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.
Setup
- Create a dedicated bot account on your Discourse forum (e.g.,
paw-bot)
- As an admin, go to Admin → API → New API Key
- Set the scope to Single User and select the bot account
- Copy the API key
- In Pawz, go to Settings → Channels
- Select Discourse
- Enter:
- Forum URL — e.g.,
https://community.example.com
- API Key — from step 4
- Bot Username — the bot account username
- Start the channel
Configuration
| Field | Required | Description |
|---|
| Forum URL | Yes | Your Discourse instance URL (no trailing slash) |
| API Key | Yes | Admin-generated API key scoped to the bot user |
| Bot Username | Yes | The Discourse username the API key is scoped to |
| Categories to Monitor | No | Comma-separated category slugs (blank = all categories) |
| Reply to Topics | Yes | Whether the agent auto-replies to new topics |
| Create Topics | No | Whether the agent can create new topics |
| Poll Interval | No | How often to check for new posts (default: 30s, minimum: 10s) |
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.
API Key Setup (Step-by-Step)
- Log in to your Discourse forum as an admin
- Navigate to
/admin/api/keys
- Click New API Key
- Description:
Paw Agent Bot
- User Level: Single User → select your bot account
- Click Save
- 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.
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
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
Troubleshooting
| Problem | Fix |
|---|
| 403 Forbidden | API key may be expired or scoped to wrong user — regenerate it in Admin → API |
| Bot doesn’t reply | Check that “Reply to Topics” is enabled and the bot account has posting permissions |
| Posts in wrong category | Verify category slugs match exactly (case-sensitive, use hyphens not spaces) |
| Rate limited | Increase the poll interval (Discourse default rate limit is 60 req/min) |
| Bot replies to itself | Bot username must match exactly — the agent filters out its own posts |
| Connection timeout | Verify the forum URL is correct and accessible from your machine |
Category Slugs
Category slugs are the URL-safe versions of category names. For example:
| Category Name | Slug |
|---|
| General Discussion | general-discussion |
| Support | support |
| Feature Requests | feature-requests |
https://community.example.com/c/support/5 → slug is support
