# Discourse Federation — In process - Seeking Inputs

**URL:** <https://forum.codeworkslabs.dev/t/discourse-federation-in-process-seeking-inputs/18>\
**Category:** General\
**Created:** [October 22, 2026, 10:41pm UTC](https://forum.codeworkslabs.dev/t/discourse-federation-in-process-seeking-inputs/18 "2026-10-22T22:41:39Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![CodeWorksLabs](https://forum.codeworkslabs.dev/user_avatar/forum.codeworkslabs.dev/codeworkslabs/32/22_2.png) [@CodeWorksLabs](https://forum.codeworkslabs.dev/u/CodeWorksLabs)\
**Post date:** [October 22, 2026, 10:41pm UTC](https://forum.codeworkslabs.dev/t/discourse-federation-in-process-seeking-inputs/18/1 "2026-10-22T22:41:40Z")

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**Status: In process - Seeking Inputs**

Discourse Federation by CWL is a standalone plugin for Discourse that connects Discourse forums for sharing and promoting conversations and participating in discussions locally or at their source. It works with or without [DiscussionBridge (DB)](https://discussionbridge.dev/) installed, with membership and permissions independent of Discourse Network by CWL. Participating forums retain ownership of their content and control over access. Local replies and replies at the source are distinct, with a “Reply as” layer that includes source identity. Sharing respects each forum’s privacy; participation does not grant permission to publish another forum’s full content through DiscussionBridge or its platform adapters. ActivityPub remains optional for outward content federation.

The product direction is established. Joining, discovery, Following and participation workflows still need detailed definition. Use this topic for practical cases and product updates. Release and installation details remain to be established.

**We would like to hear**

- Which Discourse communities should connect, and how do they relate to each other?
- When should a participant reply locally, and when should they continue at the source forum?
- Which access boundaries or identity choices would be easy for participants to misunderstand?

For a feature request, describe a participant’s starting point, what they need to do and the result they should see. Give a separate workflow its own topic and link it here.