Discourse
A 100% open-source community platform for modern discussion forums, with real-time chat, plugins, and themes.
Smart Download
Visit Project Homepage
No installer available yet — head to the source repository
Modern open-source forum platform with real-time chat, plugins, and flexible hosting.
Core Features
- Create discussion topics for meaningful conversations
- Real-time built-in chat for immediate connection
- Customize with official and community themes
- Enhance with plugins: AI chatbots, SQL Data Explorer, etc.
- Self-host via Docker or use official cloud hosting
What It Can't Do
- •Self-hosting requires Linux/Docker experience; consider official cloud hosting otherwise. 2. Community themes/plugins may have compatibility issues, backup before upgrades. 3. Default config works for most sites, but large communities (>100k users) need Redis/PostgreSQL tuning. 4. Real-time chat is enabled by default; disable if privacy concerns. 5. Compared to PHPBB or Flarum, Discourse has a modern UI but steeper learning curve; excels in extensibility and real-time features.
Use Cases
- Product user community and support forums
- Internal team knowledge base and collaboration
- Official discussion board for open-source projects
- Interest groups or online course learning communities
Detailed Introduction
Discourse is a battle-tested, open-source community platform designed for those who want complete control over their online forum. Built with Ruby on Rails and Ember.js, it offers modern features like discussion topics, built-in real-time chat, customizable themes, and a rich plugin ecosystem (including AI-powered chatbots and data analysis). It supports self-hosting or official cloud hosting. With over 10 years of development and 46,970 GitHub stars, Discourse powers thousands of communities worldwide.
Tags
Getting Started
Download installer
Click the button above to download the installer for your system
Install the software
Double-click the downloaded installer and follow the prompts
Step 1: Ensure server has Docker and Git installed
Step 2: Clone Discourse Docker repo: git clone https://github.com/discourse/discourse_docker.git /var/discourse
Step 3: Copy and edit config template: cp samples/standalone.yml containers/app.yml, set domain, email etc.
- Step 1: Ensure server has Docker and Git installed
- Step 2: Clone Discourse Docker repo: git clone https://github.com/discourse/discourse_docker.git /var/discourse
- Step 3: Copy and edit config template: cp samples/standalone.yml containers/app.yml, set domain, email etc.
Checksum not available
This project has not published a SHA-256 checksum on its GitHub Release page
SHA256 Checksum
No checksum available
Download directly from GitHub Releases and verify file integrity yourself
All SHA-256 checksums on this platform are extracted from the project's official GitHub Release page, without any modification. You can independently verify them on the GitHub Releases page.
Open Source Transparency
View GitHub SourceUninstall Info
Stop Discourse container: ./launcher stop app; destroy container and data: ./launcher destroy app; finally remove /var/discourse directory. Data will be lost permanently without backup, so back up first.
No Extra Dependencies
Ready to use after download. No additional runtime required.
Similar Projects
PowerToys
A set of utilities for power users to tune and streamline their Windows experience for greater productivity.
terminal
Modern, feature-rich terminal application for Windows command-line users, with tabs, GPU acceleration, and full customization.
core
Open source home automation that puts local control and privacy first. Perfect for Raspberry Pi or a local server.