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Flatbb
Free open-source forum you install by unzipping a folder
Flatbb is a flat, lightweight forum in plain PHP 8: no framework, no Composer, no build step. Unzip it into a web folder, open the URL, and the installer sets up SQLite or MySQL. It runs on the cheapest shared hosting. Categories, tags, markdown, mentions, attachments, notifications, search, dark mode and a mobile layout are built in. Plugins are one folder you upload in the admin panel, and the whole plugin API fits in one text file you can hand to Claude, Codex or Cursor. MIT licensed.
Hi Product Hunt! I built Flatbb because every forum I tried wanted Composer, Node or Docker before it would show a single topic, and the people I was building for only had cheap shared hosting and an FTP client.
So Flatbb is plain PHP with no framework, no Composer and no build step. You unzip a folder, open the URL, and a short installer asks for SQLite or MySQL and an admin account. That is the whole deployment.
The part I am most excited about is plugins. A plugin is one folder with one manifest, and the entire plugin API is documented in a single text file. Paste it into Claude Code, Codex or Cursor, describe what you want, and you get back a folder you upload in the admin panel. There is a marketplace with one-click installs, and anyone can publish to it.
It is free and MIT licensed. I would love to hear where it breaks for you.
About Flatbb on Product Hunt
“Free open-source forum you install by unzipping a folder”
Flatbb was submitted on Product Hunt and earned 0 upvotes and 1 comments, placing #7 on the daily leaderboard. Flatbb is a flat, lightweight forum in plain PHP 8: no framework, no Composer, no build step. Unzip it into a web folder, open the URL, and the installer sets up SQLite or MySQL. It runs on the cheapest shared hosting. Categories, tags, markdown, mentions, attachments, notifications, search, dark mode and a mobile layout are built in. Plugins are one folder you upload in the admin panel, and the whole plugin API fits in one text file you can hand to Claude, Codex or Cursor. MIT licensed.
On the analytics side, Flatbb competes within Open Source, Developer Tools, GitHub and Community — topics that collectively have 632.1k followers on Product Hunt. The dashboard above tracks how Flatbb performed against the three products that launched closest to it on the same day.
Who hunted Flatbb?
Flatbb was hunted by Yang Hongsheng. A “hunter” on Product Hunt is the community member who submits a product to the platform — uploading the images, the link, and tagging the makers behind it. Hunters typically write the first comment explaining why a product is worth attention, and their followers are notified the moment they post. Around 79% of featured launches on Product Hunt are self-hunted by their makers, but a well-known hunter still acts as a signal of quality to the rest of the community. See the full all-time top hunters leaderboard to discover who is shaping the Product Hunt ecosystem.
For a complete overview of Flatbb including community comment highlights and product details, visit the product overview.
Yang Hongsheng