Flatboard

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Fast and lightweight flat-file forum software, powered by JSON or SQLite.

Important: Flatboard 5 is a complete refactoring of the forum software. Flatboard 4 is the last supported version of the previous architecture. Flatboard 5 introduces a modern MVC architecture, improved performance, enhanced security, and many new features.

We're just getting started, so if you have any questions, comments, bugs to report or enhancements that should be implemented, please do feel free to post those here on GitHub.
Online demo/support: https://flatboard.org

Getting Started

• Installation
• License

REQUIREMENTS

System requirements

Make sure your server meets the following requirements.

• [x] Web Server (Apache 2.4 with mod_rewrite or Nginx)
• [x] PHP 8.0 or higher

PHP extensions

Flatboard 5 needs the following PHP extensions to be enabled:

Required:

• [x] PHP json module for JSON manipulation (usually included).
• [x] PHP mbstring module for full UTF-8 support.
• [x] PHP openssl module for security features.

Recommended:

• [x] PHP fileinfo module for secure MIME type validation of uploaded files.
• [x] PHP zip module for ZIP archive content analysis.
• [x] PHP pdo_sqlite module if using SQLite storage (Pro only).
• [x] PHP gd or imagick module for avatar generation and image processing.

Installation

1. Download the latest version from flatboard.org
2. Extract the archive.
3. Upload all files to your server/hosting.
4. Visit your domain http://domain.com
5. Follow the Flatboard Installer to configure your website.

Note: The installer will automatically detect your configuration and guide you through:

• System check (PHP version, extensions)
• Storage type selection (JSON or SQLite for Pro)
• Site configuration
• Admin account creation
• SMTP configuration (optional)

License

The GPL3 License (GPL3) Copyright (c) 2015-2026 Frédéric Kaplon.

Flatboard Community - Licensed under GPL3, free and open source.
Flatboard Pro - Licensed under GPL3, requires purchase to access.