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Memberful integrates directly with Discourse so you can manage access to a members-only discussion forum through your memberships. This integration uses groups and single sign-on settings in Discourse to control who can view and participate in your community. In this help article, we’ll show you how to create Discourse groups, connect your forum to Memberful, map plans to groups, protect categories, and manage important Discourse settings.

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Create a Discourse group

Before you connect Discourse to Memberful, create the Discourse groups you want to use for member access.
1

Open Groups

In Discourse, go to Groups from the menu icon.
Groups in the Discourse menu
2

Create a group

Click New Group.
Creating a new Discourse group
3

Name and save the group

Enter a group name, then save it.
Naming a Discourse group
If you update your Discourse groups after the initial integration, it may take some time for members to re-sync.

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Generate an API key

Generate a Discourse API key before connecting the integration.
1

Open API settings

In Discourse, go to Admin → API.
Discourse API settings
2

Generate an API key

Create an API key for the integration.

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Connect Memberful to Discourse

Use the API key and your Discourse admin details to connect the integration in the Memberful dashboard.
1

Open Discourse in the Memberful dashboard

Go to Content → Community → Discourse.
2

Start the connection

Click Connect.
3

Enter your Discourse details

Enter your Discourse site information, including the API key you generated.
4

Use the Discourse admin account

Enter the Username and Email for the Discourse admin.
Connecting Memberful to Discourse

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Review Discourse settings changed by Memberful

When Memberful connects to Discourse, it updates several Discourse settings automatically.
Do not reset the DiscourseConnect (SSO) settings. If you reset them, the integration stops working.

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Advanced: Discourse settings

When Memberful connects to Discourse, it updates some of your default Discourse settings. Don’t reset the DiscourseConnect settings or the integration will stop working.

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Settings → Login

  • enable discourse connect: On (formerly enable_sso)
  • enable discourse connect provider: Off (formerly enable sso provider)
  • discourse connect url: Set by Memberful (formerly sso url)
  • discourse connect secret: Set by Memberful (formerly sso secret)
  • auth overrides email: On (formerly sso overrides email)
  • auth overrides name: On (formerly sso overrides name)

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Settings → Users

  • email editable: Off

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Settings → Posting

  • display name on posts: On

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Settings → Plugins

  • disable discourse narrative bot welcome post: On
1

Open Discourse settings

Go to Content → Community → Discourse.
2

Edit the settings

Click Edit settings.
3

Map plans to groups

Choose which membership plans should be linked to which Discourse groups.
4

Save your changes

Click Update settings.
Mapping Memberful plans to Discourse groups
These settings do not apply to members who register for free. Once setup is complete, active members are added automatically to their assigned Discourse group after they sign in through Memberful.
If a member’s subscription expires, they are removed from the associated Discourse group, even if they still have a Discourse account.

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Protect your Discourse categories

To restrict access to member-only areas, update the security settings on the Discourse categories you want to protect.
1

Open the category editor

Click the Discourse category, then click the Wrench icon.
Editing a Discourse category
2

Open Security

Go to the Security settings for the category.
3

Add the group

Click Add a group and select the Discourse group.
Adding a members group to a Discourse category
4

Set category permissions

Choose the See / Reply / Create permissions for that group.
5

Save the category

Click Save Category.
Saving category security settings in Discourse
Repeat this process for each members-only category.

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Default categories

Default Discourse categories such as Meta do not have security settings. If you want a members-only forum, do not use the default categories for protected content.

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Disable posting to Uncategorized

The Uncategorized category does not include a Security tab. To prevent posting there, go to Admin → Settings → Posting and disable posting to Uncategorized.
Disabling posting to Uncategorized in Discourse

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Disallow anonymous access

If you run a protected Discourse forum, it is a good idea to disable anonymous access. Go to Settings → Login and disallow anonymous access.
Disallowing anonymous access in Discourse
When anonymous access is disabled, members must sign in through Memberful to view the forum.

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Set up Discourse admins

Memberful does not allow non-admin Memberful users to remain Discourse admins. This protects your Discourse admin access because Memberful does not verify email ownership for that role. To set up Discourse admins correctly, create them as Memberful staff. Go to Settings → Staff in the Memberful dashboard.

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Access the forum as an admin

Memberful uses the member login page for single sign-on because most Discourse users are members. If you want to access your Discourse forum as an admin, sign in to the Memberful dashboard first.

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Make a paying member a moderator

If you make a paying member a Discourse admin, Memberful removes the admin flag the next time that member syncs. Memberful does not remove the moderator flag, so paying members can still be Discourse moderators. When single sign-on is enabled, Discourse shows a login button but not a signup button. To add a signup link to your forum, create a Memberful plan, copy the plan purchase link, and add that link to your website or forum. You can also customize your Discourse header to include the link.

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Disable Discourse integration

When you disable the Discourse integration, Memberful attempts to disable Memberful single sign-on on your forum. After the integration is disabled successfully, you and your members can sign in to the forum normally again. If you cannot sign in to your forum after disabling the integration, use this URL to access the admin login and fix your Discourse settings: