Discourse Setup

Mailjet Instructions

1. Go to Mailjet and get an SMTP setting for your forum

DigitalOcean Deployment

1. Create DigitalOcean account
2. From Marketplace, select "Discourse"

3. Choose a plan:

   • Basic droplet
   • Any region
   • Add SSH key for secure access

4. Configure domain/subdomain:

   discourse.yourdomain.com
   

Discourse Configuration

1. Access admin panel:

   https://discourse.yourdomain.com/admin
   

2. Generate API credentials:

3. Navigate to API settings
4. Create new API key

5. Note down:

   • API Key
   • API Username
   • API URL

6. Configure SSO Settings:

   • Enable invite only: All new users must be explicitly invited by trusted users or staff
   • Enable login required: Require authentication to read content, disallow anonymous access
   • Enable local logins: Allow username and password login based accounts
   • Enable local login via email: Allow users to request one-click login links via email
   • Enable persistent sessions: Users will remain logged in when the web browser is closed
   • Set maximum session age: 12 hours since last visit
   • Enable DiscourseConnect (formerly 'Discourse SSO'): This must be enabled for SSO integration
   • Configure DiscourseConnect URL: Set to your application's SSO endpoint (e.g., https://your-app-url/_/api/discourse-sso)
   • Set DiscourseConnect secret: Create a secure secret string (minimum 10 characters)
   • Enable verbose DiscourseConnect logging: Log detailed SSO diagnostics to /logs
   • Enable auth overrides email: Override local email with external site email on every login
   • Do not enable:
     • Must approve users
     • Auth overrides username
     • Auth overrides name
     • Discourse connect overrides groups
     • Discourse connect overrides bio
     • Discourse connect overrides avatar
     • Discourse connect overrides profile background
     • Hide email address taken
     • Log out strict

7. Configure the API settings by going to Admin > API

   • Create an API key, save it for entering it in your Anvil app's tenant settings later.
   • Create a webhook that points to https://your-app-url/_/api/new_member.
     • Give it a secret that you remember for later
     • Select the 'user is created' event
     • Scroll to the bottom of the page and check 'Check TLS...' and 'Active'
     • Hit 'Save'.