Discourse Assign

[Discourse]

	Summary	Discourse Assign provides the ability to assign topics and individual posts (both private and public) to a user or group.
	Install Guide	This plugin is bundled with Discourse core. There is no need to install the plugin separately.

As this is an official plugin maintained by the Discourse team, Support, Contribute > Bug, Contribute > UX , and Contribute > Feature requests can be made in the respective categories here on Meta, and tagged with the appropriate plugin tag. Click on a link below to get one started.

Support Bug UX Feature

Required user level: Administrator (for configuration), members of allowed groups (for using assignments)

Hosted by us? This plugin is available on our Business and Enterprise plans. Data Explorer | Discourse - Civilized Discussion

Overview

Discourse Assign adds the ability to assign topics and individual posts — both public and private — to a specific user or group. Assignments appear as tag-like annotations in the topic list and topic header, providing a clear indication of who is responsible for a given topic or post. This is particularly useful for support teams, moderation workflows, and any scenario where you need to track task ownership.

Discourse Assign is bundled with Discourse core and doesn’t require separate installation. It’s disabled by default and can be enabled through admin settings.

Enabling Discourse Assign

1. Go to Admin → Plugins and find Discourse Assign.
2. Toggle the plugin to enabled, or navigate to Admin → Settings and search for assign_enabled.
3. Set assign_enabled to true.
4. Configure assign_allowed_on_groups to specify which groups can use the assign feature (see Configuring permissions below).

Assigning topics and posts

Assigning a topic

When you open a topic and you’re a member of an allowed group, you’ll see an Assign button in the topic controls. Click it to open the assignment modal, where you can:

• Select a user or group to assign the topic to
• Optionally set a status (if enable_assign_status is turned on)
• Optionally add a note with additional context

Assigning an individual post

In addition to assigning entire topics, you can assign individual posts. This option appears under the … (show more) button in the post toolbar for posts other than the first post. When a post is assigned, assignment information appears in the topic header and the first post contains a link to the assigned post.

Assigning to groups

Topics and posts can be assigned to user groups. When a group is assigned, each group member receives a notification. To make a group available for assignment:

1. Go to the group’s settings page.
2. Under Interaction, find the “Who can assign this group” option.
3. Set it to the desired permission level (by default it’s set to “nobody”).

Unassigning

To unassign a topic or post, click the button that currently shows the assignee’s name. This opens a dropdown where you can select Unassign. You can also Reassign to a different user or group, or Edit assignments to modify the status or note.

Using assignment statuses

Assignments can optionally include customizable statuses that track the progress of assigned work.

1. Enable statuses by setting enable_assign_status to true.
2. Configure available statuses with the assign_statuses setting. The default statuses are New, In Progress, and Done, separated by the pipe | character.
3. The first status in the list is automatically applied as the default for every new assignment.

Status changes are tracked in small_action posts within the topic, providing an audit trail.

To change the status of an existing assignment, click the assignee button and select Edit assignments. From there, you can update the status using the dropdown.

Configuring permissions

Controlling who can assign

The assign_allowed_on_groups setting controls which groups have permission to use assignments. Members of these groups can:

• Assign topics and posts to users or groups
• View assignment data across the site
• See the “Assigned” tab on user profiles

When setting assign_allowed_on_groups, use a specific group like trust_level_0 rather than everyone. The everyone option may not work as expected. Using trust_level_0 effectively grants all registered users access to the assign feature.

Assignment visibility

By default, assignment data is only visible to users who belong to one of the assign_allowed_on_groups groups, or to admins. This applies regardless of how the group itself is configured for general visibility:

• Publicly visible groups won’t expose their assignment tabs or indicators to non-assigned users.
• Users outside the allowed groups won’t see assignment data even if they navigate directly to an assignments URL.

To make assignments visible to all users, including logged-out visitors, enable the assigns_public setting.

Scenario	assigns_public: false (default)	assigns_public: true
Members of assign_allowed_on_groups	See all assignment data	See all assignment data
All other users	See nothing	See all assignment data

Viewing assigned topics

There are two primary ways to view assigned topics:

Topic list filters

Append query parameters to any topic list URL:

• https://discourse.example.com/latest?assigned=username — view all topics assigned to a specific user
• https://discourse.example.com/latest?assigned=* — view all assigned topics across all users
• https://discourse.example.com/latest?assigned=me — view all topics assigned to you
• https://discourse.example.com/latest?assigned=nobody — view all unassigned topics

User profile activity tab

Each user who can assign has an Assigned tab under their activity page at /u/{username}/activity/assigned. This tab lists all topics and posts assigned to that user.

Unassigned category filter

Categories can optionally display an “Unassigned” navigation button at the top of their topic list, making it easy to spot topics that haven’t been assigned yet. This is controlled through the category’s settings.

Site settings reference

Core settings

Setting	Description	Default
assign_enabled	Enable the assign plugin	false
assign_allowed_on_groups	Groups whose members can use assignments and be assigned topics	(empty)
assigns_public	Allow all users (including logged-out visitors) to see assignments	false
max_assigned_topics	Maximum number of topics that can be assigned to a single user	10

Automation settings

Setting	Description	Default
assigns_by_staff_mention	Automatically assign a topic when a staff member mentions another staff member	false
assign_self_regex	A regex pattern that, when matched in a post, auto-assigns the topic to the post author	(empty)
assign_other_regex	A regex pattern that restricts auto-assignment via mention to posts matching the pattern	(empty)
unassign_on_close	Automatically unassign topics when they’re closed	false
reassign_on_open	Reassign previously assigned users/groups when a closed topic is reopened	false
unassign_on_group_archive	Unassign messages when archived by a group, and reassign when moved back to inbox	false
invite_on_assign	When a personal message is assigned to a user or group, invite them to the PM if they aren’t already a participant	false

Notification and reminder settings

Setting	Description	Default
assign_mailer	When to send notification emails for assignments: never, different_users, or always	never
remind_assigns_frequency	How often to remind users about their pending assignments	0 (disabled)
pending_assign_reminder_threshold	Minimum number of pending assignments before a reminder notification is sent	2

Status settings

Setting	Description	Default
enable_assign_status	Add a customizable status field to every assignment	false
assign_statuses	Pipe-separated list of available statuses (first one is the default)	`New

Tracking settings

Setting	Description	Default
unassign_creates_tracking_post	Create a whisper or small action post when a topic is unassigned	true
assigns_user_url_path	URL path template for linked assigned user profiles (use {username} as a placeholder)	/u/{username}/activity/assigned

Integration with Discourse Solved

Setting	Description	Default
ignore_solved_topics_in_assigned_reminder	Exclude solved topics from assignment reminders	false
assignment_status_on_solve	Automatically change assignment status to this value when a topic is solved	(empty)
assignment_status_on_unsolve	Automatically change assignment status to this value when a solution is removed	(empty)

Customizing the assignment email template

The email sent when a user is assigned can be customized through Admin → Customize → Text. Search for the following keys:

• assign_mailer.subject_template — the email subject line
• assign_mailer.text_body_template — the email body text

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Thank you to McNeel for sponsoring this work!

Last edited by @Moin 2026-04-07T22:35:33Z

Last checked by @MarkDoerr 2026-04-07T22:09:15Z

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