[Support] Discourse Authentication Error Investigation

Support
1

We’re encountering an authentication error when trying to access the Gnosis forum (https://forum.gnosis.io/) through the Discourse API. Specifically, we’re getting:

[error] Error scanning latest topics for "keyword": DiscourseAuthError: Authentication required for https://forum.gnosis.io/

Context :

  • This error occurs in our bot’s forum scanning functionality
  • The error happens when trying to access the forum’s latest topics endpoint
  • Our implementation uses the standard Discourse API endpoints
  • We’re accessing public forum content that should be readable without authentication
  1. The error suggests the forum is requiring authentication for endpoints that are typically public
  2. Other Discourse forums we monitor don’t require authentication for these endpoints
  3. The error specifically occurs when trying to fetch latest topics, which should be publicly accessible

Questions for Discourse Team :

  1. Is this expected behavior for a public Discourse forum to require authentication for latest topics?
  2. Are there specific Discourse settings that could cause public endpoints to require authentication?
  3. Could this be related to rate limiting being configured to require authentication?
  • Endpoint being accessed: https://forum.gnosis.io/latest.json
  • HTTP Method: GET
  • Expected behavior: Public access to forum topics
  • Actual behavior: 403 Authentication Required
1 Like
4 
 curl https://forum.gnosis.io/latest.json
<html>
<head><title>403 Forbidden</title></head>
<body>
<center><h1>403 Forbidden</h1></center>
</body>
</html>

No that’s not a fully public instance imho

I wonder if there is some restriction on User Agent?

Browser access is fine.

nginx setup?

2 Likes
5

GET https://forum.gnosis.io/latest.json
Headers:
Accept: application/json
Content-Type: application/json

The server responds with:

Status: 403 Forbidden
Response: Authentication required

Are there any specific settings that might cause the authentication error ? if so i’m going to ask the gnosis team if they can change it, but i want to know what to ask for

6

What are your User Agent restrictions set up like?

e.g.:

The image shows a settings page for configuring user agent and crawler permissions on a Discord site. (Captioned by AI)
The image shows a settings page for configuring user agent and crawler permissions on a Discord site. (Captioned by AI)869×605 40.4 KB

You might also want to look at any nginx config.

Is this self hosted?

Are there any additional proxies?

If not self hosted, yeah you will need a response from the support team - send them an email?

2 Likes