# Vanilla Forums

**Canonical:** https://apis.io/providers/vanilla-forums/  
**Website:** https://vanillaforums.com/  
**APIs profiled:** 58

Vanilla Forums is the cloud community-forum platform now sold as Higher Logic Vanilla, powering B2B/B2C customer communities and association member communities. Every Vanilla community serves a REST API (API v2) at /api/v2 with a per-site OpenAPI 3 description, personal-access-token and JWT bearer authentication, short-lived cacheable role tokens, webhooks with HMAC-signed deliveries, CSV export, and an official MCP server (launched May 2026) that connects AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Cursor to live community data. Originally a Techstars-backed open source project, Vanilla was acquired by Higher Logic in 2021.

## Kin Score — 55.4 / 100 (developing)

Scored 2026-08-17 under rubric 0.11.0. Trend: flat (+0.0 from 55.4).

| Facet | Score |
|---|---|
| Discoverability | 81.5 |
| Contract Quality | 52.7 |
| Governance | 11.5 |
| Operational Transparency | 76.3 |
| Developer Ergonomics | 69.0 |
| Commercial Clarity | 44.7 |

## Agent readiness — 56.1 (agent-ready)

| Dimension | Value |
|---|---|
| Spec Presence | yes |
| Agentic Access | no |
| MCP Server | yes |
| Auth Clarity | yes |
| Idempotency | no |
| Error Semantics | verified |
| OpenAPI Examples | partial |
| Rate Limit Signal | documented |
| Event Surface Described | yes |
| Agent Skills | derived |
| Well Known Catalog | no |
| Consent Identity | no |
| Agent Card | no |
| Dry Run Mode | no |

## Access

Self-serve signup — onboarding: self-serve, pricing: unknown, trial: no (confidence: medium).

## APIs (58)

- **Vanilla Forums Addons API** — The Addons API from Vanilla Forums — 2 operation(s) for addons.
- **Vanilla Forums AI Processing Preferences API** — The AI Processing Preferences API from Vanilla Forums — 1 operation(s) for ai processing preferences.
- **Vanilla Forums AI Settings API** — The AI Settings API from Vanilla Forums — 3 operation(s) for ai settings.
- **Vanilla Forums Analytics API** — The Analytics API from Vanilla Forums — 10 operation(s) for analytics.
- **Vanilla Forums Appeals API** — The Appeals API from Vanilla Forums — 2 operation(s) for appeals.
- **Vanilla Forums Assets API** — The Assets API from Vanilla Forums — 1 operation(s) for assets.
- **Vanilla Forums Audit Logs API** — The Audit Logs API from Vanilla Forums — 2 operation(s) for audit logs.
- **Vanilla Forums Authenticators API** — The Authenticators API from Vanilla Forums — 5 operation(s) for authenticators.
- **Vanilla Forums Automation Rules API** — The Automation Rules API from Vanilla Forums — 3 operation(s) for automation rules.
- **Vanilla Forums Calls API** — The Calls API from Vanilla Forums — 1 operation(s) for calls.
- **Vanilla Forums Categories API** — The Categories API from Vanilla Forums — 6 operation(s) for categories.
- **Vanilla Forums Collections API** — The Collections API from Vanilla Forums — 5 operation(s) for collections.
- **Vanilla Forums Comments API** — The Comments API from Vanilla Forums — 6 operation(s) for comments.
- **Vanilla Forums Config API** — The Config API from Vanilla Forums — 1 operation(s) for config.
- **Vanilla Forums Conversations API** — The Conversations API from Vanilla Forums — 6 operation(s) for conversations.
- **Vanilla Forums Dashboard API** — The Dashboard API from Vanilla Forums — 1 operation(s) for dashboard.
- **Vanilla Forums DataSource API** — The DataSource API from Vanilla Forums — 3 operation(s) for datasource.
- **Vanilla Forums Discussion Statuses API** — The Discussion Statuses API from Vanilla Forums — 3 operation(s) for discussion statuses.
- **Vanilla Forums Discussions API** — The Discussions API from Vanilla Forums — 28 operation(s) for discussions.
- **Vanilla Forums Drafts API** — The Drafts API from Vanilla Forums — 3 operation(s) for drafts.
- **Vanilla Forums email-templates API** — The email-templates API from Vanilla Forums — 1 operation(s) for email-templates.
- **Vanilla Forums Emails API** — The Emails API from Vanilla Forums — 3 operation(s) for emails.
- **Vanilla Forums emailTemplates API** — The emailTemplates API from Vanilla Forums — 4 operation(s) for emailtemplates.
- **Vanilla Forums Exports API** — The Exports API from Vanilla Forums — 3 operation(s) for exports.
- **Vanilla Forums Features API** — The Features API from Vanilla Forums — 2 operation(s) for features.
- **Vanilla Forums Icons API** — The Icons API from Vanilla Forums — 6 operation(s) for icons.
- **Vanilla Forums Job Queue API** — The Job Queue API from Vanilla Forums — 2 operation(s) for job queue.
- **Vanilla Forums Locales API** — The Locales API from Vanilla Forums — 2 operation(s) for locales.
- **Vanilla Forums Media API** — The Media API from Vanilla Forums — 11 operation(s) for media.
- **Vanilla Forums Moderation Messages API** — The Moderation Messages API from Vanilla Forums — 3 operation(s) for moderation messages.
- **Vanilla Forums Notification Preferences API** — The Notification Preferences API from Vanilla Forums — 2 operation(s) for notification preferences.
- **Vanilla Forums Notifications API** — The Notifications API from Vanilla Forums — 3 operation(s) for notifications.
- **Vanilla Forums Polls API** — The Polls API from Vanilla Forums — 4 operation(s) for polls.
- **Vanilla Forums Posts API** — The Posts API from Vanilla Forums — 1 operation(s) for posts.
- **Vanilla Forums Product Messages API** — The Product Messages API from Vanilla Forums — 4 operation(s) for product messages.
- **Vanilla Forums Profile Fields API** — The Profile Fields API from Vanilla Forums — 3 operation(s) for profile fields.
- **Vanilla Forums Ranks API** — The Ranks API from Vanilla Forums — 3 operation(s) for ranks.
- **Vanilla Forums Reactions API** — The Reactions API from Vanilla Forums — 3 operation(s) for reactions.
- **Vanilla Forums Reports & Escalations API** — The Reports & Escalations API from Vanilla Forums — 14 operation(s) for reports & escalations.
- **Vanilla Forums Resources API** — The Resources API from Vanilla Forums — 3 operation(s) for resources.
- …and 18 more, listed in full on the page.

## MCP servers (1)

- **vanilla-forums-mcp.yml**

## Security (2)

- **Vanilla Forums Authentication** — http bearer (personal access token)/http bearer (JWT)/apiKey in query (access_token)/apiKey in query (role-token) · 3 schemes
- **Vanilla Forums Domain Security** — TLSv1.3 · HSTS · DNSSEC · DMARC

## Tags

Community, Forums, Community Management, Webhooks, Customer Experience, Knowledge Base, SaaS

---

Profiled by [API Evangelist](https://apievangelist.com) and published on [APIs.io](https://apis.io/providers/vanilla-forums/). Scores are computed from the provider's own public artifacts under a published rubric.