Community forum runbook (`forum.umbraculum.dev`)

Tier: Public
Status: v1 — Phase 0 bootstrap (Discourse on Contabo); LIVE at forum.umbraculum.dev since 2026-06-08 (§7.5 governance pins complete)
Audience: maintainer standing up or operating the canonical community surface per CORE-DEVELOPMENT-AND-COMMUNITY.md §4.6
Related: production-hosts.md, umbraculum-hosting-forum (docs/OPERATOR.md — VPS steps), public-alpha-cloudflare-pages-runbook.md, community-forum-vps-security.md, community-forum-ssl-strategy.md, community-forum-secrets-inventory.md, donation-channels.md, public-alpha-flip-day-runbook.md, PUBLIC-ALPHA-ANNOUNCEMENT.md

[!IMPORTANT] Governance record lives here. Proposals, vote threads, meeting minutes, and vetoes (§4.4) are canonical on the forum. GitHub Issues track implementation; external Jitsi links are provisional until Phase 2 (§4.6.4).

1. Summary

Item	Value
URL	`https://forum.umbraculum.dev`
Software	Discourse (GPL, self-host via official Docker launcher)
VPS	Contabo Cloud VPS 10 — Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, 75 GB NVMe; Auto Backup optional until kick-off (§10)
Infra cost (itemized)	€3.60/month at bootstrap (VPS only) → €5.10 after kick-off (+ Auto Backup) → €7.60 full target (+ Object Storage planned)
Infra cost (public round figure)	~€4/month bootstrap → ~€10/month when backup layers fully enabled
Infrastructure custody	Phase 0 may run on maintainer-operated provisional VPS; entity-owned hosting after community vote — `CORE-DEVELOPMENT-AND-COMMUNITY.md` §4.6.7; `LICENSING.md` §7.6
DNS	Cloudflare A record `forum` → VPS IPv4, proxy off (grey cloud) at bootstrap
Brochure / docs	Cloudflare Workers — do not route the forum through Workers/Pages

Phase 0 scope: Discourse only. No Matrix chat, no self-hosted Jitsi on this VPS until §4.6.3 / §4.6.4 triggers fire.

2. Prerequisites

Gate	Notes
`umbraculum.dev` zone on Cloudflare	Same account as brochure + docs Workers
SMTP credentials	Brevo free tier (~300 emails/day). Account login: maintainer Proton inbox. Sender: `forum@umbraculum.dev` only (domain authenticated in Brevo). See §5.1
Admin email	`forum@umbraculum.dev` (monitored via Cloudflare Email Routing → maintainer inbox)
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS on VPS	Discourse official path; fresh VM, no conflicting web servers on :80/:443
Contabo VPS ordered	Cloud VPS 10; IPv4 assigned (Auto Backup may wait until kick-off — §10)
Brevo + `forum@` smoke-tested	Test send/receive before `./discourse-setup`

Checklist before VPS work:

Brevo domain authenticated; SMTP key in password manager
forum@ Email Routing delivers to maintainer inbox
Contabo VPS provisioned (24.04, NVMe; Auto Backup at kick-off if not yet enabled)
VPS IPv4 recorded in password manager

3. Contabo VPS

Operator steps (VPS install, DNS, ./discourse-setup, smoke tests) are canonical in umbraculum-hosting-forum — docs/OPERATOR.md. Hardening: bin/harden (scripts from umbraculum-hosting-common). Index: production-hosts.md.

Custody. At bootstrap the forum may run on a maintainer-operated VPS (personal Contabo or equivalent). Migration to Umbraculum entity-owned hosting is by Discourse backup + restore + DNS cutover, not VPS/account transfer — see CORE-DEVELOPMENT-AND-COMMUNITY.md §4.6.7.

Do not co-locate the demo stack (demo-host-runbook.md) on this VPS at Phase 0.

3.1 VPS security

Apply hardening before ./discourse-setup — see hosting-forum docs/VPS-SECURITY.md and community-forum-vps-security.md. Enable Auto Backup at kick-off (§10).

4–5. DNS, Discourse install, smoke tests

Moved to umbraculum-hosting-forum docs/OPERATOR.md (sections 3–5). SSL decision record remains community-forum-ssl-strategy.md. Template sync: hosting-forum templates/app.yml.template.

6. Category bootstrap

Create categories in Admin → Categories (order matters for navigation):

Category	Purpose	Suggested permissions
Community policy	CoC reminders, governance updates, monthly policy email targets	Staff post; everyone read
Proposals	§4.1 well-formed proposals	Everyone create topic; staff pin templates
Meetings	Agendas, live AV links, transcripts/minutes	Staff create; everyone reply
Help	Informal questions (Phase 0 chat substitute)	Everyone
Introductions	New participants	Everyone

Pinned topics to create:

Community policy — link CORE-DEVELOPMENT-AND-COMMUNITY.md, CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md, §4.6.7 infrastructure custody (bootstrap VPS → entity-owned migration via backup + restore), §6 anti-verticality summary, §6.1 authentic representation.

How to write a proposal — template:

## What
(concrete change)

## Why
(user / contributor / operator value)

## Scope hint
(module, package, doc, RFC — best effort)

## Optional offers
(collaboration and/or sponsorship — informational only)

## GitHub tracker
(link to Issue once opened)

Meeting cadence — monthly; N + T vote thresholds published before each meeting (§4.2).
Sponsorship channels (Phase 0) — link donation-channels.md: Liberapay (recurring), Buy Me a Coffee (one-time), in-kind compute §4, escalation triggers §5.

How we communicate — short human-readable summary + links (required before first public proposal cycle; tracked on ROADMAP.md Phase 2 2d / 2c and public-alpha-flip-day-runbook.md §8–§9). Use this body (edit only if policy text changes):

## How we communicate on this forum

Umbraculum community spaces are for **real people talking to real people**.

- You represent **only yourself** (or someone who explicitly asked you to post for them).
- **Do not** use AI or automation to post, reply, or vote as another person or as an unnamed “member.”
- **Do not** run AI-generated replies in threads (Proposals, Meetings, Help, Introductions) as if a human wrote them.
- If a post is **automated** (release bot, meeting reminder), say so at the top: `Automated post — not written by a human`.
- If **AI helped you draft** a post you publish, say so briefly (e.g. “Drafted with AI assistance; reviewed and posted by me”).

The in-app **AI consultant** is a product feature inside workspaces — not a forum participant.

Full policy: [CORE-DEVELOPMENT-AND-COMMUNITY.md §6.1](https://github.com/umbraculum-dev/umbraculum-dev/blob/master/docs/CORE-DEVELOPMENT-AND-COMMUNITY.md) (link will work after public flip; until then use the doc in your clone).
Code of Conduct: [CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md](https://github.com/umbraculum-dev/umbraculum-dev/blob/master/CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md).

Questions about conduct: conduct@umbraculum.dev

Voting (§4.2): For each proposal cycle, staff publishes whether that cycle uses topic likes (reactions) or a single-choice poll (Discourse built-in poll). Record the choice in the meeting-prep topic so thresholds are auditable.

7. §6 anti-verticality hardening (required before public launch)

These settings implement CORE-DEVELOPMENT-AND-COMMUNITY.md §6 on Discourse. Apply in Admin → Settings (search box finds most keys).

7.1 Fixed avatar (Umbraculum logo)

Upload docs/media/umbi.png (or a square-cropped Umbraculum mark) via Admin → Settings → Files → Default avatar.
Set:

Setting Value
allow uploaded avatars disabled
automatically downloaded gravatars disabled
allow profile background images disabled
Spot-check: new test user shows the default avatar only; profile edit has no custom avatar upload.

Setting	Value
`allow uploaded avatars`	disabled
`automatically downloaded gravatars`	disabled
`allow profile background images`	disabled

7.2 No badges, ranks, or leaderboard surfaces

Setting	Value
`enable badges`	disabled (or disable badge granting if your Discourse version splits the toggle)
`display trust level badges`	disabled
`enable user directory`	disabled
`enable user status`	disabled
`enable discourse connect`	disabled until SSO is deliberately chosen for Sybil mitigation (§6)

Trust levels may remain internally for anti-spam (Discourse default) — they must not be visible prestige signals on profiles or posts.

7.3 Minimal system email (monthly policy only)

Default new users to no digests; staff posts the monthly policy update as a public topic in Community policy (subscribers opt in manually if they want topic notifications).

Setting	Value
`default email digest frequency`	never (or lowest frequency your version offers)
`disable emails`	Review toggles — disable marketing / miscellaneous digests; keep security and account emails enabled
`email posting and replying`	disabled (discussion stays on web)

The §6 commitment is: the only system-initiated outreach beyond account/security mail is the monthly policy link — send that as a staff announcement topic, not an automated engagement drip.

7.4 Maintainer visibility

Mark core-team accounts with the admin / moderator role where operationally needed (PR coordination, CoC, vetoes).
Do not introduce custom titles, flair, or "core contributor" badges — procedural role labels only.

7.5 Hardening sign-off checklist

Default avatar is Umbi / Umbraculum mark; uploads and Gravatar off
Badges off; trust badges off; user directory off
New user digest default = never (or equivalent)
Categories + pinned proposal template live
Pinned How we communicate topic live in Community policy (§6 item 5 — §6.1 authentic representation)
Test registration + password reset email delivers
CoC, §6.1, and §4.6 policy links visible without login (or in pinned Community policy / How we communicate topics readable by all)

8. Link graph (flip week)

After the forum is live, wire links from existing surfaces:

Surface	Action
`PUBLIC-ALPHA-ANNOUNCEMENT.md`	Cross-post; add forum URL to release notes
`CONTRIBUTING.md`	Already points to forum for governance questions
Brochure / docs nav	Done — brochure `index.html` header + footer; docs site navbar + footer in `docs-site/docusaurus.config.ts`
GitHub org README	Link forum alongside docs

Each Proposal topic should link to its GitHub Issue; each Issue should link back to the forum topic.

9. Smoke tests

# DNS
dig +short forum.umbraculum.dev A

# TLS + HTTP
curl -sI https://forum.umbraculum.dev/ | head -5

# Discourse health (expect 200)
curl -so /dev/null -w '%{http_code}\n' https://forum.umbraculum.dev/srv/status

Manual:

Register a non-admin test account; confirm default avatar
Create a topic in Proposals using the template
Add a reaction or poll; confirm counts behave as expected for that cycle
Confirm no badge UI on profile

10. Ongoing ops (~2–4 h/month)

Task	Cadence
`./launcher rebuild app` when Admin → Dashboard → Updates shows a stable upgrade	Monthly or when security advisory lands
Contabo Auto Backup verification in panel	After kick-off and after major upgrade
Discourse → Contabo Object Storage (€2.50/mo)	Enable post-flip — deferred at bootstrap; see hosting-forum MAINTENANCE.md
Review `./launcher logs app` after rebuild	Per upgrade
Spam / CoC moderation	As needed
Publish meeting minutes to Meetings	Per §4.3 cadence

Backup policy (phased):

Layer	When	Cost
VPS only	Bootstrap — provision, install, smoke-test	€3.60/mo
Contabo Auto Backup	Kick-off — forum announced as canonical governance home (`public-alpha-flip-day-runbook.md`); enable before first `./launcher rebuild app` once posts/categories matter	+€1.50/mo
Discourse → Object Storage	Post-flip window or before first governance vote — see MAINTENANCE	+€2.50/mo

Kick-off means the public flip points contributors at forum.umbraculum.dev, not a visitor-count threshold — an empty forum still gets Auto Backup once it is the governance surface.

Pre-kick-off without Auto Backup: acceptable while the host is install-only or disposable smoke-test data. Take a manual snapshot before risky rebuilds (VPS 10 includes one snapshot slot). If the VPS is lost, reinstall ./discourse-setup — no archive obligation yet.

Infra cost (itemized): €3.60 bootstrap → €5.10 at kick-off → €7.60 full target. Public/support copy: ~€4/month at bootstrap, ~€10/month when backup layers are fully enabled.

Upgrade command:

cd /var/discourse
./launcher start app   # if stopped
# Apply update from admin UI or pull discourse_docker, then:
./launcher rebuild app

Re-run §7.5 spot-check after major Discourse version jumps — upgrades can re-enable default settings.

11. Phase 1 / 2 pointers (out of scope for this runbook)

Phase	Trigger	Runbook action
1 — Chat	§4.6.3	Add `chat.umbraculum.dev` A record; deploy Conduit (or Zulip Cloud sponsorship) — separate doc when triggered
2 — AV	§4.6.4	Upgrade to VPS 20 or second VPS 10; `meet.umbraculum.dev` — separate doc when triggered

12. Sign-off log

Date	Maintainer	Forum live?	§7 hardening	Notes
—	—	☐	☐	Not executed yet

1. Summary​

2. Prerequisites​

3. Contabo VPS​

3.1 VPS security​

4–5. DNS, Discourse install, smoke tests​

6. Category bootstrap​

7. §6 anti-verticality hardening (required before public launch)​

7.1 Fixed avatar (Umbraculum logo)​

7.2 No badges, ranks, or leaderboard surfaces​

7.3 Minimal system email (monthly policy only)​

7.4 Maintainer visibility​

7.5 Hardening sign-off checklist​

8. Link graph (flip week)​

9. Smoke tests​

10. Ongoing ops (~2–4 h/month)​

11. Phase 1 / 2 pointers (out of scope for this runbook)​

12. Sign-off log​