title: Human Guide description: How to use @lastshotlabs/slingshot-community in a real Slingshot app

@lastshotlabs/slingshot-community adds a community/forum surface to a Slingshot app. Use it when you want containers, threads, replies, reactions, moderation, bans, reports, and notification hooks without building and wiring that whole domain yourself.

Auth Bridge

Community requires a communityPrincipal on the request context. The built-in authBridge config handles this automatically:

{
  "plugins": [{ "plugin": "slingshot-community", "config": { "authBridge": "auto" } }]
}

When authBridge is "auto", the plugin registers middleware that reads actor.id and roles from the framework auth context and sets communityPrincipal for community routes. This eliminates the most common handler file pattern. Use "none" (default) to wire the bridge yourself.

Example:

createCommunityPlugin({ authBridge: 'auto', containerCreation: 'user' });

When To Use It

Install this package when:

• your app needs a forum, discussion, or member-generated content surface
• you want the content model, route policy, and moderation behavior to come as one package
• you are already using Slingshot plugins and want community to behave like a first-class domain

What You Need Before Wiring It In

This package is not standalone. In practice, most apps need:

1. An auth story so requests have a user identity.
2. A slingshot-permissions plugin so shared permission state exists in pluginState.
3. A small middleware bridge that sets communityPrincipal on the request context from your auth identity.

Minimum Setup Shape

Manifest (recommended):

{
  "plugins": [
    { "plugin": "slingshot-auth", "config": { ... } },
    { "plugin": "slingshot-community", "config": { "authBridge": "auto", "containerCreation": "user" } }
  ]
}

App config:

import { defineApp } from '@lastshotlabs/slingshot';
import { createAuthPlugin } from '@lastshotlabs/slingshot-auth';
import { createCommunityPlugin } from '@lastshotlabs/slingshot-community';
import { createNotificationsPlugin } from '@lastshotlabs/slingshot-notifications';
import { createPermissionsPlugin } from '@lastshotlabs/slingshot-permissions';

export default defineApp({
  plugins: [
    createAuthPlugin({
      auth: { roles: ['user', 'admin'], defaultRole: 'user' },
      db: { auth: 'memory', sessions: 'memory', oauthState: 'memory' },
    }),
    createNotificationsPlugin(),
    createPermissionsPlugin(),
    createCommunityPlugin({ authBridge: 'auto', containerCreation: 'user' }),
  ],
});

First Config Knobs To Know

• authBridge: 'auto' wires auth context to community principal automatically; 'none' (default) requires manual middleware
• containerCreation: choose 'user' or 'admin'
• scoring: choose the built-in ranking algorithm and weights
• mountPath: move the package off /community if needed
• disableRoutes: turn off specific generated route groups

Gotchas

• Community expects communityPrincipal to exist for protected flows.
• Register createPermissionsPlugin() before community so the shared permission state is available during setup.
• This package is intentionally config-driven. If you find yourself reintroducing lots of bespoke route logic around it, that is usually a sign you want a different abstraction boundary.