# Seeking dummy forum data for testing purposes
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/seeking-dummy-forum-data-for-testing-purposes/360720
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [April 7, 2025, 11:52am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/seeking-dummy-forum-data-for-testing-purposes/360720 "2025-04-07T11:52:35Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Ed\_S](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Ed_S)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2025, 11:52am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/seeking-dummy-forum-data-for-testing-purposes/360720/1 "2025-04-07T11:52:36Z")
I’m sure I’ve seen a post here where someone shared a way to populate a fresh installation with dummy content - users, posts, replies, maybe uploads, badges, etc - for testing. This is not for pre-seeding a new forum to entice users. And although I can see it’s possible with an API, I believe it was more like an alternate docker image, or perhaps a backup file to restore.
Any pointers? I’ve searched but can’t find. Ask Discourse didn’t find it either.
In my case, the aim is to be able to test different installation tactics and server configurations.
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### Author:  [@Arkshine](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Arkshine)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2025, 12:05pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/seeking-dummy-forum-data-for-testing-purposes/360720/3 "2025-04-07T12:05:25Z")
Is it what you’re looking for?
> [@Set up a staging server](https://meta.discourse.org/t/set-up-a-staging-server/225951/1):
>
> If you want a staging server, then you should populate it with your actual data from your actual forum via a `Restore`. Sometimes it is your particular data that is causing the issue, and testing your forum with some other set of data can give you a sense of false hope.
>
> If what you want is a test server to see what Discourse is like, though, you might want to check things out with some fake data, and if you do, you can do this:
>
> ```plaintext
> ./launcher enter app
> ALLOW_DEV_POPULATE=1 bundle install
> ALLOW_DEV_POPULATE=1 rake dev:populate
>
> ```
>
> This will seed your forum with some fake data so that you can see what things look like with whatever themes and plugins you want. If you haven’t started your forum yet, this will give you some idea what things are likely to look like.
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### Author:  [@Ed\_S](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Ed_S)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2025, 12:19pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/seeking-dummy-forum-data-for-testing-purposes/360720/4 "2025-04-07T12:19:42Z")
Ah, that surely is it - many thanks!
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### Author:  [@system](https://meta.discourse.org/u/system)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2025, 12:20pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/seeking-dummy-forum-data-for-testing-purposes/360720/5 "2025-05-07T12:20:29Z")
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