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NodeBB

NodeBB is a Node.js forum platform built around real-time, WebSocket-driven discussions, installed from source with a CLI-driven setup script on top of Node.js and MongoDB.

Target: Ubuntu 24.04 LTSCommunityOfficial homepage ↗Official docs ↗
This guide is synthesized from NodeBB's own official documentation, linked above — always cross-check exact package/version names there before running these commands on a production server, since distro and project versions move over time.

  1. 1Install Node.js

    sudo apt-get update
    sudo apt-get install -y ca-certificates curl gnupg
    curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_lts.x -o nodesource_setup.sh
    sudo -E bash nodesource_setup.sh
    sudo apt-get install -y nodejs

  2. 2Install MongoDB

    sudo apt-get install gnupg curl
    curl -fsSL https://www.mongodb.org/static/pgp/server-8.0.asc | sudo gpg -o /usr/share/keyrings/mongodb-server-8.0.gpg --dearmor
    echo "deb [ arch=amd64,arm64 signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/mongodb-server-8.0.gpg ] https://repo.mongodb.org/apt/ubuntu noble/mongodb-org/8.0 multiverse" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mongodb-org-8.0.list
    sudo apt-get update
    sudo apt-get install -y mongodb-org
    sudo systemctl start mongod

  3. 3Clone and set up NodeBB

    sudo apt-get install -y git
    git clone -b v4.x https://github.com/NodeBB/NodeBB.git nodebb
    cd nodebb
    ./nodebb setup

    Run git and ./nodebb commands as a regular (non-root) user to avoid file-ownership issues.

  4. 4Start NodeBB

    ./nodebb start