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Together, let's build amazing PHP forum software.

I’m Toby Zerner, the developer of esoTalk. Years ago, I built esoTalk as a fresh, lightweight forum software alternative. esoTalk is nice but it is not built on a sustainable foundation.

As it stands, there is a need for modern, well-architected, powerful forum software that is easy to use and self-host. That’s what Flarum is. But I'm a full-time student and I don't have time to do this by myself. So I'm opening up Flarum to the world — let's build it together.

Philosophy

I have a vision for Flarum — one that has grown over years of playing with forums, developing esoTalk, and learning from mistakes. It is captured by the following four points:

  • Modern design. Beautiful, clean, customizable. Forum design hasn’t evolved with the rest of the web; let's finally bring it up to speed.
  • Unopinionated feature-set. Every community is different, and forum software should be able to adapt to — rather than define — how a community is run. As such, Flarum will have a lightweight core, and most features will be implemented as optional extensions.
  • High performance. Flarum should perform well on scales big and small, and on a large range of devices.
  • Sustainable architecture. Flarum should be built for the future, on a strong foundation which can evolve with the technologies that power it.

Flarum is open-source software released under the MIT license.

Technology

I've carefully considered which frameworks to use to build Flarum. Here's the reasoning:

Laravel

PHP remains the most user-friendly language for deploying web scripts, especially on shared hosting. The Laravel framework will allow for rapid development of Flarum’s API, and has a large community which will encourage collaboration and evolution.

Ember.js

Ember.js is a mature JavaScript framework which will power Flarum’s front-end. Use of a JavaScript framework allows us to build a fast, dynamic interface which feels more like an app than a simple web page.

Don't like the fact that Flarum is an Ember.js app? Take a look at FluxBB 2, which is being developed in a more traditional manner with Laravel.

Current State

I’ve been working on a prototype for some time in-between my studies. In addition to interface design, most of my time has been spent building out the architecture: making decisions about which frameworks to use, the most effective way to componentize everything, standardizing the API, etc.

You might notice that a lot of the code is a bit of a mess right now. This is because I wanted to get things working on a superficial level in order to record material for the Kickstarter video, and since then I haven't yet had sufficient time to clean it up. Please be aware that the mess is not at all indicative of the standard that we're aiming for!

What’s Done

  • The basic technology stack (Laravel and Ember – see above)
  • The architectural foundation (core/API/web layers)
  • Some of the API (discussion and post read + write)
  • Discussion list view and basic search functionality
  • Discussion viewing and scrolling

What’s Next

The priority at the moment is to build out a lightweight core, and only start building Extensions when it is relatively stable. Below is a list of the things to work on immediately, with links to the relevant discussion.

  • Interface redesign (#1)
  • Upgrade to Laravel 5 (#2)
  • Set up testing frameworks in both Laravel (#3) and Ember (#4)
  • Further consolidation of Extension interfaces (see Extensions)
  • Develop user authentication strategy (#5)
  • Implement replying, post editing, discussion creation (#6)
  • Implement discussion title editing (#7)
  • Implement post deletion (#8)
  • Implement discussion deletion (#9)
  • Design user profile interface (#10)
  • Design admin interfaces (#11)
  • Build Notifications system (#12)

For a full list of planned features, see Features.

Installation

Currently Flarum is in its very early stages, and it isn’t pretty. It is far from usable. Set it up only if you know what you’re doing, and expect it to break a lot.

  1. Install Vagrant and VirtualBox.

  2. Clone the Flarum skeleton app and set up the Vagrant box:

    git clone [email protected]:flarum/flarum
cd flarum
vagrant up

  3. SSH into the Vagrant box and compile the Ember app:

    vagrant ssh
cd /vagrant/workbench/flarum/core/ember && ember serve --output-path="../public"

    You can also use the esv alias to run the above command.

  4. Add the following to your /etc/hosts file:

    192.168.29.29 flarum.dev

  5. Visit flarum.dev in a browser.

If you’re having trouble, do not create a new issue — instead, get help on the Flarum Development Forum or hop on the IRC channel (#flarum on irc.freenode.net).

Contributing

Building Flarum is going to be a team effort, and we'd love for you to help! All contributions are welcomed.

What Can I Do?

  • Contribute code. Start by becoming familiar with Flarum's source code and its Architecture. Then have a look at what needs to be done in the list above, and see if there's anything you can help out with. See below for instructions on submitting a Pull Request.

  • Participate in discussion. Review the wiki and issues and contribute your constructive thoughts. We'd also love to hear general feedback on the Flarum Development Forum, on IRC (#flarum on irc.freenode.net), and on Twitter.

  • Spread the word. Know someone who could help out? Please share this project with them!

In this early stage of development, bug reports won't be particularly helpful, because things will be constantly changing and breaking.

Process

  1. Review the Flarum Contributor License Agreement. (Why?)

  2. Install Flarum as detailed in the instructions above.

  3. Create a new branch.

    git checkout -b new-flarum-branch

    Please implement only one feature/bugfix per branch to keep pull requests clean and focused.

  4. Code.

    • Follow the coding style: PSR-2.
    • Include tests and make sure they pass (subject to #3 and #4).

  5. Commit.

    • Commit messages are required.
    • They should include a short description of the changes on the first line, then a blank line, then more details if necessary.

  6. Clean up. Squash together minor commits.

    git rebase -i

  7. Update your branch so that it is based on top of the latest code from the Flarum repository.

    git fetch origin
git rebase origin/master

  8. Fork your repository on GitHub and push to it.

    git remote add mine [email protected]:<your user name>/flarum.git
git push mine new-flarum-branch

  9. Submit a pull request.

    • Go to the Flarum repository you just pushed to (e.g. https://github.com/your-user-name/flarum).
    • Click "Pull Request".
    • Write your branch name in the branch field.
    • Click "Update Commit Range".
    • Ensure that the correct commits and files changes are included.
    • Fill in a descriptive title and other details about your pull request.
    • Click "Send pull request".

  10. Respond to feedback.

    • We may suggest changes to your code. Maintaining a high standard of code quality is important for the longevity of this project — use it as an opportunity to improve your own skills and learn something new!

Core Team

Currently the only person on the core development team is Toby Zerner (@tobscure). Over time, judged by display of commitment to the project, and quantity/quality of contributions, I will be looking for more people to join the core development team. Please do not email me asking to be on the core team; rather, demonstrate initiative and commitment to the project, and I will more than likely notice!

Contributor License Agreement

By contributing your code to Flarum you grant Toby Zerner a non-exclusive, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, sublicenseable, transferable license under all of Your relevant intellectual property rights (including copyright, patent, and any other rights), to use, copy, prepare derivative works of, distribute and publicly perform and display the Contributions on any licensing terms, including without limitation: (a) open source licenses like the MIT license; and (b) binary, proprietary, or commercial licenses. Except for the licenses granted herein, You reserve all right, title, and interest in and to the Contribution.

You confirm that you are able to grant us these rights. You represent that You are legally entitled to grant the above license. If Your employer has rights to intellectual property that You create, You represent that You have received permission to make the Contributions on behalf of that employer, or that Your employer has waived such rights for the Contributions.

You represent that the Contributions are Your original works of authorship, and to Your knowledge, no other person claims, or has the right to claim, any right in any invention or patent related to the Contributions. You also represent that You are not legally obligated, whether by entering into an agreement or otherwise, in any way that conflicts with the terms of this license.

Toby Zerner acknowledges that, except as explicitly described in this Agreement, any Contribution which you provide is on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF TITLE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, MERCHANTABILITY, OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.