Cow Commons

Install Cow locally in a project with an empty site/ directory. Copy the contents of node_modules/@cowlang/cow/examples/forum/site/ into it, and copy node_modules/@cowlang/cow/examples/forum/setup.mjs into the project root.

node setup.mjs
npm exec --offline -- cow site --port 8002 --workers 2

Visit http://127.0.0.1:8002/install. Use the private key printed by setup to create an administrator. There are no default credentials. Setup creates data/ beside site/. Keep it outside the served directory.

Members can register, start topics, reply, and edit their own posts. Administrators can lock topics and remove posts. Readers can browse without an account.

Forms work without client-side JavaScript. Sessions and forum data are stored in SQLite, outside the served directory.

Edit your copied site/ files. Shared modules handle authentication, database access, and forum queries. Includes supply the header, footer, and pagination. Do not edit the package inside node_modules.

Every page and shared include in this example uses the .cow extension. Legacy .jsp and .tsp pages remain supported.

Treat this as a working example, not a production-ready forum distribution. Read node_modules/@cowlang/cow/examples/forum/README.md for setup, security, and concurrency limits.