Foreum

Abdulkareemoj

A powerful, modern forum platform built with SvelteKit, tRPC, and Drizzle ORM

#forum-application #forum-software #self-hosted #shadcn-svelte #svelte #sveltekit #typescript #forum-site #forum-threads

Demo Download

Foreum 🚀

A powerful, modern forum platform built with React, TanStack Router, tRPC, and Drizzle ORM — designed for both developers and community managers.

🌟 Why Foreum?

Foreum is your all-in-one solution for building engaging community spaces. Whether you're creating a product support forum, an internal discussion board, or a vibrant community platform, Foreum provides everything you need out of the box:

🔒 Enterprise-grade Authentication with Better Auth
🎨 Beautiful UI powered by shadcn/ui components
🚄 Lightning-fast Performance with React and TanStack Router
🔧 Type-safe Backend using tRPC and Drizzle ORM
📱 Responsive Design for all devices
🌓 Dark/Light Themes built-in, also customizable in admin section

Self-Hosted Installation

Foreum can be deployed on any platform that supports Node.js. Choose your preferred deployment method:

🐳 Docker Deployment

# Pull and run with Docker
docker pull ghcr.io/abdulkareemoj/foreum:latest
docker run -p 3000:3000 \
  -e DATABASE_URL="postgresql://user:pass@host:5432/foreum" \
  -e BETTER_AUTH_SECRET="your-secret" \
  ghcr.io/abdulkareemoj/foreum

For production deployment with Docker Compose:

# docker-compose.yml
version: "3.8"
services:
  app:
    image: ghcr.io/abdulkareemoj/foreum:latest
    ports:
      - "3000:3000"
    environment:
      - NODE_ENV=production
      - DATABASE_URL=postgresql://foreum:password@db:5432/foreum
    depends_on:
      - db
  db:
    image: postgres:14-alpine
    environment:
      - POSTGRES_USER=foreum
      - POSTGRES_PASSWORD=password
      - POSTGRES_DB=foreum
    volumes:
      - postgres_data:/var/lib/postgresql/data

volumes:
  postgres_data:

💻 Manual Installation

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/abdulkareemoj/foreum.git
cd foreum

# Install dependencies
pnpm install

# Configure environment
cp .env.example .env
# Edit .env with your database and SMTP settings

# Run migrations
pnpm db:migrate

# Build and start
pnpm build
pnpm start

🚀 Deployment Options

Cloud Platforms

Railway
Digital Ocean
Render

Self-Hosted

VPS/Bare Metal Setup

Install system requirements:

# On Ubuntu/Debian
apt update && apt install -y nodejs npm postgresql

Set up process management:

# Using PM2
npm install -g pm2
pm2 start npm --name "foreum" -- start
pm2 startup
pm2 save

Configure Nginx (optional):

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name your-domain.com;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://localhost:3000;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
    }
}

System Requirements

Node.js 18 or later
PostgreSQL 13 or later
SMTP server for email notifications
1GB RAM minimum (2GB recommended)
10GB storage space

Features

Core Features

🔐 Advanced Authentication
- Email/Password with username support
- Email verification & password reset
- OAuth/SSO integration ready
📝 Rich Discussion Tools
- Markdown/Rich text editor
- Thread categories and tags
- Upvotes and reactions
- File attachments
👥 User Management
- Customizable profiles
- Role-based permissions
- Moderation tools
- Activity tracking

Technical Features

⚡ Performance-First Architecture
- Server-side rendering with React and TanStack Router
- Type-safe APIs with tRPC
- Efficient database queries with Drizzle ORM
Modern UI/UX Responsive design with customizable Dark/light themes and Loading states & animations
Modern stack: React + TanStack Router + tRPC + Drizzle + Better Auth, great DX and strong type-safety across the stack.
- Plug-and-play authentication: email/password with optional username support, email OTP for verification and reset flows, and social sign-in support hooks.
- User profiles & settings: per-user settings (theme, privacy, notification preferences) with Drizzle schemas and a router to manage them.
- Bookmarks & Notifications: built-in systems with pagination/infinite scroll and server-side routers.
- Excellent UX: skeleton loaders, mobile-friendly navbar that collapses sidebars into a single sheet, avatar uploader, toast + alert patterns for different message types.
- Extensible design: clearly split components (LeftSidebar, Mainbar, RightSidebar, ThreadCard, etc.) to make adding features easy and localized.
- Open-source friendly: intentionally readable code, helpful comments and a focus on community contribution.

Use Cases

Foreum can be used for:

A public community forum (product support, hobbyist communities, fan clubs).
Internal company discussion board or knowledge-sharing hub.
A feature-rich comment + discussion layer for an existing app.
An MVP for social/community features when validating product-market fit.
A teaching template for modern full-stack React + TanStack Router + tRPC apps.

Local Development

The instructions below assume you have Node.js (v18+) and a Postgres database ready. Adjust package manager (npm / pnpm / yarn) as you prefer.

Clone the repo

git clone https://your-repo-url/foreum.git
cd foreum

Install dependencies
```
npm install

# or

npm install
```

Environment Create a .env (copy .env.example if present) and set the important variables:

DATABASE_URL=postgres://user:pass@localhost:5432/foreum
VITE_PUBLIC_BASE_URL=http://localhost:5173
BETTER_AUTH_SECRET=some-super-secret
SMTP_HOST=smtp.example.com
SMTP_PORT=587
SMTP_USER=...
SMTP_PASS=...

Database migrations & schema If you use Drizzle migrations or Better Auth CLI, run the migration commands needed to create tables (users, accounts, sessions, profile, settings, bookmarks, notifications, etc.). Example command placeholders:
```
# Drizzle (if configured)

npx drizzle-kit generate:migration
npx drizzle-kit migrate

# If using Better Auth CLI for plugin migrations

npx @better-auth/cli migrate
```
(Adjust according to your setup — Foreum includes Drizzle schema files for auth, profile, settings, bookmark, notification, etc.)

Run the dev server

npm run dev

# typically runs the React development server with Vite

Open the app Visit http://localhost:5173 (or whatever your Vite server prints) and explore.

Usage

Quick Start Guide

Set up your environment variables in .env:

DATABASE_URL=postgresql://user:password@localhost:5432/foreum
BETTER_AUTH_SECRET=your-secret-key
SMTP_HOST=your-smtp-host

Create your first admin user:
```
pnpm create-admin
```
Start customizing your forum:
- Modify themes in src/lib/styles
- Configure authentication in src/lib/auth
- Add new features through the modular router system

Development Commands

pnpm dev         # Start development server
pnpm build       # Build for production
pnpm preview     # Preview production build
pnpm test        # Run tests
pnpm lint        # Run linters

Quick notes

Authentication flows: sign up/sign in, verify email (via link or OTP), forgot-password (OTP or reset link) are included in UI and wired into Better Auth client APIs.
Frontend forms use React Hook Form with zod schemas for validation and client-server parity.
TRPC routers live under src/server/trpc/routers and are intended to be small, single-responsibility units (threads, category, tag, user, bookmarks, notifications, settings).

Contribution Guidelines

We’d love your help — whether you’re filing issues, suggesting features, contributing code, or improving docs!

How to contribute

Fork the repo and create a branch for your change.
Write clear, focused commits and include tests where possible.
Open a PR with a description of your changes and the motivation.
Be responsive to review comments — we aim for respectful, constructive reviews.

Code style & PR tips

Keep UI and logic separated (components vs. stores/services).
Use the existing zod schemas and trpc procedures when adding features to maintain consistency.
If you add DB schema changes, include a migration and update any seed/mock data.
Add or update documentation for any new features.

Reporting bugs & feature requests

Please open an issue — include steps to reproduce, expected vs actual behavior, and (if possible) a minimal repro.

Code of conduct

We’re committed to fostering a welcoming community. Please follow a friendly and respectful tone in all interactions.

Contributing

Ways to Contribute

Report bugs and suggest features
Improve documentation
Submit pull requests
Share your success stories
Help others in discussions

Development Process

Fork and clone the repository
Create a new branch: git checkout -b feature/your-feature
Make your changes
Run tests: pnpm test
Push to your fork
Submit a pull request

Security

Configure environment variables properly in production
Use secure authentication settings
Follow security best practices for file uploads
Keep dependencies updated

License

Foreum is open-source software licensed under the MIT license.

Support the Project

⭐ Star this repository if you find it helpful!

📣 Share your experience using Foreum

🐛 Report bugs and suggest features

💻 Submit pull requests

Join our community and help make Foreum even better!

License

This project is open-source and released under the MIT License — free to use, modify and distribute. Contributions are welcomed under the same license.

Final Notes

Foreum is meant to be a friendly, practical starting point for building a community product. Whether you are product-minded (designers, founders) or developer-minded (engineers, contributors), Foreum tries to make adding value straightforward:

Clear folders and components make UI changes low-friction.
Type-safe backend (tRPC + Drizzle) keeps runtime surprises down.
Auth and user flows are built with common real-world needs in mind (username support, OTP, email verification).

If you like what you see — ⭐ star the repo, open an issue, or submit a PR. Let’s build a vibrant community together!

Top categories

tailwind daisyui admin template popup mdsvex portfolio blog form ecommerce ui carousel auth dark seo image routing