Public community
Make a community readable without an account, choose which channels guests see, and make sure guests have a working way to join when they want to take part.
A public community can be read by anyone with the link, without logging in. Reading is open; posting, commenting and reacting still require joining. When you finish these steps, visitors see your community's discussions and have a clear path to become members.
Make the community public
Turn on Public community
In the community editor open Settings → Access & features
(/communities/<productId>/editor/settings/access) and turn on Public community. It is off
by default.
Set the terms link
A Guest signup terms link field appears. It is shown in the guest join form as the "terms of service" link. Leave it empty to use the platform's default terms. Click Save.
Choose the channels guests see
In Channels, open each post channel and check the Visible to guests switch under Behavior. Turn it off for channels that should stay members-only. Channels restricted to selected roles are never shown to guests.
Open a way to join
Go to the product's Community tab. A banner, This community is public, reports whether guests can join and offers a one-click fix: Create & activate free checkout when the community has no free checkout, or Activate free checkout when one exists but is inactive. If the product is still a draft, the banner reminds you to publish it too.
How guests join
What the Join community button does depends on the checkouts of the community product:
| Checkouts of the product | What the guest gets |
|---|---|
| An active free checkout | A signup form right in the join window: Email address, First name, the terms checkbox. A login code arrives by email; entering it completes the join. |
| Only paid checkouts are active | Join community opens the product page, where the guest buys access. |
| No active checkout | The window says "new signups are currently closed" and the button is disabled. |
A visitor who already has an account can use Log in instead. A logged-in person who is not a member yet sees "You are logged in as [email]." with Join the community. After joining or logging in, they land back in the community, now with the full member view.
What a guest sees
| Element | Guest view |
|---|---|
| Top bar | The community icon and name, the number of members, and two buttons: Log in and Join community. |
| Banner | You're viewing this community as a guest, "Join to post, comment and react." |
| Feed | Posts from guest-visible channels with authors, reactions and comment previews. Long posts expand with Show More. |
| Comments | Readable in full. Instead of a comment box there is Join the community to comment… |
| Writing anything | Reacting, commenting, replying: each opens the Join [community name] window instead. |
| Section tabs | Calendar, Members and Leaderboards are visible, but open the join window. |
| Hidden for guests | The post composer, notifications, messages and the account menu. |
Good to know
A community that is not public behaves as before: anyone who opens its link without being logged in is sent to the login page and sees no content.
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