Discourse as a chat-first collaboration platform

I’m working on a custom design to re-imagine Discourse as a dedicated platform for community collaboration. A few core ideas guide the approach:

  • Place chat at the center of communication
  • Reframe categories and topics as spaces for specific, structured content
  • Align the overall layout with the simplicity of the chat view

My goal is also to keep it lightweight and fully built on top of a standard Discourse install. Technically, it’s just a theme and a few components right now. But conceptually, it goes well beyond theming. It both reflects and targets a specific use case and set of community goals. So I’ve been thinking of it more as a community design than a theme.

I’ve set up this demo site with more info about the concept and installation. If this sounds interesting or even useful for your community, I’d love for you to sign up and explore its features.

There’s a lot to refine, and shaping this together would would make a big difference :hugs:

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