Flarum Forum Software

Flarum is a delightfully simple, fast, and modern open-source forum platform built with PHP and JavaScript, designed to provide a beautiful and intuitive community experience. Created by Toby Zerner and Franz Liedke in 2014 as a successor to FluxBB and esoTalk, Flarum was officially released as stable (1.0) in 2021. Key features: single-page application (SPA) built with Mithril.js for buttery-smooth navigation, instant transitions, and infinite scrolling without page reloads. PHP backend powered by Laravel components for robust, maintainable server-side architecture with MySQL or MariaDB database. Discussion and tag system for organizing topics with unlimited tags, per-tag permissions, and color-coded visual organization. Lightweight and fast: optimized for performance with minimal asset loading, lazy-loading of posts and avatars, and sub-second page loads. Extender API providing a clean, declarative extension system where developers customize behavior without modifying core files, using a fluent PHP API. Extension marketplace with community extensions for themes, authentication (OAuth, LDAP, SSO), integration (Telegram, Pusher, Analytics), and functionality (likes, mentions, moderation tools). User mentions with @notifications and real-time updates. Post formatting via Markdown, BBCode, or plain text with emoji support and auto-linking. Moderation tools including post hiding, deleting, locking, stickying, and user suspension with reasons. Private discussions via byobu extension for restricted conversations. Responsive design optimized for mobile and desktop with touch-friendly interactions. Search via full-text MySQL search with relevance scoring. Email notifications for new replies, mentions, and digest emails. SSO and authentication integration including OAuth, LDAP, and custom providers. Internationalization with community translations in 40+ languages. REST JSON:API compliant API for building mobile apps and integrations. Open source under MIT.