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Summary | Run time-limited challenges with leaderboards, automated posts, and badge awards. |
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Repository Link | R23DPrinting-group / discourse-daily-challenge · GitLab |
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Install Guide | How to install plugins in Discourse |
Current Version: 1.5.0 (updated 4/2/2026)
License: MIT
The Story
I run a health and wellness community that recently migrated from Discord to Discourse. On Discord, I’d built a custom bot to run monthly fitness challenges — members would post their daily workouts, the bot tracked check-ins, posted weekly leaderboards, and announced winners at the end of each month. It was one of our most popular features.
After the move to Discourse, members started asking for the challenges back. I looked for an existing plugin and came up empty. So I built one.
What started as a quick solution turned into a full-featured challenge system that honestly works better than the original Discord bot. Since it might be useful to other communities, I’m sharing it here.
What It Does
discourse-daily-challenge lets you run structured, time-limited challenges directly in Discourse. Members check in by posting to a designated topic with a hashtag or photo. The plugin tracks everything automatically.
Core Features
Flexible Check-ins
Members check in by posting in the challenge topic with the configured hashtag or a photo attachment. Challenges can be configured for daily or weekly check-ins. The check-in window is evaluated in the challenge’s configured timezone, so global communities work correctly.
Live Leaderboard & Streaks
The admin dashboard shows real-time standings including total check-ins, current streaks, and completion percentage for every participant. Streak labels automatically reflect the challenge interval (“Day streak” vs “Week streak”).
Automated Leaderboard Posts
Set a day and time for a weekly automated leaderboard post directly to the challenge topic. A final results post is also generated automatically the day after the challenge ends.
Custom Badges
Define a minimum number of check-ins required to “complete” the challenge. Eligible participants automatically receive a custom Discourse badge when the challenge ends. The badge name auto-populates from the topic title.
Multiple Simultaneous Challenges
Run as many challenges as you want at the same time. Each challenge has its own topic, schedule, time zone, badge, and leaderboard.
Archived Challenges
Completed challenges are preserved in an archived accordion view in the dashboard, so you can look back at historical results.
Admin Check-in Management
Admins can manually add or remove check-ins — useful for catching missed posts or resolving disputes.
Manual Leaderboard Trigger
A “Post Leaderboard Now” button lets admins publish a leaderboard update on demand, outside the scheduled window.
Moderator Access
Full site moderators can create, edit, and manage challenges via a dedicated sidebar section. Can be enabled or disabled via site settings.
Category Moderator Access
Category moderators can manage challenges scoped to their assigned categories via a dedicated /challenges route — no admin access required. Can be enabled or disabled independently via site settings.
ChallengeBot DMs
If a bot account is configured, ChallengeBot automatically sends members a confirmation DM after each check-in (with streak info and a link to the topic), reminder DMs when they haven’t checked in for a few days, and responds to commands sent via @mention in challenge topics or directly via Discourse Messages — all responses come via DM. It also detects when a member edits a post to add a hashtag or photo, and counts it as a check-in if within the allowed window. Leaderboard and final results posts are also sent from ChallengeBot instead of the system account.
Installation
Add the following to your containers/app.yml under hooks > after_code > exec > cmd:
- git clone https://gitlab.com/r23dprinting-group/discourse-daily-challenge.git
Then rebuild:
cd /var/discourse && ./launcher rebuild app
After the initial install, future updates can be applied via the in-panel Update button unless otherwise noted in the changelog.
Configuration
Creating a Challenge
Navigate to Admin → Plugins → Challenges → Discourse Challenges and click New Challenge.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Topic ID | The Discourse topic where members will check in. The topic title will auto-populate the badge name field. |
| Hashtag Trigger | Required hashtag for check-ins (without #, e.g. workout) |
| Check-in Interval | Daily or weekly check-in mode |
| Week Start | For weekly challenges: which day starts the week (Sunday, Monday, or Saturday) |
| Start Date | First day of the challenge (inclusive) |
| End Date | Last day of the challenge (inclusive) |
| Challenge Timezone | Timezone for evaluating the check-in window (optional, defaults to UTC) |
| Check-ins Needed | Minimum check-ins to earn the completion badge |
| Description | Optional description of the challenge |
| Enable Weekly Leaderboard Post | Toggle automated weekly leaderboard posts |
| Post Day of Week | Day of week for the automated leaderboard post |
| Post Hour | Hour (0–23, in challenge timezone) for the automated leaderboard post |
| Award Completion Badge | Toggle automatic badge awarding at challenge end |
| Badge Name | Name of the badge to create and award — auto-populates from the topic title |
| Enable Reminder DMs | Send reminder DMs to participants who haven’t checked in recently (requires bot username to be configured). Defaults to enabled. |
Site Settings
| Setting | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
daily_challenge_enabled |
true |
Globally enable or disable the plugin |
daily_challenge_mod_access_enabled |
true |
Allow full site moderators to manage challenges |
daily_challenge_category_mod_access_enabled |
true |
Allow category moderators to manage challenges in their assigned categories |
daily_challenge_bot_username |
"" |
Username of the bot account that sends DMs and posts leaderboards |
How Check-ins Work
- A member posts a reply to the challenge topic
- The post must contain the configured hashtag or a photo attachment
- The plugin checks whether the member has already checked in during the current period (day or week, depending on the challenge interval)
- If not, the check-in is recorded and the leaderboard is updated
- One check-in per member per period is allowed
Admins can view and manage all check-ins from the admin dashboard.
Moderator & Category Mod Access
Full site moderators can access challenge management via a CHALLENGES section in the main sidebar (if daily_challenge_mod_access_enabled is on).
Category moderators can access a scoped version at /challenges/dashboard and /challenges/challenges — they can only see and manage challenges linked to topics in their assigned categories. This requires daily_challenge_category_mod_access_enabled to be on and the user to be assigned as a category moderator via Admin → Categories → [Category] → Moderation.
Setting Up ChallengeBot
ChallengeBot is optional but enables DM features and attributed leaderboard posts. Skip this section if you don’t need DM functionality.
- SSH into your server and run:
cd /var/discourse
./launcher enter app
rake admin:create
When prompted, enter the bot’s email and a strong password. Answer n to admin privileges.
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In Admin → Users, find the newly created account and:
- Click Approve
- Set Trust Level to 1
- Update the username to
ChallengeBot(or your preferred name)
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Optionally set a profile picture for the bot account.
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Go to Admin → Plugins → Challenges → Settings and enter the exact username in the Bot username field. Note: this field is case-sensitive.
ChallengeBot Commands
Members can trigger commands by @mentioning the bot in any active challenge topic, or by sending a direct message to ChallengeBot via their profile. The bot always responds via DM and never posts in topics.
If you’re in multiple active challenges, ChallengeBot will ask you to pick one (or reply A for all).
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
status |
Stats across all active challenges |
leaderboard |
Current standings for that challenge |
streak |
Your current streak |
checkins |
List of all your check-in dates |
progress |
Check-ins done vs needed, days remaining |
help |
List all available commands |
Rate limited to 10 commands per user per hour.
Note: Set
min_personal_message_post_lengthto1in site settings to allow short DM commands likestatus.
Automated Posts
Weekly Leaderboard
The plugin runs an hourly background job that checks whether it’s time to post the weekly leaderboard. When the configured day + hour arrives (in the challenge timezone), it creates a formatted post in the challenge topic showing the current standings.
Final Results Post
The day after the challenge ends, a final results post is automatically published. It lists all participants, their total check-ins, completion status, and congratulates badge earners.
Database Tables
daily_challenges— Challenge definitionsdaily_check_ins— Individual check-in records per user per challenge per period
Compatibility
- Discourse 3.x+
- Tested on self-hosted installations
- Ruby 3.x, Rails 7.x+
Roadmap (v1.6.0)
No specific features planned yet. Have a suggestion? Open an issue on GitLab or reply to this topic.
Changelog
Show Changelog
v1.5.0
- Edit detection — if a member edits a post to add the challenge hashtag or a photo, the plugin now counts it as a check-in. Daily challenges allow edits within 24 hours of the original post; weekly challenges allow edits within the same challenge week. The check-in is dated to the original post.
- DM commands — members can now send commands directly to ChallengeBot via Discourse Messages, or reply to an existing ChallengeBot DM thread. No need to @mention in the challenge topic.
- Challenge picker — when a member is in multiple active challenges, ChallengeBot presents a numbered list to select which challenge to query. Members in only one challenge get an immediate response.
v1.4.0
- ChallengeBot check-in confirmation DMs — automatic DM after each successful check-in with streak info and a clickable link to the challenge topic
- Reminder DMs — daily challenges nudge after 2+ missed days; weekly challenges nudge on the last day of the week if not yet checked in. Includes current check-in count and goal. Per-challenge toggle, defaults to enabled.
- @mention commands — members mention the bot in challenge topics to get stats via DM. Never posts in the topic. Commands:
status,leaderboard,streak,checkins,progress,help. Rate limited to 10 per user per hour. - Leaderboard and final results posts — now posted by ChallengeBot if configured, falls back to system account
- New site setting —
daily_challenge_bot_username - New challenge field — reminder DMs toggle (defaults to enabled)
v1.3.0
- Category moderator access — category mods can create, edit, delete, and manage check-ins for challenges in their assigned categories via
/challenges/dashboardand/challenges/challenges— no admin access required - Badge name auto-populate — badge name field auto-populates from the topic title when a topic ID is entered
- Badge name validation — badge name is required when “Award completion badge” is enabled; returns a proper error instead of a 500
- Separate mod/category mod toggles —
daily_challenge_mod_access_enabledanddaily_challenge_category_mod_access_enabledcan be toggled independently
v1.2.0
- Configurable check-in interval — run daily or weekly challenges
- Week start setting — for weekly challenges, choose whether weeks start on Sunday, Monday, or Saturday
- Interval-aware streaks — streak labels and calculations now reflect the challenge interval
- Moderator access — full site moderators can manage challenges via a dedicated sidebar section
- Renamed to “Discourse Challenges” in the admin UI
v1.1.1
- Multi-challenge dashboard showing all active challenges simultaneously
- Archived challenges accordion showing historical results
v1.1.0
- Per-challenge timezone support
- Weekly post schedule now per-challenge (day, hour, enable/issues toggle)
v1.0.0
- Initial release
Feedback & Contributions
This plugin was built to solve a real need in our community, and I’m sharing it in case it helps yours. Issues, PRs, and feature requests are welcome on GitLab.
If you’re running a community where accountability and consistency matter — fitness, language learning, writing, creative habits — daily challenges can be a genuinely powerful engagement tool. I hope this plugin makes it easier to bring that to your Discourse community.
