Working ERC settings used with IRCRelay. Securely stores password and provides growl notifications for mentions.

erc-settings.el

(require 'erc)
(require 'netrc)

(setq erc-user-full-name "Sean Escriva"
      erc-part-reason-various-alist '(("^$" "Leaving"))
      erc-quit-reason-various-alist '(("^$" "Leaving"))
      erc-quit-reason 'erc-part-reason-various
      erc-part-reason 'erc-quit-reason-various)

(add-hook 'erc-mode-hook (lambda () (auto-fill-mode 0)))
(add-hook 'erc-insert-post-hook 'erc-save-buffer-in-logs)

;; Track channel activity in mode-line
(require 'erc-track)
(erc-track-mode t)
(setq erc-track-exclude-types '("JOIN" "NICK" "PART" "QUIT" "MODE"
                                "324" "329" "332" "333" "353" "477"))
(setq erc-hide-list '("JOIN" "PART" "QUIT" "NICK")) ;; stuff to hide!

;; ;; autojoin - not needed with ircrelay
;; (require 'erc-join)
;; (erc-autojoin-mode t)
;; (setq erc-autojoin-channels-alist
;;       '((".*\\.freenode." "#chef" "#chef-hacking")
;;         (".*\\ircrelay.com")
;;         )
;;       )

;; Highlight some keywords
(require 'erc-match)
(setq erc-keywords '("\\bSean\\b" "\\bwebframp\\b" "\\bSean Escriva\\b" "\\bsme\\b"))

;; enable an input history
(require 'erc-ring)
(erc-ring-mode t)

;; wrap long lines
(require 'erc-fill)
(erc-fill-mode t)

;; detect netsplits
(require 'erc-netsplit)
(erc-netsplit-mode t)

;; spellcheck
(erc-spelling-mode t)

(require 'erc-hl-nicks)

;; Truncate buffers so they don't hog core.
(setq erc-max-buffer-size 40000)
(defvar erc-insert-post-hook)
(add-hook 'erc-insert-post-hook 'erc-truncate-buffer)
(setq erc-truncate-buffer-on-save t)

;; kill buffers when leaving
(setq erc-kill-buffer-on-part t)

(erc-scrolltobottom-mode t)

;; let's connect
(defun irc-connects ()
  "Connect to IRC"
  (interactive)
  (when (y-or-n-p "IRC? ")
    (ircrelay-connect "sme" "webframp_grove" (get-authinfo "irc.ircrelay.com" "6697"))
    (ircrelay-connect "webframp" "webframp_freenode" (get-authinfo "irc.ircrelay.com" "6697"))))

(defun ircrelay-connect (nickname name password)
  (let ((erc-email-userid name))
    (erc-ssl :server "irc.ircrelay.com" :port 6697 :password password
             :nick nickname :full-name "Sean Escriva")))

(defun get-authinfo (host port)
  (let* ((netrc (netrc-parse (expand-file-name "~/.authinfo.gpg")))
         (hostentry (netrc-machine netrc host port port)))
    (when hostentry (netrc-get hostentry "password"))))

;; growl notify
(defvar growlnotify-command (executable-find "growlnotify") "The path to growlnotify")

(defun growl (title message)
  "Shows a message through the growl notification system using
 `growlnotify-command` as the program."
  (cl-flet ((encfn (s) (encode-coding-string s (keyboard-coding-system))))
    (let* ((process (start-process "growlnotify" nil
                                   growlnotify-command
                                   (encfn title)
                                   "-a" "Emacs"
                                   "-n" "Emacs")))
      (process-send-string process (encfn message))
      (process-send-string process "\n")
      (process-send-eof process)))
  t)

(defun growl-erc-hook (match-type nick message)
  "Shows a growl notification, when user's nick was mentioned. If the buffer is currently not visible, makes it sticky."
  (unless (posix-string-match "^\\** *Users on #" message)
    (growl
     (concat "ERC: name mentioned on: " (buffer-name (current-buffer)))
     message)))

(add-hook 'erc-text-matched-hook 'growl-erc-hook)