MERK is a free, open source, multiple-document interface Internet relay chat for Windows and Linux. It can be run with Python 3.9+ if PyQt5 and Twisted are installed; to connect to TLS/SSL enabled servers, install pyOpenSSL and service_identity. If you encounter problems running MERK with Python 3.9+ on Windows, you may need to install pywin32.

• merk-0.050.700.zip contains the Python code for MERK; unzip the source to any folder, navigate to that folder with your favorite console application, and type python merk.py to run MERK.

MERK is also packaged with PyInstaller for Windows users who don't want to install Python!

• merk-windows-0.050.700.zip can be unzipped to any folder, and contains an executable and a directory with support files; double click on merk.exe to run MERK.
• merk_setup-0.050.700.zip contains an installer for MERK; unzip and double click setup.exe. MERK can be installed anywhere.
• MERK_User_Guide.pdf contains a guide for using MERK, as well as writing scripts. It is available in the app, in the "help" menu.

All downloads contain README.html, which contains usage information about the application and a list of all commands supported by MERK. Further information can be found on the MERK source code repository.

Configuration files and logs are stored in a directory named .merk in the user's home directory.

All files for this release are mirrored on Dropbox here.

WARNING! MERK may appear to be infected with something by your antivirus. It is not infected with anything, it just seems to appear that way because some malware in the past was packed with PyInstaller (at least, this is my theory). I have uploaded all binaries to VirusTotal.

Released Friday October 3, 2025