# Set up a staging server

**URL:** <https://meta.discourse.org/t/set-up-a-staging-server/225951>\
**Category:** Sysadmins\
**Tags:** how-to\
**Created:** [May 3, 2022, 5:24am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/set-up-a-staging-server/225951 "2022-05-03T05:24:53Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 29

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**Author:** ![denvergeeks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/denvergeeks/32/327671_2.png) [@denvergeeks](https://meta.discourse.org/u/denvergeeks)\
**Post date:** [March 5, 2024, 8:46pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/set-up-a-staging-server/225951/29 "2024-03-05T20:46:17Z")

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Am I missing a step? I’m pretty sure this worked a year ago or so. But now, while it does populate, it doesn’t add any Topics or posts beyond the **About** the Category… has something changed?

> [@nathank](#):
>
> 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.

 ![Screenshot 2024-03-05 134114](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/4X/2/2/7/227e5414cb59eab50875b3c54f0a7fb67891637f.png)

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