# How to implement Discourse with an already built Rails project

**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-implement-discourse-with-an-already-built-rails-project/57353
**Category:** Development
**Created:** [14. Februar 2017 um 11:46 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-implement-discourse-with-an-already-built-rails-project/57353 "2017-02-14T11:46:01Z")
**Posts on this page:** 1
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### Author: ![erlend\_sh](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/erlend_sh/32/119475_2.png) [@erlend\_sh](https://meta.discourse.org/u/erlend_sh)
#### Post date: [14. Februar 2017 um 20:23 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-implement-discourse-with-an-already-built-rails-project/57353/3 "2017-02-14T20:23:50Z")

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In other words:

- Discourse should always run as a stand-alone application. There’s no (sane) way around it.
- Use our [extensive API](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-api-documentation/22706) to incorporate Discourse content into your existing application.
- Use [single sign-on](https://meta.discourse.org/t/official-single-sign-on-for-discourse/13045) for seamless authentication.

Great example here:

> [@Discourse for Online Education Communities](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-for-online-education-communities/48828/4):
>
> We’re self-hosting too - [forum.easyuni.com](https://forum.easyuni.com) - a site in Asia for students to search, compare and “apply” to universities locally or abroad. For the past several months we’ve been working on integrating Discourse more closely with our site (and a new version of the site). Here’s how we use Discourse: 1st level categories are countries (study destinations) 2nd level are colleges in those countries Every college published on the site would get it’s own category in Discourse. Then, on a college …

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