# Configuring Discourse for a closed or private community

**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/configuring-discourse-for-a-closed-or-private-community/27014
**Category:** Site Management
**Tags:** how-to, invites
**Created:** [March 31, 2015, 8:15am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/configuring-discourse-for-a-closed-or-private-community/27014 "2015-03-31T08:15:33Z")
**Posts on this page:** 1
**Showing post:** 7

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### Author: ![dowlass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/76d3ee/32.png) [@dowlass](https://meta.discourse.org/u/dowlass)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2026, 12:39pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/configuring-discourse-for-a-closed-or-private-community/27014/7 "2026-08-22T12:39:51Z")

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> [@Discourse](#):
>
> ## Creating an invite-only community
> 
> To restrict new account creation to only those who have been invited:
> 
> 1. Access your site settings
> 2. Find the “invite only” setting and select it  
> ![Invite only setting](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/3X/1/e/1eca593c6e3be507322c0a7147a19e50d9bd0f87.png)

How do trusted users or staff invite new users? Do they walk up to their friends and say ‘hey, why don’t you join our discourse forum!’ If so, how is the invitee to go about it?  
Or are new users invited by email with a signup link? Are the invitation emails sent out from within Discourse? If so, how is that done?

I’m just curious to know the method or process of ‘explicit invitation’.

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_[View the full topic](https://meta.discourse.org/t/configuring-discourse-for-a-closed-or-private-community/27014)._