diff --git a/internal/irc-reader/config/config.go b/internal/irc-reader/config/config.go
index 873fba6..3b7b626 100644
--- a/internal/irc-reader/config/config.go
+++ b/internal/irc-reader/config/config.go
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ var OnChange func()
 
 type Config struct {
 	LogLevel string
+	Replicas int
 
 	RateLimit struct {
 		Join  int64
diff --git a/internal/irc-reader/nats.go b/internal/irc-reader/nats.go
index 26d81f2..03d88b4 100644
--- a/internal/irc-reader/nats.go
+++ b/internal/irc-reader/nats.go
@@ -57,7 +57,6 @@ func (c *Controller) watchChanges(nc *nats.Conn) {
 			if !bitwise.Has(channel.Flags, bitwise.JOIN_IRC) {
 				return
 			}
-			println("joining: " + channel.Username)
 			c.joinChannel(channel)
 		case database.Update:
 			// TODO: implement
diff --git a/internal/irc-reader/service.go b/internal/irc-reader/service.go
index 88bb783..c13b227 100644
--- a/internal/irc-reader/service.go
+++ b/internal/irc-reader/service.go
@@ -2,6 +2,9 @@ package irc_reader
 
 import (
 	"context"
+	"os"
+	"strconv"
+	"strings"
 
 	"github.com/nats-io/nats.go"
 	"github.com/redis/go-redis/v9"
@@ -17,6 +20,8 @@ type Controller struct {
 	jetStream nats.JetStreamContext
 	twitch    *manager.IRCManager
 
+	shardID int
+
 	// limit amount of workers for joining channels
 	joinSem chan struct{}
 }
@@ -29,6 +34,9 @@ func New(cfg *config.Config) *Controller {
 }
 
 func (c *Controller) Init() error {
+	if c.cfg.Replicas > 1 {
+		c.shardID = getShardID()
+	}
 	nc, err := nats.Connect(c.cfg.Nats.URL)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
@@ -84,6 +92,17 @@ func (c *Controller) Init() error {
 	return nil
 }
 
+func getShardID() int {
+	env := os.Getenv("HOSTNAME")
+	split := strings.Split(env, "-")
+	if len(split) == 0 {
+		return 0
+	}
+	id := split[len(split)-1]
+	result, _ := strconv.Atoi(id)
+	return result
+}
+
 func (c *Controller) Shutdown() {
 	wg := c.twitch.Shutdown()
 	wg.Wait()
diff --git a/internal/irc-reader/twitch.go b/internal/irc-reader/twitch.go
index b14c28b..c15ae83 100644
--- a/internal/irc-reader/twitch.go
+++ b/internal/irc-reader/twitch.go
@@ -71,16 +71,18 @@ func (c *Controller) joinChannels(channels []types.Channel) {
 }
 
 func (c *Controller) joinChannel(channel types.Channel) {
+	if !c.shouldJoin(channel.ID) {
+		return
+	}
 	c.joinSem <- struct{}{}
 	ch := channel
 	go func() {
-		// TODO: filter out channels based on user ID & shard ID, so we can spread the load across kubernetes statefulset
-
 		// make sure the channel is flagged to be joined
 		if !bitwise.Has(ch.Flags, bitwise.JOIN_IRC) {
 			return
 		}
 
+		zap.S().Infof("joining channel: %v", ch.Username)
 		err := c.twitch.Join(ch.Username, ch.Weight)
 		if err != nil {
 			zap.L().Error(
@@ -93,6 +95,18 @@ func (c *Controller) joinChannel(channel types.Channel) {
 	}()
 }
 
+func (c *Controller) shouldJoin(userID int64) bool {
+	if c.cfg.Replicas < 2 {
+		return true
+	}
+
+	if int(userID)%c.cfg.Replicas == c.shardID {
+		return true
+	}
+
+	return false
+}
+
 // parses out the channel name from a PRIVMSG,
 // don't use on any other type of message seen as though there's no slice length checks
 func parseChannel(in string) string {