Smart Thread Summary​

AI-Powered Thread Summaries for XenForo 2.3+
Transform lengthy forum discussions into concise, intelligent summaries. Smart Thread Summary uses AI to analyze thread content and generate helpful summaries with SEO optimization, extracted tags, and key takeaways—helping visitors quickly understand discussions without reading every post.

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Features​

• AI-Generated Summaries — Automatically creates concise summaries of thread discussions highlighting main topics and key takeaways
• Multiple AI Providers — Supports Google Gemini, OpenAI (ChatGPT), Anthropic (Claude), or custom API endpoints
• SEO Enhancement — Generates optimized meta descriptions, focus keywords, and structured data for better search engine visibility
• Smart Tag Extraction — Automatically identifies and extracts relevant topic tags from discussions
• Flexible Generation — Choose between automatic cron-based generation, manual button triggers, or both
• Outdated Detection — Identifies when summaries need updating based on new replies
• Rate Limiting — Built-in daily limits and delays to control API costs
• Permission Controls — Granular permissions for viewing, generating, regenerating, and deleting summaries
• Collapsible Widget — Clean, unobtrusive display that expands to show full summary

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Installation​

1. Upload the contents of the upload folder to your XenForo installation
2. Install the addon from Admin CP → Add-ons
3. Configure your AI provider settings

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Configuration​

Step 1: Enable the Addon​

Navigate to Admin CP → Setup → Options → Smart Thread Summary

1. Set Enable Smart Thread Summary to "Yes"
2. Set Enable SEO Enhancement to "Yes" for search engine optimization

Step 2: Configure AI Provider​

1. AI Provider— Select your preferred AI service:
   • Google Gemini (recommended for cost-effectiveness)
   • OpenAI (ChatGPT)
   • Anthropic (Claude)
   • Custom endpoint
2. API Key — Enter your API key from your chosen provider
3. AI Model— Specify the model to use:
   • Gemini: gemini-2.0-flash
   • OpenAI: gpt-4o-mini
   • Anthropic: claude-3-haiku-20240307
4. Maximum Response Tokens — Default 4096 (controls summary length)
5. AI Temperature — Controls creativity (0.3-0.5 recommended for factual summaries)

Step 3: Choose Generation Method​

Summary generation method — Select how summaries are created:

Step 4: Configure Generation Controls​

For Cron Generation:

• Minimum Posts — Threads must have this many posts before auto-summarization (default: 10)
• Maximum posts to analyze — Limits posts sent to AI (default: 10, max: 20)
• Daily Limit — Maximum summaries generated per day (default: 100)
• Max Per Cron Run — Summaries generated each hour (default: 5)
• Delay between API calls — Seconds between requests to avoid rate limiting (default: 2)
• Exclude Forums — Select forums to skip during auto-generation
• Auto-regenerate summaries — Automatically update summaries when threads receive new posts
• Minimum new posts for regeneration — How many new posts trigger a regeneration (default: 10)

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Setting Up Permissions​

Navigate to Admin CP → Users → User group permissions
For each user group, configure these permissions under Smart Thread Summary: Permissions:
Recommended Setup:

• Registered users: View summaries
• Trusted members: View + Generate
• Moderators/Admins: All permissions

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How It Works​

Automatic Generation (Cron)​

When configured for cron generation:

1. Every hour, the system checks for threads meeting your criteria
2. Eligible threads (visible, minimum posts, not excluded) are queued
3. The background job processes threads with configured delays
4. Summaries appear automatically on thread pages

Manual Generation (Button)​

When a user with permission visits a thread without a summary:

1. A "Generate Summary" button appears in the thread toolbar
2. Clicking opens a confirmation overlay
3. The AI processes the thread content
4. Summary displays immediately upon completion

Summary Display​

Summaries appear above the first post with:

• Collapsible panel showing full summary or snippet
• Key takeaways in bullet format
• Extracted topic tags (clickable for search)
• Generation metadata (time, posts analyzed, model used, date)
• Regenerate/Delete options for permitted users

Outdated Summaries​

When threads receive new replies after summary generation:

• An "Outdated" warning badge appears
• Shows count of new posts since generation
• Regenerate option highlighted for users with permission

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Customization​

Widget Display Options​

Navigate to Admin CP → Appearance → Style properties → Smart Thread Summary
Toggle which metadata displays below summaries:

• Generation time
• Posts analyzed
• Model used
• Generated on date

System Prompt​

Advanced users can customize the AI prompt in Options to change:

• Summary format and length
• Number of key takeaways
• Tag extraction behavior
• SEO content generation

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API Cost Considerations​

Tips to Manage Costs:

• Start with higher minimum post thresholds
• Use conservative daily limits
• Exclude high-traffic/low-value forums
• Use smaller/faster models (flash, mini, haiku)

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Troubleshooting​

Summaries not generating?

• Verify API key is correct
• Check generation method is configured
• Ensure threads meet minimum post requirement
• Review excluded forums list

API errors?

• Check API key validity and quotas
• Verify model name is correct for provider
• Review server's ability to make outbound HTTPS requests

Cron not running?

• Verify XenForo cron is functioning
• Check daily limit hasn't been reached
• Ensure threads exist meeting criteria

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Requirements​

• XenForo 2.3.0 or higher
• PHP 8.0 or higher
• Valid API key from supported AI provider
• Server able to make outbound HTTPS requests

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Support​

For support, feature requests, or bug reports, visit xf-addons.com