what debian compatible IRC client should I use now that hexchat is dead?

Irssi - used it first in college and never looked for anything else

I still use hexchat, it works fine.

If Hexchat is in Trixie repository (which seem to be the case) it will be maintained across its lifecycle which will be a couple of years. If you're fine with receiving security patches only, then there is no need to swap the client. As for myself I'll stick to Hexchat as well for the time being since it just works.

Weechat.

Or if you're feeling nastalgic, BitchX.

Or if you want to be more modern, Matrix with the mautrix-signal bridge and Element as a client. This is what I do so I can combine all my chat apps into one.

Konversation is pretty nice

I still use hexchat.. suppose i shouldn't since it's not being updated anymore. But, I've tried a bunch and it's the only one i like.

Most IRC users these days selfhost https://thelounge.chat/

I type really fast into a telnet session like the good lord intended!

Pong irc.2600.net

ERC, because I use GNU Emacs anyway.

I no longer use IRC; when I did, I used KVIrc near the end, which seems to still be getting releases.

I recently started using Halloy and really like it

I use catgirl

When I last needed to get on IRC I used pidgin, because it's what worked.

What happened to hexchat? I use xchat but maybe that's dead too.

I use Quassel, it's been a few years since any major updates but it still works great. I like that it has a server+client model that functions like a bouncer so you can move between machines without reconnecting to networks. It also allows all the configuration from the client's GUI so you don't have to remember commands to change anything.

Doesnt thunderbird have irc integration?

Hexchat dead? I just checked on Sid and it's available. Heck, I forgot I had it installed.

I moved to weechat. It is terminal only. I had setup some keybindings either ways on hexchat to navigate faster via keyboard between channels / servers and weechat can replicate them (albeit it takes a little time to read documentation in this case). Many folks also are hard on users of irssi but weechat met my simplistic needs.

Not to mention almost any distro will have a packaged version of weechat in its repos.

I remember liking weechat but if you prefer GUI, quassel is also good.

I've been using senpai. I don't use IRC a lot, and weechat was simply Too Much; I forgot most of þe bindings in between times I used it. Senpai is, I'm sure, less capable, but is also far easier to use.

XChat

I just use weechat in a separate wezterm tab. works well for me.