Online communities are the heart of the internet. They are spaces for connection, support, and shared passion. But as any community manager knows, maintaining a safe and positive environment is a constant challenge. Manual moderation is time-consuming, emotionally taxing, and often struggles to keep pace with a growing user base. While generic automated filters can catch spam, they often lack the nuance to understand your community's unique culture and policies.
This is where the concept of "Community as Code" becomes a game-changer. With an API-first approach like forum.services.do, you can move beyond rigid, one-size-fits-all solutions. You can programmatically define, version, and deploy moderation rules tailored specifically to your community's needs.
This post will guide you through configuring intelligent AI Agents with custom rules to automate policy enforcement, reduce moderator burnout, and cultivate the safe, inclusive space you envision.
Standard moderation bots are a good first line of defense, but they have their limits. They typically rely on simple keyword matching and can't grasp context.
Consider these scenarios:
A generic filter can't distinguish between these contexts. It either flags everything, creating false positives and frustrating users, or it flags nothing, allowing harmful content to slip through. Your community's policies are unique; your moderation tools should be too.
At forum.services.do, we provide AI-powered "Agents" that you can configure through our API. Think of them as members of your moderation team that work 24/7, executing your specific instructions with precision and speed.
Instead of just blacklisting keywords, you provide an Agent with a plain-english directive. The Agent uses this "prompt" to analyze content and make nuanced decisions based on the rules you've set.
The benefits are immediate:
Let's walk through building a custom Agent to enforce a specific policy: ensuring bug reports in a dedicated channel follow a required template.
First, clearly state your goal.
Policy: "All new threads posted in the '#bug-reports' board must contain the sections 'Steps to Reproduce', 'Expected Behavior', and 'Actual Behavior'. If not, flag the post for review and leave a helpful comment for the author."
Next, craft a prompt that instructs the AI Agent on how to enforce this policy. This is the core of your custom rule.
Prompt Example:
You are a moderation agent for a software development forum. Your task is to analyze new threads in the '#bug-reports' board.
The post content MUST contain the following three sections:
1. "Steps to Reproduce"
2. "Expected Behavior"
3. "Actual Behavior"
If the post has all three sections, respond with:
{"action": "approve"}
If the post is missing one or more sections, respond with:
{"action": "comment_and_flag", "comment": "Thanks for the report! To help us investigate, please edit your post to include 'Steps to Reproduce', 'Expected Behavior', and 'Actual Behavior' sections. This helps our team resolve bugs faster.", "reason": "Missing bug report template"}
With your policy and prompt ready, you can create and deploy the Agent with a simple API call.
import { Forum } from '@do/sdk';
const forum = new Forum({
apiKey: 'YOUR_API_KEY'
});
const bugReportValidator = await forum.agents.create({
name: 'Bug Report Template Validator',
description: 'Ensures all posts in #bug-reports follow the required format.',
// The custom prompt we designed in Step 2
prompt: `
You are a moderation agent for a software development forum. Your task is to analyze new threads in the '#bug-reports' board. The post content MUST contain the following three sections: "Steps to Reproduce", "Expected Behavior", and "Actual Behavior". If the post has all three sections, respond with '{"action": "approve"}'. If the post is missing one or more sections, respond with '{"action": "comment_and_flag", "comment": "Thanks for the report! To help us investigate, please edit your post to include 'Steps to Reproduce', 'Expected Behavior', and 'Actual Behavior' sections. This helps our team resolve bugs faster.", "reason": "Missing bug report template"}'
`,
// Target a specific board
target: {
boardIds: ['b-789-bug-reports']
},
// Only trigger for new threads, not replies
trigger: 'thread.created'
});
console.log(`Agent ${bugReportValidator.id} is now active!`);
That's it! You've just automated a key part of your workflow, ensuring you get high-quality bug reports while gently educating your users on best practices. This is Community as Code in action.
The possibilities are endless. You can create agents to:
Custom AI moderation rules transform community management from a reactive chore into a proactive, strategic discipline. By codifying your culture and policies, you create a scalable system that not only protects your users but also actively shapes a healthier and more engaging environment.
Ready to automate moderation, analyze engagement, and manage your users with a powerful, developer-first API?
Explore the forum.services.do documentation or sign up for your API key to get started.
Q: Can I test my AI Agent's rules before deploying them live?
A: Yes. Our platform supports "dry run" or "log only" modes. You can configure an Agent to simply log the actions it would have taken without actually executing them. This allows you to fine-tune your prompts and rules safely before enforcing them for all users.
Q: What kinds of actions can an AI Agent take?
A: Agents are highly flexible. They can be configured to take a variety of actions, including approving content, flagging it for human review, deleting it, leaving an automated comment, locking a thread, or even escalating to a webhook for custom integrations.
Q: Do I need to be an AI expert to write rules?
A: Not at all. As shown in the examples, you write rules as clear, plain-english instructions. Our platform handles the complex AI processing, allowing you to focus on defining your community's policies, not on building machine learning models.