ForumForge

Overview

ForumForge is a self-hosted community platform: nested forums, member groups, staff tooling, theming, and plug-in style apps for clubs, events, gallery, downloads, and a store. I built it as a product you run on your own infrastructure, with a setup wizard, license panel, and a marketing site at forumforge.co.uk.

Problem

Existing forum software is either dated, plugin-heavy, or locked into a host’s stack. Community operators still need moderation, permissions, branding, and optional commerce in one place — without months of custom glue or a CMS that only pretends to be a forum.

Solution

A single Next.js App Router application covering public community pages, an Admin control panel, and a versioned REST API on PostgreSQL. Features that used to live in third-party plugins — clubs, events, gallery, downloads, store — are first-class apps you enable from AdminCP. Payments go through Stripe, PayPal, or Polar; auth covers email, OAuth, and optional 2FA.

Technical implementation

• Next.js 16 App Router and React 19, with TypeScript throughout
• PostgreSQL 16 via Prisma 7, including migrations run from an onboarding setup wizard
• Group-based permissions per forum (view, start topic, reply, react) plus staff ACP access by section
• Markdown (GFM) posts with reactions, attachments, follow, reports, warnings, and bans
• Community apps (events, gallery, downloads, commerce) toggled under site features
• REST API with keys, permissions, logs, and signed webhooks
• Theming through CSS variables, branding uploads, menu manager, and multi-language strings
• Docker Compose for local PostgreSQL and a documented self-hosted install path

Challenges

• Keeping forums, CMS-style pages, and optional apps on one schema without turning the ACP into a maze
• Spam and abuse controls (scoring, honeypot, IP limits, approval queues) that staff can actually operate
• Idempotent checkout and webhooks across Stripe, PayPal, and Polar so orders fulfill once
• A first-run setup wizard that writes env, runs migrations, and hands off to a working admin account

Results

• Shipped a live product site at forumforge.co.uk with demo, pricing, and positioning
• Operators can stand up a branded community with moderation, members, and commerce from one codebase
• Staff get a dedicated AdminCP, team page, and action-required dashboard instead of hunting through plugins

Future improvements

• Subscription and renewal products in checkout (one-time payments are supported today)
• Richer file fields on custom forms
• Continued polish on theming, localization, and community apps based on operator feedback