Discourse

Manage Discourse forum categories, groups, posts, users, and group membership.

Overview

Discourse is an open-source discussion platform. This tool provides CRUD operations for categories (create, get many, update), groups (create, get, get many, update), posts (create, get, get many, update), users (create, get, get many), and user-group membership (add, remove). It works against your own Discourse instance URL.

Category: Communication
Tool Name: discourse
Version: 1

Appearance: Icon: si-discourse | Color: #231F20

Node Type

Action — processes input items and produces output

Input / Output

Direction	Port(s)
Input	Input
Output	Output, Error

Credentials

This tool requires Discourse API credentials. See the Credentials Guide for setup instructions.

Resources

Resource	Value
Category	category
Group	group
Post	post
User	user
User Group	userGroup

Operations

Resource	Operation	Value	Description
Category	Create	create	Create a forum category
Category	Get Many	getAll	List the forum’s categories
Category	Update	update	Rename or restyle an existing category
Group	Create	create	Create a group
Group	Get	get	Get one group by name
Group	Get Many	getAll	List the forum’s groups
Group	Update	update	Rename an existing group
Post	Create	create	Create a new topic, or reply to an existing one
Post	Get	get	Get one post by ID
Post	Get Many	getAll	List the forum’s latest posts
Post	Update	update	Edit an existing post
User	Create	create	Create a user account
User	Get	get	Get one user by username or SSO external ID
User	Get Many	getAll	List users filtered by status flag
User Group	Add	add	Add users to a group
User Group	Remove	remove	Remove users from a group

Parameters

Category: Create

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
Name	string	Yes	—	Name of the category. Supports expressions.
Color	string	Yes	0000FF	Hex color code for the category (e.g., 0000FF).
Text Color	string	Yes	0000FF	Text hex color code for the category.

Category: Get Many

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
Return All	boolean	No	false	Whether to return all results or only up to a given limit.
Limit	number	No	50	Max number of results to return. (shown when Return All is false)

Category: Update

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
Category ID	string	Yes	—	ID of the category to update. Supports expressions.
Name	string	Yes	—	New name of the category.
Update Fields	collection	No	{}	Additional fields to update on the category.
— Color	string	No	0000FF	New hex color code for the category.
— Text Color	string	No	0000FF	New text hex color code for the category.

Group: Create

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
Name	string	Yes	—	Name of the group. Supports expressions.

Group: Get

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
Name	string	Yes	—	Name of the group. Supports expressions.

Group: Get Many

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
Return All	boolean	No	false	Whether to return all results or only up to a given limit.
Limit	number	No	50	Max number of results to return. (shown when Return All is false)

Group: Update

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
Group ID	string	Yes	—	ID of the group to update. Supports expressions.
Name	string	Yes	—	New name of the group.

Post: Create

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
Title	string	No	—	Title of the post. When provided, creates a new topic. Supports expressions.
Content	string	Yes	—	Content of the post (Markdown supported). Supports expressions.
Additional Fields	collection	No	{}	Additional fields for post creation.
— Category	string	No	—	Category ID to assign the post/topic to. Find the category ID in your Discourse admin panel under Categories.
— Reply To Post Number	string	No	—	The post number to reply to within a topic.
— Topic ID	string	No	—	ID of the topic to add a reply to. When set, title is ignored.

Post: Get

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
Post ID	string	Yes	—	ID of the post to retrieve. Supports expressions.

Post: Get Many

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
Return All	boolean	No	false	Whether to return all results or only up to a given limit.
Limit	number	No	50	Max number of results to return. (shown when Return All is false)

Post: Update

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
Post ID	string	Yes	—	ID of the post to update. Supports expressions.
Content	string	Yes	—	New content of the post (HTML supported). Supports expressions.
Update Fields	collection	No	{}	Additional fields for post update.
— Edit Reason	string	No	—	Reason for editing the post.
— Cooked	boolean	No	false	Whether the content is pre-cooked HTML.

User: Create

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
Name	string	Yes	—	Display name of the user. Supports expressions.
Email	string	Yes	—	Email address of the user. Supports expressions.
Username	string	Yes	—	Username for the new user. Supports expressions.
Password	string	Yes	—	Password for the new user.
Additional Fields	collection	No	{}	Additional user creation fields.
— Active	boolean	No	false	Whether to set the user as active immediately.
— Approved	boolean	No	false	Whether to set the user as approved immediately.

User: Get

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
By	options	Yes	username	How to look up the user.
				Options: username, externalId (SSO External ID)
Username	string	Yes	—	Username of the user to retrieve. (shown when By is username)
SSO External ID	string	Yes	—	Discourse SSO external ID. (shown when By is externalId)

User: Get Many

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
Flag	options	No	active	User status flag to filter by. Requires admin API key.
				Options: active, blocked, new, staff, suspect, suspended
Return All	boolean	No	false	Whether to return all results or only up to a given limit.
Limit	number	No	50	Max number of results to return. (shown when Return All is false)
Options	collection	No	{}	Additional options for listing users.
— Ascending	boolean	No	true	Whether to sort ascending.
— Order	options	No	created	Field to order results by.
				Options: created, days_visited, email, last_emailed, posts, posts_read, read_time, seen, topics_viewed, trust_level, username
— Show Emails	boolean	No	false	Whether to include user email addresses.
— Stats	boolean	No	false	Whether to return user statistics.

User Group: Add

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
Usernames	string	Yes	—	Usernames to add to the group. Multiple usernames can be separated by commas. Supports expressions.
Group ID	string	Yes	—	ID of the group. Supports expressions.

User Group: Remove

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
Usernames	string	Yes	—	Usernames to remove from the group. Multiple usernames can be separated by commas. Supports expressions.
Group ID	string	Yes	—	ID of the group. Supports expressions.

All Operations

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
Max Concurrency	number	No	10	Maximum number of items to process concurrently.

Output Data

The Discourse record is merged into the item JSON — the incoming fields pass through and binary data is forwarded. Single-record operations produce one output item per input item; every Get Many operation fans out to one output item per record.

Resource / Operation	Output
Category / create	The created category — id, name, slug, color, text_color and the rest of the category record
Category / getAll	One item per category
Category / update	The updated category record
Group / create	The created group record
Group / get	The group record for that name
Group / getAll	One item per group
Group / update	The Discourse response for the rename
Post / create	The created post — id, topic_id, post_number, username, cooked and the rest of the post record
Post / get	The post record for that ID
Post / getAll	One item per post, newest first
Post / update	The updated post record
User / create	The Discourse response for the account creation, including user_id and the account’s activation state
User / get	The user record
User / getAll	One item per user matching the Flag, with email addresses and statistics only when those options are on
User Group / add	The Discourse response for the membership change
User Group / remove	The Discourse response for the membership change

Reference a field downstream by expression, e.g. {{ $json.topic_id }}.

Usage Examples

• Create a new forum category
• Get all posts from Discourse
• Add a user to a Discourse group
• Create a new topic in Discourse
• List all users with active status

Example Configuration

Create a category:

{
  "type": "discourse",
  "parameters": {
    "resource": "category",
    "operation": "create",
    "name": "General Discussion",
    "color": "0088CC",
    "textColor": "FFFFFF"
  }
}

Rename and restyle a category:

{
  "type": "discourse",
  "parameters": {
    "resource": "category",
    "operation": "update",
    "categoryId": "5",
    "name": "Updated Category Name",
    "updateFields": {
      "color": "FF0000",
      "textColor": "000000"
    }
  }
}

List the first 20 categories:

{
  "type": "discourse",
  "parameters": {
    "resource": "category",
    "operation": "getAll",
    "returnAll": false,
    "limit": 20
  }
}

Create a group:

{
  "type": "discourse",
  "parameters": {
    "resource": "group",
    "operation": "create",
    "name": "moderators"
  }
}

Start a new topic in a category:

{
  "type": "discourse",
  "parameters": {
    "resource": "post",
    "operation": "create",
    "title": "Welcome to Our Forum",
    "content": "This is the **welcome post** with *markdown* formatting.",
    "additionalFields": {
      "category": "1"
    }
  }
}

Reply to an existing topic:

{
  "type": "discourse",
  "parameters": {
    "resource": "post",
    "operation": "create",
    "content": "{{ $json.replyText }}",
    "additionalFields": {
      "topic_id": "123",
      "reply_to_post_number": "1"
    }
  }
}

Edit a post and record why:

{
  "type": "discourse",
  "parameters": {
    "resource": "post",
    "operation": "update",
    "postId": "456",
    "content": "<p>Updated post content with HTML</p>",
    "updateFields": {
      "edit_reason": "Fixed formatting",
      "cooked": true
    }
  }
}

Create an already-active user:

{
  "type": "discourse",
  "parameters": {
    "resource": "user",
    "operation": "create",
    "name": "John Doe",
    "email": "john@example.com",
    "username": "johndoe",
    "password": "securepassword123",
    "additionalFields": {
      "active": true,
      "approved": true
    }
  }
}

Look a user up by username:

{
  "type": "discourse",
  "parameters": {
    "resource": "user",
    "operation": "get",
    "by": "username",
    "username": "johndoe"
  }
}

Look a user up by SSO external ID:

{
  "type": "discourse",
  "parameters": {
    "resource": "user",
    "operation": "get",
    "by": "externalId",
    "externalId": "external123"
  }
}

List active users with their statistics:

{
  "type": "discourse",
  "parameters": {
    "resource": "user",
    "operation": "getAll",
    "flag": "active",
    "returnAll": false,
    "limit": 50,
    "options": {
      "asc": true,
      "order": "created",
      "showEmails": false,
      "stats": true
    }
  }
}

Add several users to a group at once:

{
  "type": "discourse",
  "parameters": {
    "resource": "userGroup",
    "operation": "add",
    "usernames": "johndoe,janedoe,admin",
    "groupId": "5"
  }
}

Remove users from a group:

{
  "type": "discourse",
  "parameters": {
    "resource": "userGroup",
    "operation": "remove",
    "usernames": "johndoe,janedoe",
    "groupId": "5"
  }
}

Error Handling

Mode	Behavior
stop	Halts workflow on first error
continue	Skips failed items, passes successful ones through
errorPort	Routes failed items to Error output port

Tips

Manage Discourse forum categories, groups, posts, users, and group membership via the Discourse REST API.

Notes

• Title decides topic or reply. Post: Create starts a new topic when you set a Title, and adds a reply when you set Topic ID instead. Setting Topic ID wins — the Title is ignored.
• Post: Create takes Markdown; Post: Update takes HTML. Turn on the Cooked update field when you are supplying rendered HTML rather than letting Discourse render it.
• Group: Get looks up by name, Group: Update by ID. Fetch the group first if you only have its name and need the ID.
• User Group takes several usernames at once — one comma-separated string per call, so a whole batch of members can be added or removed in a single item.
• Admin-only operations. Creating users, listing users by flag, and creating groups go through Discourse’s admin endpoints, so the API key must belong to an admin account.
• Colors are bare hex, without the leading # — 0088CC, not #0088CC.
• Get Many fans out. Each category, group, post or user arrives as its own item, ready to filter or loop over without a Split Out node.