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Launch your community

This tutorial walks you from zero to a live community with one space and your first members invited. Plan on about 10 minutes.

1. Create your community

  1. Sign up at Bonfire using email or Sign in with Google.
  2. On the welcome screen, choose Create a community.
  3. Enter a community name (for example, Trail Runners Club). This shows up everywhere in the app.

2. Pick your subdomain

  1. Bonfire suggests a subdomain from your name, like trail-runners.onbonfire.com.
  2. Edit it if you want — lowercase letters, numbers, and hyphens only.
  3. Confirm. Your community is now live on that address with SSL enabled automatically.

You can attach a custom domain later from Admin → Settings → Domain. White-label plans also let you remove the "Powered by Bonfire" badge and use your own brand and PWA.

3. Create your first space

Spaces are where conversations happen. Each space holds one or more channels.

  1. Open the Admin panel (the gear icon, top-left).
  2. Go to Admin → Spaces and click New space.
  3. Name it Welcome and add a channel called introductions.
  4. Save. Members will land here first.

4. Set up onboarding

  1. Go to Admin → Onboarding.
  2. Add a short welcome message and one or two starter steps (set a profile photo, post in introductions).
  3. Save. New members now get a guided first run.

5. Invite your first members

  1. Go to Admin → Members → Invitations.
  2. Paste a few email addresses (or upload a CSV for bulk invites).
  3. Click Send invites. Each person gets a join link.

That's it — your community is live. Next, deepen engagement with gamification and spaces.

Tip: Prefer chatting? The AI Owner Copilot can create channels, configure gamification, and invite admins for you, with confirmation gates before any change.

Related

  • Invite your first members
  • Join a community
  • Your first API call

FAQ

Do I need a paid plan to launch? No. You can create a community and invite members on the free tier. Paid tiers add monetization and white-label.

Can I change my subdomain later? Yes, in Admin → Settings → Domain. You can also add a custom domain with automatic SSL.

What's the difference between a space and a channel? A space is a container (often a topic or group); channels are the chat rooms inside it.

Who can see the Admin panel? Only owner and admin roles. Members use the community app and never see Admin.