1. Log in as administrator

Open your forum URL and go to /login/. Use the administrator email and password you set during installation. In Docker, these are APBOARD_FIRST_ADMIN_EMAIL and APBOARD_FIRST_ADMIN_PASSWORD from deploy/.env.

After login, open the admin area from the navigation. Change the admin password if you used a temporary password during setup.

2. Create categories and boards

APBoard organizes discussions in two levels. A category is a group. A board is the place where users create topics.

Category: broad area such as Community, Support or News.
Board: discussion area inside a category, such as Introductions or Questions.

Start with a small structure. Empty forums with too many boards look abandoned.

text

Community
  Introductions
  General discussion

Support
  Questions
  Bug reports

News
  Announcements

3. Review global settings

In the admin area, review the forum title, short title, description, default language, default style, registration settings, upload limits and public visibility. These values affect what visitors see and how search engines understand your forum.

If you want a private test forum, disable indexing in the settings before you share the URL. APBoard uses that setting for robots and sitemap behavior.

4. Fill in legal pages

Public forums usually need legal and privacy information. APBoard provides admin managed legal pages. Open the legal pages section in the admin area and replace placeholders with your real information.

Imprint or legal notice: who operates the forum.
Privacy information: what data the forum stores and why.
Terms of use: rules for users and moderation.
Contact page: how users can reach the operator.

Legal note

This documentation cannot replace legal advice. If your forum is public, especially in Germany or the European Union, use proper legal text for your situation.

5. Test email

APBoard needs SMTP for registration confirmation, password reset and notifications. Create a normal test user with another email address. If the registration mail arrives, the basic mail path works.

If no email arrives, check the SMTP settings, spam folder and provider rules. Many providers require an app password instead of the normal account password.

6. Test important user flows

Register a test user.
Log in and log out.
Create a topic and a reply.
Upload an allowed image.
Reset the test user's password.
Check the forum on a phone.

7. Make a first backup

Before real users arrive, create your first backup and make sure you know how to restore it. A useful backup contains the database, config.php or deploy/.env, and public/shared/uploads/.

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After installation