# Resurrecting discourse.el **URL:** \ **Category:** General\ **Created:** [April 3, 2026, 1:55pm UTC](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/t/resurrecting-discourse-el/1936 "2026-04-03T13:55:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Glenneth](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/forum.systemcrafters.net/glenneth/32/11_2.png) [@Glenneth](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/u/Glenneth)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2026, 1:55pm UTC](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/t/resurrecting-discourse-el/1936/1 "2026-04-03T13:55:11Z")
Hi all, I’ve started bringing an old Emacs package project back to life: **`discourse.el`**. It’s an Emacs interface for browsing and interacting with Discourse forums, and I’m currently using the System Crafters forum as the test bed while I rebuild it. Only for viewing. I have a test instance of discourse runninng locally for posting/replying. This is also being used to test forum switching. Repo: `https://github.com/glenneth1/discourse.el` It’s still early days, but I now have the beginnings of the UI working, including: - a left-hand navigation pane / category tree - category and topic list views - topic display inside Emacs Here are a few early screenshots. ## Side pane / category tree ![01](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/uploads/systemcrafters/original/2X/0/07ca5018dffed262493d0f6637a51a2fdc9c1e5a.png) ## Categories and topics view ![02](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/uploads/systemcrafters/original/2X/d/dd2a6632c34313c107178d142ed6568ec2bfee41.png) ## Reading a topic ![03](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/uploads/systemcrafters/original/2X/7/7010d2f7e132e7dc1b9dd7135afa1bc32f6e8e81.png) The idea is to make it feel natural to browse forums from inside Emacs, especially in a keyboard-driven and terminal-friendly workflow. There’s still plenty left to do, but I wanted to share it early and see what people think. I’d love feedback on: - features you’d want in something like this - how topic/reply navigation should work - whether this is something you’d actually use If people are interested, I can post updates as it grows. Cheers, glenneth 😀 ---
**Author:** ![highchurch](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/forum.systemcrafters.net/highchurch/32/1155_2.png) [@highchurch](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/u/highchurch)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2026, 9:17pm UTC](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/t/resurrecting-discourse-el/1936/2 "2026-04-03T21:17:52Z")
Hey I recognize that dude in the screenshot! This looks cool. ---
**Author:** ![Glenneth](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/forum.systemcrafters.net/glenneth/32/11_2.png) [@Glenneth](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/u/Glenneth)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2026, 10:42am UTC](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/t/resurrecting-discourse-el/1936/3 "2026-04-04T10:42:39Z")
Recent Improvements: Read Tracking, Image Rendering, and UI Polish Hey everyone, I’ve been working on some significant improvements to [discourse.el]( [GitHub - glenneth1/discourse.el · GitHub](https://github.com/glenneth1/discourse.el) ) over the past couple of days and wanted to share what’s new. **## New/Unread Topic Tracking (Persistent Across Sessions)** This was the big missing piece. discourse.el now tracks which topics you’ve read **\*\*client-side\*\*** , persisted to `~/.emacs.d/discourse-read-state.el`. This means: - **\*\*** `[NEW]` **\*\*** tag and blue bold text for topics you’ve never opened - **\*\*** `(N new)` **\*\*** count for topics with new posts since you last read them - **\*\*** `●` **\*\*** blue dot indicator in the first column for unread topics - Read topics are dimmed with shadow face for clear visual contrast - State is **\*\*preserved across Emacs restarts\*\*** — no more guessing what’s new The tracking merges with Discourse’s server-side tracking when available, falling back to the local state otherwise. **### Per-Category Counts in the Sidebar** Categories now show new/unread topic counts right next to their names, so you can immediately see where the activity is without clicking into each one. ![disc](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/uploads/systemcrafters/original/2X/e/e2fde22923fff013691ff7533e91963fd0f9125a.png) **## Image Rendering Fixes** Images from Discourse forums now render correctly in `shr`. Previously, many images appeared as gray placeholder boxes because Discourse wraps them with `srcset`, `data-*`, and `loading=“lazy”` attributes that confused Emacs’s HTML renderer. These are now stripped before rendering. Relative image URLs (e.g. `/uploads/…`) are also properly resolved against the site URL. **## Auto-Refresh on Navigation** When you read a topic and press `q` to go back, the topic list and sidebar **\*\*immediately update\*\*** — the `[NEW]` tag disappears and category counts decrease without needing to manually refresh with `g`. **## Other Fixes** - **\*\*Title extraction\*\*** in the compose buffer is more tolerant of whitespace variations - **\*\*URL port handling\*\*** fixed for non-standard ports (e.g. `[http://localhost:3000](http://localhost:3000)`) - **\*\*** `q` **in topic list\*\*** no longer creates a duplicate sidebar window - **\*\*README\*\*** updated with current sidebar UI docs, keybindings, and example `use-package` config **## What’s Next** - **\*\*Image/file attachments\*\*** in posts and replies (not yet supported) - Continued testing of replies and comment threads If you’re using discourse.el, pull the latest from `main` and give it a spin. Feedback greatly appreciated. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Glenneth](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/forum.systemcrafters.net/glenneth/32/11_2.png) [@Glenneth](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/u/Glenneth)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2026, 1:00pm UTC](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/t/resurrecting-discourse-el/1936/4 "2026-04-04T13:00:20Z")
@highchurch That was especially taken just for you. Enjoy 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![snamellit](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/forum.systemcrafters.net/snamellit/32/101_2.png) [@snamellit](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/u/snamellit)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2026, 9:41am UTC](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/t/resurrecting-discourse-el/1936/5 "2026-04-07T09:41:35Z")
I just installed it and it is looking really nice. I used the following snippet: ```emacs-lisp (use-package discourse :vc (:url "https://github.com/glenneth1/discourse.el.git") :commands (discourse discourse-connect discourse-switch-site) :custom (discourse-default-url "https://forum.systemcrafters.net") (discourse-api-auth-method 'auto) (discourse-site-configs '(("https://forum.systemcrafters.net" :auth-method session)))) ``` This even works transparently with my _password-store_ setup using the _auth-source-pass_ integration, provided the secret is name _[forum.systemcrafters.net](http://forum.systemcrafters.net)_ in the top-level and has the `user` and `port` fields filled in. like: ```auto ************ user: foo@somewhere.com port: 443 login: foo@somewhere.com url: https://forum.systemcrafters.net icon: 0 autotype_enabled: True Email: foo@somewhere.com ``` (only the first 2 are relevant, the rest is fluff for browser integration) ---
**Author:** ![Glenneth](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/forum.systemcrafters.net/glenneth/32/11_2.png) [@Glenneth](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/u/Glenneth)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2026, 9:58am UTC](https://forum.systemcrafters.net/t/resurrecting-discourse-el/1936/6 "2026-04-07T09:58:09Z")
@snamellit That’s awesome. Thanks for confirming the different auth source works. I appreciate you taking the time to check it out.