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Installing the User Plugin

Installing the User Plugin

Install the RainLab User plugin, add the session component, and update your layout.

The first step in building a forum is setting up user authentication. The RainLab User plugin provides everything you need: user registration, login, password reset, and account management. It creates database tables, backend management pages, and frontend components that you can use in your theme.

# Installing the Plugin

Navigate to Settings → Updates & Plugins → Install Packages and search for "RainLab.User". Click Install to add it to your project.

Alternatively, install via the command line:

php artisan plugin:install RainLab.User

After installation, you will see a new Users section in the backend where you can manage registered accounts.

# Adding the Session Component to Your Layout

The session component makes the user variable available on every page and enables page-level access control. Open your default layout and add it to the configuration section:

description = "Default layout"

[session]
security = "all"

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
    <meta charset="utf-8" />
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1" />
    <title>{{ this.page.title }} - My Site</title>
    {% styles %}
    <script src="https://cdn.tailwindcss.com"></script>
    {% framework extras %}
</head>
<body class="min-h-screen bg-gray-50">
    <nav class="bg-white border-b border-gray-200">
        <div class="max-w-5xl mx-auto px-4 py-3 flex items-center justify-between">
            <a href="/" class="text-lg font-semibold text-gray-900">
                My Site
            </a>
            <div class="flex items-center gap-4">
                {% if user %}
                    <a href="{{ 'forum/member'|page }}" class="text-sm text-gray-600 hover:text-gray-900">
                        Account
                    </a>
                    <a
                        href="javascript:;"
                        data-request="onLogout"
                        data-request-data="redirect: '/'"
                        class="text-sm text-gray-600 hover:text-gray-900"
                    >
                        Sign out
                    </a>
                {% else %}
                    <a href="{{ 'account/login'|page }}" class="text-sm text-gray-600 hover:text-gray-900">
                        Sign in
                    </a>
                {% endif %}
            </div>
        </div>
    </nav>

    <main class="max-w-5xl mx-auto px-4 py-8">
        {% page %}
    </main>

    {% scripts %}
</body>
</html>

The {% styles %} tag in <head> allows components to inject CSS when needed. The {% framework extras %} tag includes the AJAX framework with validation and loading indicators.

# How Components Work

When you add [session] to your layout, the plugin runs automatically during the page lifecycle. It injects the user variable into every page, which is either the logged-in user object or null for guests.

Components provide two things to your templates:

  • Variables: data injected into the page that you use in your Twig markup (like user)
  • AJAX handlers: server-side actions you can call with data-request (like onLogout)

You write all the HTML yourself using these variables and handlers. The navigation above demonstrates both: it checks {% if user %} to show different links, and calls data-request="onLogout" to sign the user out.

# Enabling Registration

Navigate to Settings → User Settings → Registration and ensure that "Allow user registration" is enabled. This allows new visitors to create accounts through the registration form you will build next.

# Next Steps

Continue to Login and Registration to create the login and registration pages.

← Login and Registration →