Flatboard 5 Help Center
Welcome to the Flatboard 5 documentation. Whether you're setting up your first forum or building a plugin, everything you need is here.
Current Version: 5.2.7 — License: GPL3 (Community & Pro)
Quick Start
- Getting Started — Prerequisites and server preparation
- Installation — Step-by-step installation guide
- Configuration — Forum settings
- Admin Panel — Administration interface overview
About Flatboard 5
Flatboard 5 is a complete rewrite of the forum software with a modern MVC architecture.
Flatboard 3 and 4 plugins and themes are NOT compatible with Flatboard 5.
Editions:
| Edition | Price | Storage | Extras |
|---|---|---|---|
| Community | Free | JSON | Core features |
| Pro | €49 one-time | JSON + SQLite | Premium plugins & themes |
System Requirements
- Web Server: Apache 2.4 (mod_rewrite) or Nginx
- PHP: 8.0 or higher
- Required extensions:
json,mbstring,openssl,pdo - Required for SQLite (Pro):
pdo_sqlite - Recommended:
fileinfo(secure uploads),zip(archive handling),gdorimagick(image processing) - Disk space: ~20 MB (base install)
Technology Stack
| Layer | Technology |
|---|---|
| Backend | PHP 8.0+ |
| Storage | JSON flat-file / SQLite |
| Frontend | HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript |
| Text formatting | Markdown Extra (Parsedown) |
Key Dependencies
| Library | Version | License |
|---|---|---|
| PHPMailer | 7.0.2 | LGPL-2.1 |
| Parsedown | 1.8.0 | MIT |
| Bootstrap | 5.3.8 | MIT |
| Font Awesome | 7.2.0 | Free (CC BY 4.0 / SIL OFL 1.1 / MIT) |
| SortableJS | 1.15.7 | MIT |
Contributors
Translations
- JPRuehmann — German translation (de)
- Thalles — Portuguese translation (pt)
- magu — Simplified Chinese translation (zh)
Active Bug Reporters
Thanks
Special thanks to all community members who have contributed feedback, ideas, and support — your involvement makes Flatboard better for everyone.
Support
- Website: flatboard.org
- GitHub: github.com/Fred89/flatboard