README

A Flarum extension to manage deleted (hidden) discussions and posts.

Screenshots

Discussions bin

Posts bin

Settings

Versions

Starting with the version 2.0.0 of this extension, it will only be compatible with Flarum v2.*. Latest version was developed on Flarum version 2.0.2, and its automated tests run against MySQL, MariaDB, PostgreSQL and SQLite. Flarum v1.8.* will no longer be supported. Last version of the extension compatible with Flarum v1.8.* is walsgit/recycle-bin:"0.2.3".

Features

listing of all hidden discussions and posts (with direct links, authors, dates + filter through them by keywords)
restoring hidden discussions or posts
forever deleting hidden discussions or posts (remove them from db)
mass restoring or deleting a selection, or deleting everything in the bin
optional log of permanent deletions.

Permissions and limits

The recycle bin is admin-only: the extension checks that the user is an administrator rather than relying on a configurable permission, and its listing, search and mass action endpoints refuse everybody else.
Only hidden items are processed. Posts are limited to hidden comments (event posts such as "renamed the discussion" are ignored).
Restoring and deleting go through the Flarum core events, so discussion and user counters stay accurate and other extensions are notified.
Mass actions on a selection are limited to 100 items per request, processed in chunks of 50.
"Delete all" processes at most 200 items per request; the interface sends as many requests as needed and shows a progress counter. Only the items that were hidden when the list was loaded are processed: items hidden since then (by another admin, for example) are left alone. This cut-off date is sent in UTC.

Deletion log

Permanent deletions can be logged, which is useful on forums with several administrators. It is disabled by default; enable it in the "Settings" tab of the extension.

Logs are written to storage/logs/recycle-bin/recycle-bin-deletions-YYYY-MM-DD.log, one file per day of activity. Only the 15 most recent files are kept, older ones are removed automatically (no cron job or queue is needed).
Each deletion of a single item is one line (who, what, when). A mass deletion is one summary line (who, type, number of items, selected ids or "all"). The content of posts is never logged.
```
[2026-11-05 19:21:40] recycle-bin.INFO: discussion deleted {"actor_id":1,"actor_username":"admin","id":42,"title":"..."}
```
A problem while writing the log never blocks a deletion: it is reported in the regular Flarum log instead.

Notes

This was my very first Flarum extension
Extension settings page is based on the core UserListPage.tsx (Users settings page) from flarum 1.8.5.
Developed this with the help of AI (mainly Claude, ChatGPT & Gemini)

Installation

Install with composer:

composer require walsgit/recycle-bin:"*"

Updating

composer update walsgit/recycle-bin:"*"
php flarum cache:clear

walsgit / recycle-bin

Package info

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