Janitor

Automated, rules-based discussion housekeeping for Flarum 2.

Define rules that periodically look inside chosen tags for discussions matching

conditions (age, tags, reply count) and then hide, lock, retag / move,

or delete them — so a busy section keeps itself tidy without manual moderator

work.

Inspired by the "auto-archive old/prefixed threads" plugins from other forum

software, rebuilt the Flarum way (tags instead of forum IDs).

Features

• Rules — each rule has a scope (one or more tags, or all), conditions,

  an action, and its own run frequency.

• Conditions — inactive/created for N days, also has / doesn't have certain

  tags, minimum / maximum replies.

• Actions — hide, lock, unlock, add tag, remove tag, move (retag), or

  permanently delete.

• Scheduler — due rules run automatically; you can also Run or

  Preview any rule on demand from the admin page.

• Global dry-run — preview everything: rules log what they would do and

  change nothing. Flip it off when you're confident.

• Audit-log friendly — every live action dispatches the matching Flarum

  domain event (Hidden, Deleted, tag/lock events), so audit-log /

  action-log extensions record Janitor's actions automatically, attributed to an

  admin. (Dry-run previews never emit them.)

• Safety — stickied and locked discussions are protected by default, every

  run is capped (default 100 actions), permanent delete is opt-in per rule, and

  every (would-be) action is written to an action log. A rule can opt in to

  include locked (e.g. archiving closed-and-locked sale threads) or

  include stickied discussions when that's exactly what it's for; the

  Unlock action always includes locked discussions.

• Every condition is optional — a rule can match on tags alone (no

  inactivity needed), on inactivity alone, or any combination.

Install

php flarum migrate
php flarum cache:clear```

Then enable **Janitor** in the admin panel and open its settings to add rules.

## Requirements: the scheduler

Janitor's automatic runs rely on Flarum's task scheduler, so your server must run

this cron entry (once a minute):

```* * * * * cd /path/to/forum && php flarum schedule:run >> /dev/null 2>&1```

Without it, rules won't run on their own — but the **Run** / **Preview** buttons

on the settings page work regardless, and are the safest way to try a rule first.

## Tips

* Start with **Global dry-run** on and use **Preview** to see exactly which

  discussions a rule would hit (check the action log) before letting it act.
* Prefer **Hide** or **Move** over **Delete** — hidden discussions can be

  restored; deletion can't.
* "Inactive for N days" measures last activity by default — ideal for archiving

  stale threads in a busy tag.

## License

[MIT](https://github.com/ernestdefoe/janitor/blob/main/LICENSE.md) © ernestdefoe