space does (both halves must stay readable; hard ceiling of 8 views), rather than at a fixed count. Preferences → Interface → Split Panes Automatically hands the choice back to you: untick it to flatten everything onto one axis, which is how you get three equal rows. Grab any pane's header (the main view included) to rearrange: the pane lifts out and follows your cursor, its old slot fills with a theme color, and the drop target highlights with a frame. Drop on a view's middle to swap the two, or on its left/right/top/bottom edge to place the dragged pane on that side; only that split changes direction. Layout is remembered across restarts, dividers included: proportions are stored rather than pixel widths, so it comes back right at any window size. Channels open in a pane never accumulate unread badges: you're already watching them. Click inside a pane and the sidebar loads into that pane, leaving the layout alone; click the main view first and sidebar clicks go back to loading there. The main view has a ✕ of its own once a pane is open: closing it hands the window to the panes, sidebar clicks load into one of them, and it returns when the last pane closes.
Pop-out windows	Float any channel into its own standalone window, via the pop-out icon in the channel/pane header or right-click → Open in Window. A popped-out channel is checked out of the main view (dimmed in the sidebar); closing the window returns it. Layout (and each window's size and position, per channel) is remembered across restarts.
Native Windows style	On Windows, the windows11 Qt style is used by default. No alien dark theme on fresh installs. Custom themes still available.
Per-widget font sizes	Independent size control for chat, sidebar, nick list, topic bar, input, and typing indicator. Preferences → Font Config...
Panel persistence	Nick panel width saved on quit, restored on relaunch.
Sidebar toggle	A close button in the sidebar panel collapses the server/channel list; a reveal button appears at the bottom-left of the chat area to restore it. Width is drag-resizable and persists across sessions.

💬 Chat Features

Feature	Details
Event condensation	Consecutive join, part, quit, nick-change, and kick events with no chat message between them collapse into one compact line: → nick1 nick2 ← nick3 ~ old→new. Net-change filter suppresses nicks that both join and part in the same group. Up to 10 nicks shown; overflow shown as … X more.
Send button	Paper-plane button to the right of the emoji button sends the current message, same as pressing Enter.
Byte counter	A small counter fades in at the input's right edge once a message passes half the IRC line budget (412/493). Past the limit it turns amber and shows how many messages the text will be split into; nothing is ever cut off.
Emoji picker	Click 😊 to open a searchable grid of 1,900+ emoji (Unicode 16.0). Enable with show_emoji_button = true.
:shortcode: autocomplete	Type :fire and a live completion list appears. Navigate with Up/Down, confirm with Enter.
Emoji auto-substitute	Typing :trident: replaces with 🔱 on the closing colon. Any remaining :shortcode: patterns resolve before the message is sent.
Link preview cards	URLs in messages auto-fetch og:title + og:image. Dark card with title + domain + thumbnail appears inline. Right-click any link for Copy URL / Open URL / Hide Preview / Show Preview. Works with YouTube and other heavy sites via a smart user-agent. Preview background is theme-independent.
Typing indicator	IRCv3 draft/typing. Shows nick is typing… as a transparent overlay on the chat background. Sends your own state debounced.
Ignore list	/ignore <nick> suppresses private messages, notices, and invites from a nick (channel messages stay visible). Narrow it with flags: /ignore <nick> pm notice invite in any combination. /unignore <nick> removes. /ignored lists. Right-click → Ignore submenu with per-type checkboxes and Unignore All. Persists in config.
Reactions	IRCv3 draft/react. Right-click a message timestamp → React. Incoming reactions shown inline below the message as emoji + count. /react <emoji> with a reply target selected.
Message deletion	IRCv3 draft/message-redaction. Right-click your own message timestamp → Delete. Redacted messages show [message deleted] in all clients that support it.
Account tracking	account-notify + extended-join + account-tag + WHOX. NickServ account shown as a tooltip when you hover a nick in the nick list or directly on a nick in the chat view. Updated in real time on every message (account-tag), on login/logout (account-notify), on join (extended-join), and on channel join via bulk WHO scan.
Profiles, avatars & channel icons	IRCv3 draft/metadata-2/-3. Display name, avatar and status text show in nick tooltips; ops set a channel icon with /chanavatar and it appears in every member's sidebar. Both are optional: Preferences → Chat Window → Show Avatars keeps metadata but skips the image fetch (an avatar URL points at someone else's host, which sees your IP), and Manage Servers → Use metadata skips the capability entirely for a given server.
Watch list (Monitor)	IRCv3 MONITOR. Use /monitor add <nick> to watch for someone coming online. Status changes post to the server buffer. List persists in config.
Per-channel logging	All messages written to ~/.config/uplink/logs/<server>/<channel>.log. Toggle in Preferences → Log Messages to Disk. Also powers infinite scrollback on servers without chathistory.
Reply to messages	Right-click a timestamp → Reply. Outgoing message carries +draft/reply tag. Received replies show ↩ origNick inline.
Message search	Ctrl+F searches the current buffer (Enter = next, Shift+Enter = previous, Escape = close). Ctrl+Shift+F searches the channel's full logged history: substring or regex, newest-first (requires logging enabled). Tick All buffers to search every server and channel at once, grouped by buffer; double-click a result to jump to that buffer.
mIRC colors	Full IRC color codes rendered in chat.
Tab completion	Tab-completes nick names and slash commands. Cycles through candidates.
Input history	Up/Down arrows cycle through sent messages.
Quick channel switcher	Ctrl+K opens a floating popup: type to filter channels, Enter to jump.
Channel navigation	Alt+Up/Down cycles channels, Alt+Left/Right moves keyboard focus between open panes.
Jump to bottom	Floating button appears when scrolled up in a busy channel; click to return to live chat.
Touch scrolling	Kinetic flick-to-scroll with momentum on touchscreen and tablet devices: chat, sidebar, and nick list.
User scripts	Link external scripts (any language) to custom /commands via Preferences → Scripts. Four bundled: /music, /weather, /uptime, /roll. Cross-platform: works on Linux, macOS, and Windows (via Git Bash).

🖥️ Nick List & Sidebar

Feature	Details
Embedded nick panel	User list floats as its own rounded card on the right side of the chat view, framed by an even backdrop gap on every side. The list is virtualized; it stays smooth and light even in channels with thousands of users. Click the close button in the panel header to collapse it; a reveal button appears in the channel header row, right of the search button, to restore it. Panel width persists across sessions.
Embedded sidebar	Server/channel list floats as its own rounded card, framed by the same even backdrop gap as the user list; the two side cards and the message box share one uniform gutter. A close button in the sidebar panel collapses it (chat fills the space); a reveal button at the bottom-left restores it. Width is drag-resizable and persists across sessions.
Bot indicators	Nicks with +B mode display a robot icon, tinted to the active theme's accent color.
Colored nicks	Unique color per nick in both chat and the nick list. Toggle from Settings → Preferences.
Prefix sorting	Nick list sorted by prefix rank: ~ & @ % + then alphabetical.
Right-click menu	Full action menu on any nick: Message, Send File, Send File (Passive), Whois, Invite, Give Op, Take Op, Give Voice, Take Voice, Version, Ping (CTCP, shows RTT), Copy Nick, the per-type Ignore submenu, and for ops: Kick (with reason prompt), Ban (nick!*@*), Kick & Ban.
Unread indicators	A forum icon after the channel name for new activity; a yellow lightbulb icon for nick mentions. Both clear on focus. Your nick is highlighted bold, in the active theme's mention color, inline in messages that mention you.
Highlight words	Extra keywords that act like mentions: highlighted bold in the theme's keyword color and counted in the mention badge. Set from Preferences → Notifications → Highlight Words (e.g. myproject, deploy). Case-insensitive, whole words only.

🔌 Connectivity & Servers

Feature	Details
Manage Servers dialog	Add, edit, remove servers at runtime. Changes take effect immediately, no config edit needed.
Multiple servers	Connect to as many servers as you want simultaneously.
AppImage (Linux)	Self-contained single-file executable. Download, chmod +x, run. Embeds zsync metadata; update in-place with appimageupdatetool.
Auto-reconnect	Exponential backoff: 5 s → 10 s → 20 s → 40 s → 60 s. Deliberate /quit disables it.
Signal bars indicator	4-bar stair-step widget at the left edge of the channel header row, before the topic bubble. Bar count = ping latency (4 bars < 50 ms … 1 bar > 300 ms). Blue flashing = connecting/reconnecting. Red flashing = disconnected.
System tray	Minimizes to tray on close (× button or Ctrl+W). Left-click shows window. Green dot on tray for mention/PM when unfocused; red dot for general unread.

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Quick Start

git clone https://github.com/noderelay/UplinkIRC.git
cd UplinkIRC
cmake -B build -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
cmake --build build
./build/Uplink

On first launch Uplink creates ~/.config/uplink/themes/ and seeds it with all bundled themes automatically.

Running tests

cmake -B build -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug
cmake --build build --target tst_ircparser tst_chatformat
ctest --test-dir build

Tests cover the IRC message parser (prefix parsing, IRCv3 tags, tag value unescaping, numerics, malformed input), the chat formatter (HTML escaping, IRC formatting codes, color codes, linkification), the config loader, ignore rules, the log reader, and the pane layout tree. Pass -DUPLINK_BUILD_TESTS=OFF to CMake to skip them if Qt6 Test is not installed.

For distribution packaging, pass -DUPLINK_VENDOR_DEPS=OFF to require system-installed dependencies instead of auto-downloading missing ones.

Install dependencies first

Arch Linux

Or skip the manual build entirely; Uplink is on the AUR:

yay -S uplink-irc        # latest release, built from source
yay -S uplink-irc-bin    # prebuilt binary, installs in seconds
yay -S uplink-irc-git    # development build from main

To build from source instead:

sudo pacman -S qt6-base qt6-svg qt6-websockets qtkeychain-qt6 cmake tomlplusplus

Ubuntu / Debian

sudo apt install cmake qt6-base-dev libqt6svg6-dev qt6-websockets-dev qtkeychain-qt6-dev libtomlplusplus-dev

Fedora

sudo dnf install cmake qt6-qtbase-devel qt6-qtsvg-devel qt6-qtwebsockets-devel qtkeychain-qt6-devel tomlplusplus-devel

FreeBSD

sudo pkg install cmake qt6-base qt6-svg qt6-websockets qtkeychain-qt6 tomlplusplus

macOS (Homebrew)

Skip the build; install the app straight from the tap:

brew tap noderelay/uplink
brew trust noderelay/uplink
brew install --cask uplink

The brew trust step is required on current Homebrew, which refuses to load casks from third-party taps until you mark the tap as trusted.

To build from source instead:

brew install cmake qt qtkeychain tomlplusplus

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Configuration

The config file is created automatically on first launch. You only need to fill in your nickname.

Platform	Path
Linux / FreeBSD	~/.config/uplink/config.toml
macOS	~/.config/uplink/config.toml
Windows	%USERPROFILE%\.config\uplink\config.toml

Minimal example

[[server]]
host = "irc.libera.chat"
port = 6697
ssl = true
nick = "yournick"
user = "uplink"
realname = "Uplink User"
channels = "#uplinkirc"

Full annotated example

# ── UI ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
[ui]
# Theme name: must match a .toml file in themes/ (without the extension).
# Leave as "default" for the native OS look (recommended on Windows).
theme = "catppuccin-mocha"

# Show your nick label in the input bar (e.g. "uplink ▸ ...")
show_nick_prefix = true

# Drop the topic text below the info bar
show_topic = true

# Show the 😊 emoji picker button next to the input box
# You can also always type :shortcode: to search emoji inline
show_emoji_button = true

# Unique color per nick in chat and nick list
colored_nicks = true

# Send and receive IRCv3 draft/typing indicators
typing_indicator = true

# Nick bracket style in chat messages
# "<>" = <nick>  "[]" = [nick]  "::::" = ::nick::  "" = nick (no brackets)
nick_brackets = "<>"

# Green dot on tray icon for mentions/PMs when window is not focused
notifications = true

# App icon variant. 22 choices; see docs/configuration.md for the full list.
# Old "dark"/"light" values still work and map to the new names.
app_icon = "flat-black"

# Font family. On Windows defaults to "Consolas"; elsewhere "IBM Plex Mono".
font_family = "IBM Plex Mono"

# Independent font sizes (pt) for every UI zone
font_sidebar = 10
font_chat = 10
font_nick_list = 10
font_topic_bar = 10
font_input_nick = 10
font_input = 10
font_typing = 9

# ── Server ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
[[server]]
# Friendly display name shown in the sidebar header
name = "LiberaChat"
host = "irc.libera.chat"
port = 6697
ssl = true
nick = "yournick"
user = "uplink"
realname = "Uplink User"

# SASL PLAIN: authenticate before appearing on the network
# sasl_user = "yournick"
# sasl_password = "yourpassword"

# SASL EXTERNAL: certificate-based auth (no password; identity from TLS cert)
# sasl_external = true
# client_cert = "/home/joe/.irc/client.crt"
# client_key = "/home/joe/.irc/client.key"

# NickServ IDENTIFY sent automatically on connect (alternative to SASL)
# nickserv_password = "yourpassword"

# Bouncer mode: "znc" or "soju"
# bouncer = "soju"
# bouncer_network = "libera"   # soju only: which network to attach to

# Channels to auto-join on connect (comma-separated)
channels = "#uplinkirc, #linux"

# ── Second server (optional) ─────────────────────────────────────────────────
[[server]]
name = "Libera"
host = "irc.libera.chat"
port = 6697
ssl = true
nick = "yournick"
user = "uplink"
realname = "Uplink User"
channels = "#linux, #archlinux"

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Slash Commands

Command	Description
/join #channel [key]	Join a channel
/j #channel	Alias for /join
/part [message]	Leave the current channel (/leave, /close are aliases)
/list	Open the channel browser dialog
/nick <newnick>	Change your nickname
/me <action>	Send a CTCP ACTION (* nick waves)
/msg <target> <text>	Send a private message or open a PM tab
/query <nick> [text]	Open a PM buffer, sending text with it if given
/ns <text>	Message NickServ
/cs <text>	Message ChanServ
/bs <text>	Message BotServ
/ms <text>	Message MemoServ
/oper <user> <pass>	IRC operator login
/notice <target> <text>	Send a NOTICE
/topic [text]	Show or set the channel topic
/kick <nick> [reason]	Kick a user (requires op)
/invite <nick> [#channel]	Invite a user to a channel
/mode <target> <flags>	Set channel or user modes
/op <nick>	Give op (+o)
/deop <nick>	Remove op (-o)
/voice <nick>	Give voice (+v)
/devoice <nick>	Remove voice (-v)
/ban <mask>	Ban a mask (+b)
/unban <mask>	Remove a ban (-b)
/ignore <nick> [pm notice invite]	Ignore a nick's PMs, notices, and/or invites
/unignore <nick>	Stop ignoring a nick
/ignored	List ignored nicks
/monitor add|del|list|clear|status [nick]	Manage the online/offline watch list
/react <emoji>	React to the selected message
/ping <nick>	CTCP PING: shows round-trip time in ms
/away [message]	Set away status
/back	Clear away status
/whois <nick>	Request WHOIS info
/whowas <nick>	Info on a nick that recently went offline
/setname <realname>	Change your realname live (IRCv3 setname)
/displayname <name>	Set your profile display name (draft/metadata)
/avatar <url>	Set your profile avatar (draft/metadata)
/chanavatar <url>	Set the channel's sidebar avatar (op only, draft/metadata)
/status <text>	Set your status text, shown in nick tooltips (draft/metadata)
/persistence [on|off|default]	Stay on the server while your client is disconnected (draft/persistence)
/caps	List the IRCv3 capabilities active on this connection
/stats <query>	Server statistics (u=uptime, o=opers, m=commands)
/time [nick]	Server local time, or a user's via CTCP
/motd [server]	Request the Message of the Day
/version [nick]	Request VERSION (nick optional)
/ctcp <target> <cmd> [args]	Send a CTCP request
/sysinfo	Post OS / CPU / GPU / RAM / uptime to channel
/clear	Clear the chat buffer (purges history)
/connect [host[:port]]	Reconnect, or connect to any server
/server [host[:port]]	Alias for /connect
/disconnect	Close the current server and all its channels
/raw <line>	Send a raw IRC line (/quote is an alias)
/quit [message]	Disconnect from the current server
/help	List all commands in the chat buffer

Full reference with arguments and examples: docs/commands.md.

Emoji shortcuts

Type a colon to trigger inline autocomplete:

:fire       →  list: 🔥 fire, 🔥 ...
:trident:   →  auto-replaces to 🔱 on the closing colon
:joy: :100: →  resolved to 😂 💯 before sending

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Keyboard Shortcuts

Shortcut	Action
Enter	Send message
Tab	Complete nick (cycles through candidates)
↑ / ↓	Scroll through input history
↑ / ↓ (emoji popup)	Navigate emoji completion list
Enter / Tab (emoji popup)	Insert selected emoji
Escape (emoji popup)	Dismiss completion

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Documentation

Doc	Contents
How-To Guide	Step-by-step from install to tweaks; start here
Configuration	Every config key with examples, bouncer setup, SASL
Commands	All slash commands + emoji shortcuts
IRCv3 support	Capability status and notes
Keyboard shortcuts	Full shortcut reference
FAQ & Troubleshooting	Common questions and fixes

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Brand Assets

The assets/ directory contains brand files for free use:

File	Description
assets/banner.png	Wide banner (README header)
assets/uplink-dark.png	App icon (dark variant)
assets/uplink-light.png	App icon (light variant)

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License

GPLv3; see LICENSE