==ERC 5.6 and later==

This page contains information for users of older Emacsian.   When using ERC 5.6 (or above) please look at *nickbar* within (info "(erc) Modules") first.

~These instructions have been reported broken (via #erc on libera.chat) under newer Emacsian; please consider updating this page if the information below leads you in the right direction.~

To enable `erc-nickbar-mode` automatically in your Emacs configuration file (`init.el` or `.emacs`), you can add the following lines:

 (require 'erc)
 (add-hook 'erc-mode-hook 'erc-nickbar-mode)

This ensures that `erc-nickbar-mode` is activated whenever you start an ERC session. The `add-hook` function attaches `erc-nickbar-mode` to the `erc-mode-hook`, which is run whenever an ERC buffer is opened.

If you also want to make sure that the speedbar window is locked (not selectable with `other-window`), you can configure that as well:
 (setq erc-nickbar-toggle-nicknames-window-lock t)

Place both snippets in your Emacs initialization file to have this mode activated and configured the way you want.

Alternatively, instead of using the `erc-mode-hook`, you can add `nickbar` to `erc-modules` to enable `erc-nickbar-mode` automatically. This method integrates it more seamlessly with ERC's modular setup. Here's how to do it in your Emacs `init.el` file:

 (add-to-list 'erc-modules 'nickbar)
 ;; Ensure ERC reloads modules after modification
 (erc-update-modules)

By adding `'nickbar'` to `erc-modules`, the sidebar will open automatically when you connect to an IRC server for the first time in your Emacs session, without needing to manually activate it with a hook. This method also fits better with ERC's module system.

==Older Versions==

See ErcExtraModules first if you use the version of ERC that comes with Emacs 22 and you don't have erc-nicklist.el.

To display channel nicknames in a side buffer, just add the following to your .emacs or ERC configuration file:

    (require 'erc-nicklist)

Then activate the nicklist buffer, using M-x erc-nicklist RET in the channel buffer (you need to do this for each channel buffer if you want a nicklist for each channel).

M-x erc-nicklist-quit closes the nicklist buffer.

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[[ERC]], ErcExtraModules