Current Projects - July 2026
Welcome to Current Projects, a monthly newsletter about what we’re currently working on at Discourse. Your questions and feedback are welcome!
Recently finished
Introducing the Discourse Free Plan 
Discourse now has a Free plan! After months of building and testing, we launched it publicly on July 14. Anyone can now start a Discourse community for free, with core features and Discourse AI ready to use. Learn more.
Wrapping up
Dashboard improvements
We’ve mostly completed our work to update the admin dashboard to include more useful information about your community’s health and value. We’ll continue to make small improvements based on feedback in the coming weeks. Learn more.
Improvements to the Events plugin
We’re wrapping up our updates to the Events plugin by continuing to improve the livestream feature by integrating with Zoom for webinar streaming in Discourse (still in progress!).
AI Image captions v2
We’ve overhauled AI Image Captions to run entirely in the background, ensuring a seamless experience for users as they compose posts. This version introduces ARIA label support for image descriptions, enables description backfilling for your existing library, and allows users to search for images throughout Discourse based on their descriptive text.
In full swing
Improved crawler detection
We are improving our system for detecting crawlers, even when they don’t properly register themselves, so that we can separate this activity from anonymous (i.e. not logged in) human visitors and improve site traffic reporting in general.
Workflows
Our new Workflows system, which supports powerful and complex automations, is now available for testing and feedback as we continue to improve and expand its capabilities. Learn more.
New Kanban plugin
We are working on a new plugin for Kanban to replace the existing theme component. Making a plugin allows us to incorporate richer features expected of a kanban board, like ordering cards within columns, enforcing tag or category requirements, and providing more granular access control and integrations. Kanban boards should be helpful for sharing public roadmaps, and collaborating on projects. More details coming soon.
Easier account signup using email codes
We’ve made it easier to create a Discourse account by replacing the traditional email confirmation link with a short one-time verification code. This makes signup faster and more seamless especially on mobile and is now live for Free plan signups through Discourse ID. We’re continuing to iterate on the broader signup flow across all plans through this Upcoming Change. Learn more.
Hot order in nested replies
We’re continuing to iterate on Nested Replies, shifting our attention toward a fresh default sorting method. This update aims to surface high-quality responses at the top of a thread, regardless of whether they were part of the initial wave of activity.
Kicking off
Server API Improvements
We’re continuing our exploration and prototyping around improvements to the usability & consistency of our server APIs. We are beginning to align on a plan for an API that is consistent with the JSON:API spec and uses date-based versioning in the header of requests. We expect to be in a place where we can share more details and start moving into the implementation phase soon. Watch this space for more soon!
Migrating to WarpDrive for frontend data models
We’re planning to start migrating our frontend data models from our custom RestModel to WarpDrive. This will give us a consistent and well-documented pattern for managing data on the frontend, and communicating with the server with first-class support for Ember’s auto-tracking. While related to our work on the new server API, they are not tightly coupled and we’ll be working on this independently in parallel.
Discourse Helper Bot hosted improvements
We’re working to expand the capabilities of the Discourse Helper Bot available to admins on our hosting by exploring a shift from a read-only Q&A assistant to a more capable local agent that help you make changes to your Discourse settings and configuration, straight from a seamless chat interface.
Improved invites and admin onboarding
We’re improving the invite experience for new site admins, starting with an updated onboarding panel on our hosting that now prioritises inviting collaborators early in the setup process. In the process, we’re also making broader UX improvements to the invites system. Learn more.
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