Source-backed protocol reference

MUD Protocols and Standards

Compare 53 current, niche, experimental, and historical standards across player sessions, terminal foundations, client features, and inter-MUD networks.

Reading the status labels

Widely used A strong current interoperability target.

In use today Documented current deployment.

Niche use Current, but ecosystem-specific.

Legacy compatibility Still encountered, but superseded.

Historical Preserved without meaningful current use.

Experimental / unproven Draft, private, or without established interoperability.

Filter protocols

Selections within a group match any value; groups combine together.

Layer
Present-day status
Use and history

ATCP

Achaea Telnet Client Protocol

Player session Legacy compatibility

An out-of-band channel for game data and client capabilities that directly preceded GMCP.

First seen
2008
In use today?
Yes
Legacy?
Yes
Transport
Telnet option 200
Current use and key considerations

Still encountered in Iron Realms-derived games and compatible clients, but new systems should use GMCP.

  • Do not create new ATCP namespaces.
  • Client identity and capability claims are not credentials.
Read the local ATCP reference

GMCP

Generic MUD Communication Protocol

Player session Widely used

A bidirectional package and JSON channel for vitals, rooms, characters, chat, UI, media, and other structured game data.

First seen
2010
In use today?
Yes
Legacy?
No
Transport
Telnet option 201 with UTF-8 JSON
Current use and key considerations

The principal modern structured-data protocol across major MUD clients and several current engines.

  • GMCP defines framing, not one universal package schema.
  • Reject malformed JSON at the protocol boundary.
  • Use an RFC 1143-style Telnet option state machine to prevent loops.
Read the local GMCP reference

MSDP

MUD Server Data Protocol

Player session In use today

A bidirectional structured-data protocol supporting variables, reports, lists, arrays, and tables.

First seen
2009
In use today?
Yes
Legacy?
No
Transport
Telnet option 69 with marker-delimited values
Current use and key considerations

Supported by several current clients and engines, especially in Diku-derived ecosystems, though its recommended vocabulary is not universal.

  • It is not line-oriented text.
  • Wire compatibility does not guarantee agreement on variable names.
  • Malformed nesting must not corrupt the connection parser.
Read the local MSDP reference

MSSP

MUD Server Status Protocol

Player session Widely used

Publishes machine-readable server metadata such as name, player count, uptime, codebase, URLs, and supported capabilities.

First seen
2009
In use today?
Yes
Legacy?
No
Transport
Telnet option 70 with VAR/VAL records
Current use and key considerations

Actively used by crawlers and directories, including MUDVerse, and supported by current engines and clients.

  • Do not cache dynamic fields indefinitely.
  • MSSP values are public metadata, not an authentication channel.
Read the local MSSP reference

MCCP1

MUD Client Compression Protocol v1

Player session Legacy compatibility

The original server-to-client compression protocol, later replaced by MCCP2.

First seen
1998
In use today?
Not commonly
Legacy?
Yes
Transport
Early Telnet compression convention using zlib
Current use and key considerations

Retained only for specific old clients and historical implementations.

  • Do not treat compression as encryption.
  • Do not assume MCCP generations share one wire format.
Read the local MCCP1 reference

MCCP2

MUD Client Compression Protocol v2

Player session Widely used

Compresses the complete server-to-client byte stream after a negotiated start marker.

First seen
2000
In use today?
Yes
Legacy?
No
Transport
Telnet option 86 followed by a zlib stream
Current use and key considerations

The mature and broadly implemented compression option for traditional MUD connections.

  • The marker itself is not compressed.
  • Later Telnet commands are inside the compressed stream.
  • Compression provides no confidentiality.
Read the local MCCP2 reference

MCCP3

MUD Client Compression Protocol v3

Player session Niche use

Adds client-to-server compression as the reverse-direction complement to MCCP2.

First seen
2019
In use today?
Yes
Legacy?
No
Transport
Telnet option 87 with client-to-server zlib
Current use and key considerations

Implemented by TinTin++ and some reference handlers, but adoption and practical bandwidth benefit are limited.

  • Client command traffic is normally small.
  • Compression is not security and does not protect passwords.
Read the local MCCP3 reference

MCCPX

MUD Client Compression Protocol Extensions

Player session Experimental / unproven

A draft for independently negotiated bidirectional compression using zstd, deflate, or no compression.

First seen
2025
In use today?
Not commonly
Legacy?
No
Transport
Draft Telnet option 88 with negotiated codecs
Current use and key considerations

An experimental 2025 draft whose stated draft lifetime ended in March 2026; it is not a production baseline.

  • The specification remains a work in progress.
  • Compression is not a security mechanism.
  • Deployment interoperability is not established.
Read the local MCCPX reference

MCCP4

MudForge experimental compression protocol

Player session Experimental / unproven

A MudForge-advertised experimental compression feature described as zstd-based, separate from MCCPX.

First seen
2025
In use today?
Not commonly
Legacy?
No
Transport
No public interoperable wire specification located
Current use and key considerations

No public option number, framing specification, or independent interoperable implementation was verified.

  • MCCP4 is not another name for MCCPX.
  • Treat the current name as an implementation claim, not a standard.
Read the local MCCP4 reference

MXP

MUD eXtension Protocol

Player session In use today

Adds links, menus, formatting, entities, gauges, frames, images, and other interactive presentation features to text output.

First seen
1998; v1.0 in 2003
In use today?
Yes
Legacy?
Yes
Transport
Telnet option 91 plus streaming markup
Current use and key considerations

Clickable SEND links remain useful and supported, while full implementations vary substantially between clients.

  • Never pass untrusted player text into secure MXP.
  • Do not assume negotiation means every MXP tag is supported.
  • The full historical feature surface is complex and inconsistently implemented.
Read the local MXP reference

MSLP

MUD Server Link Protocol

Ancillary / client Niche use

A lightweight convention for clickable links and actions without its own Telnet option.

First seen
Date not established
In use today?
Yes
Legacy?
No
Transport
ANSI underline and OSC 68 conventions; advertised by MTTS
Current use and key considerations

Native adoption is narrow, with TinTin++ the clearest documented implementation.

  • Do not use MSLP as the only hyperlink mechanism.
  • OSC 68 forms are not equivalent to universally supported OSC 8 links.
Read the local MSLP reference

MSP

MUD Sound Protocol

Ancillary / client Legacy compatibility

Lets a server request sound or music playback, historically with optional web downloads.

First seen
Documented by 2001
In use today?
Yes
Legacy?
Yes
Transport
Telnet option 90 plus line-oriented SOUND and MUSIC triggers
Current use and key considerations

Still supported for compatibility, but MCMP is a cleaner choice for new media features.

  • Reject absolute and traversal paths.
  • Treat filenames and URLs as untrusted active content.
  • Users must retain control over playback and downloads.
Read the local MSP reference

MCMP

MUD Client Media Protocol

Ancillary / client Niche use

A modern media package for sound, music, and video transported through GMCP.

First seen
Publicly documented by 2019
In use today?
Yes
Legacy?
No
Transport
GMCP Client.Media JSON package
Current use and key considerations

Most clearly implemented by Mudlet; any GMCP-capable engine can add it without another Telnet parser.

  • Remote media remains an active-content boundary.
  • Do not override client media preferences.
Read the local MCMP reference

MTTS

MUD Terminal Type Standard

Player session In use today

Uses repeated terminal-type replies to report client identity and a bitmask for UTF-8, colors, screen readers, proxies, MNES, MSLP, TLS, and other capabilities.

First seen
Date not established
In use today?
Yes
Legacy?
No
Transport
Convention layered on Telnet TTYPE option 24
Current use and key considerations

A lightweight and useful capability mechanism supported by several modern clients.

  • Non-MTTS clients may return a different number of values.
  • Reported capabilities are hints, not trusted identity.
Read the local MTTS reference

MNES

MUD New Environment Standard

Player session Niche use

Standardizes MUD-oriented client, version, charset, and capability variables over NEW-ENVIRON.

First seen
Date not established
In use today?
Yes
Legacy?
No
Transport
Telnet NEW-ENVIRON option 39
Current use and key considerations

Supported by TinTin++ and optionally by Mudlet, but less universal than TTYPE and MTTS.

  • Never use environment values for authorization.
  • Use MNES alongside, not instead of, TTYPE and MTTS.
Read the local MNES reference

MCP

MUD Client Protocol v1 and v2.1

Player session Niche use

A package-negotiation framework associated mainly with MOO and MUCK clients, including editor and application packages.

First seen
1990s
In use today?
Yes
Legacy?
Yes
Transport
In-band 7-bit ASCII lines beginning with #$#
Current use and key considerations

Still relevant inside its MOO/MUCK niche, but not a general replacement for GMCP.

  • The session key prevents accidental framing collisions; it is not cryptographic authentication.
  • Outside the MU* ecosystem, current support is limited.
Read the local MCP reference

ZMP

Zenith MUD Protocol

Player session Legacy compatibility

A generic bidirectional named-command protocol with package conventions for identity, capabilities, ping, time, and application messages.

First seen
Circa 2003
In use today?
Not commonly
Legacy?
Yes
Transport
Telnet option 93 with NUL-delimited command arguments
Current use and key considerations

Preserved and still available in a few implementations, but largely superseded by GMCP and MSDP.

  • Implementations must cope with large subnegotiations.
  • Do not design a new general protocol namespace around ZMP.
Read the local ZMP reference

MMP

MUD Map Protocol

Ancillary / client Niche use

Publishes areas, rooms, coordinates, exits, and environments for client-side map creation.

First seen
Circa 2010
In use today?
Yes
Legacy?
No
Transport
XML map export over HTTP or files
Current use and key considerations

Used in the IRE and Mudlet mapping ecosystem; it is an export format rather than a session protocol.

  • Bulk maps can reveal unexplored world data.
  • Decide explicitly which rooms and metadata are public.
Read the local MMP reference

MMCP

Mud Master Chat Protocol

Ancillary / client Legacy compatibility

A client-to-client chat and file-transfer protocol, not a normal MUD server option.

First seen
Date not established
In use today?
Yes
Legacy?
Yes
Transport
Separate peer-to-peer TCP connections between clients
Current use and key considerations

Retained in TinTin++, MUSHclient, and other compatible clients, but based on old peer-network assumptions.

  • NAT and contemporary network security complicate the original model.
  • Inbound messages and files are untrusted.
Read the local MMCP reference

zChat

zChat Protocol

Ancillary / client Legacy compatibility

A peer chat and file-transfer protocol inspired by, but incompatible with, MudMaster chat.

First seen
1999
In use today?
Yes
Legacy?
Yes
Transport
Separate client-to-client TCP protocol
Current use and key considerations

Historically associated with zMUD and still recognized by MUSHclient; it is not a normal server feature.

  • Do not assume compatibility with MMCP.
  • The original trust model predates modern network expectations.
Read the local zChat reference

Aardwolf 102

Aardwolf Telnet Option 102 Subchannel

Ancillary / client Niche use

A hidden game-data channel created for Aardwolf and recognized by several compatible clients.

First seen
Date not established
In use today?
Yes
Legacy?
No
Transport
Game-specific Telnet option 102
Current use and key considerations

Actively relevant only for Aardwolf compatibility.

  • It is a private game convention, not a portable standard.
  • Do not copy it into a greenfield engine.
Read the local Aardwolf 102 reference

MPLEX

Multi-screen Telnet Extension

Ancillary / client Historical

Creates multiple terminal screen contexts that can be selected, shown, hidden, and resized.

First seen
Circa 2002
In use today?
Not commonly
Legacy?
Yes
Transport
Non-standard Telnet option 112
Current use and key considerations

Only a narrow Cryosphere and Crystal history is documented; no broad contemporary adoption was verified.

  • The option number is not an IANA assignment.
  • Contemporary client support is extremely limited.
Read the local MPLEX reference

MPCP

MUD Proxy Communication Protocol

Ancillary / client Experimental / unproven

A draft shared-secret authentication mechanism between a MUD proxy and server.

First seen
Date not established
In use today?
Not commonly
Legacy?
Yes
Transport
Draft Telnet option 202 using HMAC-SHA1
Current use and key considerations

No verified production implementation was found, and the archived specification questions whether one existed.

  • HMAC-SHA1-era shared-secret deployment is not a suitable new security baseline.
  • Draft option numbers do not establish interoperability.
Read the local MPCP reference

Portal MIP

Portal Messaging Information Protocol v9.0

Ancillary / client Historical

A Portal-client UI messaging protocol with identification, security-code, length, command, and data fields.

First seen
Date not established
In use today?
Not commonly
Legacy?
Yes
Transport
In-band length-coded lines beginning with #K%
Current use and key considerations

A legacy compatibility format for servers that explicitly targeted Portal for Windows.

  • The security code is not a replacement for transport security.
  • No broad contemporary client ecosystem exists.
Read the local Portal MIP reference

Pueblo

Pueblo Enhanced MUD Protocol

Ancillary / client Historical

Adds styling, images, sound, forms, links, panes, and historical VRML features for Pueblo-enhanced clients.

First seen
Mid-1990s
In use today?
Not commonly
Legacy?
Yes
Transport
In-band HTML-like multimedia stream
Current use and key considerations

Relevant to historical MU*, MUSH, and MOO deployments; not a modern general-client target.

  • Rich markup crosses a substantial trust boundary.
  • Do not globally switch ordinary user text into HTML.
Read the local Pueblo reference

RIPscrip

Remote Imaging Protocol

Ancillary / client Historical

A BBS graphics protocol that was adopted by a small number of MUDs.

First seen
1993
In use today?
Not commonly
Legacy?
Yes
Transport
In-band line-oriented vector and UI commands
Current use and key considerations

The preservation archive states that no clients in use support it today.

  • It is not a viable default MUD UI protocol.
  • Treat command-driven graphics as active content.
Read the local RIPscrip reference

GSGP

Game Scry Game Protocol

Ancillary / client Historical

A GameScry-oriented game and status data mechanism described in community inventories.

First seen
Date not established
In use today?
Not commonly
Legacy?
Yes
Transport
Historical directory/status data convention
Current use and key considerations

No current authoritative public specification or active implementation was verified.

  • Do not infer a wire format from secondary descriptions.
  • A missing canonical specification prevents safe interoperability.
Read the local GSGP reference

Telnet

Telnet Protocol and Option Negotiation

Foundation / terminal Widely used

The base framing and negotiation layer beneath most traditional MUD sessions and MUD-specific Telnet options.

First seen
1983
In use today?
Yes
Legacy?
No
Transport
TCP byte stream with IAC commands and subnegotiation
Current use and key considerations

Universal across traditional MUD servers and clients.

  • One recv call does not equal one Telnet command.
  • Keep protocol framing byte-oriented even when application text is UTF-8.
Read the local Telnet reference

ECHO

Telnet Echo Option

Foundation / terminal Widely used

Controls which side echoes typed characters, especially while entering passwords.

First seen
1983
In use today?
Yes
Legacy?
No
Transport
Telnet option 1
Current use and key considerations

A standard part of traditional interactive Telnet sessions.

  • Incorrect state can expose passwords on screen.
  • Echo state is independent from transport encryption.
Read the local ECHO reference

SGA

Telnet Suppress Go Ahead Option

Foundation / terminal Widely used

Enables the full-duplex terminal behavior expected by modern interactive MUD sessions.

First seen
1983
In use today?
Yes
Legacy?
No
Transport
Telnet option 3
Current use and key considerations

Commonly negotiated by MUD servers and clients.

  • Suppressing ordinary GA does not imply EOR support.
Read the local SGA reference

EOR

Telnet End of Record

Foundation / terminal In use today

Marks an unambiguous completed prompt or record boundary.

First seen
1983
In use today?
Yes
Legacy?
No
Transport
Telnet option 25 and command 239
Current use and key considerations

Supported by capable clients and recommended where precise prompt detection matters.

  • Do not assume EOR merely because SGA is active.
  • Provide ordinary text behavior for clients that decline it.
Read the local EOR reference

NAWS

Negotiate About Window Size

Foundation / terminal Widely used

Lets the client report terminal columns and rows and send later resize changes.

First seen
1988
In use today?
Yes
Legacy?
No
Transport
Telnet option 31 with two unsigned 16-bit dimensions
Current use and key considerations

Broadly supported by current clients and engines.

  • Dimensions are client-reported and may be zero or implausible.
  • Display width differs from raw UTF-8 byte length.
Read the local NAWS reference

TTYPE

Telnet Terminal Type

Foundation / terminal Widely used

Allows a server to request one or more terminal or client identity strings; MTTS extends the reply sequence.

First seen
1989
In use today?
Yes
Legacy?
No
Transport
Telnet option 24
Current use and key considerations

Broadly implemented and the normal foundation for MTTS capability discovery.

  • Do not assume a fixed number of replies.
  • Client names are self-asserted.
Read the local TTYPE reference

NEW-ENVIRON

Telnet New Environment Option

Foundation / terminal In use today

Exchanges named environment variables; MNES defines a MUD-oriented set of keys on top of it.

First seen
1994
In use today?
Yes
Legacy?
No
Transport
Telnet option 39
Current use and key considerations

Implemented by several engines and clients, though MUD-specific use is optional.

  • Environment values are untrusted and must not grant privileges.
  • Request only values the application needs.
Read the local NEW-ENVIRON reference

CHARSET

Telnet Charset Option

Foundation / terminal Widely used

Negotiates the character encoding used for session text, with UTF-8 the practical modern target.

First seen
1997
In use today?
Yes
Legacy?
No
Transport
Telnet option 42
Current use and key considerations

Common in current protocol-capable engines and clients.

  • A selected encoding does not change protocol control-byte rules.
  • Handle clients that decline or misreport support.
Read the local CHARSET reference

ANSI / ECMA-48

Terminal Control Sequences

Foundation / terminal Widely used

Provides color, cursor movement, text styling, and the presentation substrate used by most MUDs.

First seen
1970s–1980s
In use today?
Yes
Legacy?
No
Transport
In-band terminal escape sequences
Current use and key considerations

Universal in practice at varying capability levels.

  • Unsupported sequences can make output unreadable.
  • Control sequences embedded in untrusted text must be sanitized.
Read the local ANSI / ECMA-48 reference

TLS

Transport Layer Security

Foundation / terminal Widely used

Protects credentials and session data with transport confidentiality, integrity, and server authentication.

First seen
1990s; TLS 1.3 in 2018
In use today?
Yes
Legacy?
No
Transport
Encrypted transport beneath Telnet or WebSocket
Current use and key considerations

A baseline capability for new deployments, commonly offered on a dedicated secure listener or through WSS.

  • Compression and legacy protocol security codes are not substitutes.
  • Plain Telnet remains visible to the network.
Read the local TLS reference

WebSocket / WSS

WebSocket Protocol

Foundation / terminal Widely used

Provides a browser-compatible bidirectional transport that can carry text, an application API, or full Telnet negotiation.

First seen
2011
In use today?
Yes
Legacy?
No
Transport
HTTP Upgrade to WebSocket, optionally protected by TLS
Current use and key considerations

Widely used for browser clients; WSS is the secure deployment form.

  • A plain text WebSocket and Telnet-over-WebSocket are not interchangeable.
  • Browser origin and authentication rules still apply.
Read the local WebSocket / WSS reference

OSC 8

Operating System Command 8 Hyperlinks

Foundation / terminal In use today

Adds clickable hyperlinks to terminal text; some clients provide additional action-oriented extensions.

First seen
Date not established
In use today?
Yes
Legacy?
No
Transport
In-band terminal OSC escape sequence
Current use and key considerations

Growing modern terminal support makes it a useful link enhancement alongside MXP and plain text.

  • Client-specific extensions are not universal OSC 8.
  • Do not hide essential commands behind links alone.
Read the local OSC 8 reference

CD Intermud

Original CD Intermud

Inter-MUD Historical

The foundational LPC inter-MUD protocol, using peer discovery and game-port offset conventions.

First seen
August 1992
In use today?
Not commonly
Legacy?
Yes
Transport
UDP full mesh between MUD servers
Current use and key considerations

Historically important and evolved into Intermud 2; not a recommended greenfield network.

  • Player clients are not participants.
  • UDP delivery and source identity require defensive handling.
Read the local CD Intermud reference
Inter-MUD Legacy compatibility

A backward-compatible expansion of CD Intermud used by several LPC-derived mudlibs.

First seen
1990s
In use today?
Yes
Legacy?
Yes
Transport
Primarily UDP mesh; later TCP additions exist
Current use and key considerations

Historical deployments and subsets may remain, but I3 is the more significant surviving LPC router architecture.

  • UDP is unreliable.
  • Different mudlibs may implement only subsets.
Read the local Intermud 2 reference

Circle Intermud

CircleMUD Intermud

Inter-MUD Historical

An early inter-MUD network for Circle, Merc, Envy, and related servers using standalone daemons.

First seen
1995–1996
In use today?
Not commonly
Legacy?
Yes
Transport
UDP between daemons; local Unix socket to the MUD
Current use and key considerations

An abandoned historical system.

  • Position-dependent fields require strict validation.
  • Do not expose the local control socket broadly.
Read the local Circle Intermud reference

Zebedee

Zebedee Inter-MUD Protocol

Inter-MUD In use today

A peer-list-propagating UDP inter-MUD network historically popular in Europe.

First seen
1990s
In use today?
Yes
Legacy?
Yes
Transport
UDP full mesh
Current use and key considerations

The current preservation overview describes it as still in use, though it remains a legacy architecture.

  • Full-mesh UDP has authenticity, reliability, and scaling limitations.
Read the local Zebedee reference

IMC2

Inter-MUD Communications 2

Inter-MUD In use today

A router-based inter-MUD network associated with Merc, SMAUG, ROM, Diku, and related families.

First seen
Late 2004
In use today?
Yes
Legacy?
Yes
Transport
TCP star network with central routers
Current use and key considerations

Still described as in use, assisted by bridging with I3.

  • The historical framing does not define modern text encoding clearly.
  • A central router is a trust and availability dependency.
Read the local IMC2 reference

I3

InterMUD 3

Inter-MUD In use today

A major LPC-oriented router network carrying channels, tells, mudlists, services, and out-of-band traffic.

First seen
1990s
In use today?
Yes
Legacy?
Yes
Transport
TCP connections to synchronized routers using LPC data
Current use and key considerations

One of the strongest surviving traditional inter-MUD architectures.

  • LPC-style payloads complicate non-LPC implementations.
  • Routers and remote MUDs are separate trust domains.
Read the local I3 reference

AberChat

AberChat Intermud

Inter-MUD Historical

A basic centralized chat-oriented network created for AberMUDs.

First seen
Date not established
In use today?
Not commonly
Legacy?
Yes
Transport
TCP through a central router
Current use and key considerations

The current preservation overview describes it as effectively dead.

  • No current ecosystem justifies using it as a default network.
Read the local AberChat reference

InterMer

Merentha InterMUD System

Inter-MUD Historical

A Merentha-oriented inter-MUD messaging system also known as Merentha Intermud.

First seen
Date not established
In use today?
Not commonly
Legacy?
Yes
Transport
Historical UDP mesh
Current use and key considerations

Preserved as a legacy network design without verified current deployment.

  • Historical sources and deployments are sparse.
Read the local InterMer reference

Mudnet

Mudnet Inter-MUD Network

Inter-MUD Historical

A MUSHLink-derived network whose central service connected to participating worlds as privileged users.

First seen
1997
In use today?
Not commonly
Legacy?
Yes
Transport
Modified MUSHLink central bot architecture
Current use and key considerations

New applications closed in 2010; the system is historical.

  • The privileged-bot trust model carries substantial risk.
  • The network is closed to new applications.
Read the local Mudnet reference

RoM Intermud

Realm of Magic Intermud

Inter-MUD Historical

An attempted evolution or revival of the Circle Intermud approach.

First seen
1998
In use today?
Not commonly
Legacy?
Yes
Transport
Circle-style inter-MUD software
Current use and key considerations

Historical with no verified current network.

  • Do not confuse the protocol name with the ROM MUD codebase family.
Read the local RoM Intermud reference

Arachnos

Arachnos Intermud

Inter-MUD Niche use

An inter-MUD design in which an external spider uses MSDP and discovers support through the MSSP INTERMUD field.

First seen
Date not established
In use today?
Yes
Legacy?
No
Transport
A spider connects to ordinary MUD ports and uses MSDP
Current use and key considerations

Niche but architecturally convenient for an MSDP and MSSP-capable server.

  • The spider connects through a public game endpoint.
  • MSSP advertisements do not authenticate the network peer.
Read the local Arachnos reference
Inter-MUD Experimental / unproven

A contemporary inter-MUD experiment using WebSocket transport.

First seen
Contemporary; date not established
In use today?
Yes
Legacy?
No
Transport
WebSocket-based star network
Current use and key considerations

A newer niche project worth watching, but not yet comparable in deployment with I3 or IMC2.

  • Contemporary does not imply established interoperability.
  • Router availability and governance remain architectural dependencies.
Read the local MUDVault Mesh reference

Grapevine

Grapevine Inter-MUD Network

Inter-MUD Legacy compatibility

An external network formerly used for cross-game chat and related services.

First seen
Date not established
In use today?
Not commonly
Legacy?
Yes
Transport
External routed network and web services
Current use and key considerations

The current MUD Standards overview describes Grapevine itself as apparently dead.

  • Do not make a new architecture depend on an inactive external service.
Read the local Grapevine reference

How this catalog is maintained

The catalog synthesizes original specifications, Internet standards, preservation archives, and current implementation documentation. “In use today” requires documented present-day implementation or an archive that explicitly reports continuing use. A surviving document alone does not make a protocol current.

Dates marked “circa” are approximate, and “date not established” is used when the available sources do not support a reliable first-publication year. To report a correction or missing public specification, contact MUDVerse.