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Discourse

Connect your agent to a Discourse forum. Your agent monitors topics, replies to posts, and can create new threads — perfect for community support, FAQ automation, and engagement.

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Setup

  1. Create a dedicated bot account on your Discourse forum (e.g., paw-bot)
  2. As an admin, go to Admin → API → New API Key
  3. Set the scope to Single User and select the bot account
  4. Copy the API key
  5. In Pawz, go to Settings → Channels
  6. Select Discourse
  7. Enter:
    • Forum URL — e.g., https://community.example.com
    • API Key — from step 4
    • Bot Username — the bot account username
  8. Start the channel

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Configuration

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Connection

Pawz connects via Discourse’s REST API, polling for new posts at the configured interval. The bot authenticates using the API key + username headers on every request. No inbound webhooks or public URLs are needed — this is a fully outbound connection.

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API Key Setup (Step-by-Step)

  1. Log in to your Discourse forum as an admin
  2. Navigate to /admin/api/keys
  3. Click New API Key
  4. Description: Paw Agent Bot
  5. User Level: Single User → select your bot account
  6. Click Save
  7. Copy the key (you won’t see it again)
Use a Single User scope rather than a global API key. This limits the bot to actions the bot account is allowed to perform.

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Features

  • Topic monitoring — watches categories for new topics and replies
  • Auto-reply — responds to posts with context-aware answers
  • Topic creation — agent can create new discussion threads (opt-in)
  • Category filtering — monitor specific categories or all categories
  • Per-user sessions — persistent memory across conversations with each user
  • Thread context — reads the full topic thread before replying for context
  • Prompt injection scanning on all incoming posts
  • Agent routing — assign a specific agent to handle Discourse

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Discourse Bot Account Tips

  • Create a dedicated bot account (paw-bot) rather than using your admin account
  • Set the bot’s trust level to at least 1 (Basic) so it can post without restrictions
  • Add a clear bio like “I’m an AI assistant powered by Pawz” for transparency
  • Upload a recognizable avatar (the Pawz logo works great)
  • Consider setting the bot as a moderator if you want it to manage categories

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Troubleshooting

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Category Slugs

Category slugs are the URL-safe versions of category names. For example: Find slugs by navigating to a category — the slug is the last part of the URL: https://community.example.com/c/support/5 → slug is support