Extension for phpBB to display recent topics on the index page. Originally based on NV Recent Topics by Joas Schilling (nickvergessen), later maintained by PayBas. Now maintained by avathar.

Version: 3.0.12 (04/10/2026)

• phpBB 3.3.0 or higher
• PHP 8.1 or higher

• Recent (or unread) topics list on the index page and viewforum page
• Standalone pages at /app.php/rt (full) and /app.php/rt/simple (for iframe embedding)
• Three display locations: Top, Bottom or Side
• User-overridable preferences via UCP (enable/disable, location, count, sort order, unread only)
• Six granular user permissions
• New users inherit ACP defaults on registration
• Filters "Re:" from reply subjects
• Custom PHP events for extension developers

• Enable/disable on index page and viewforum page (independent settings)
• Per-forum include/exclude (in ACP Forum Management)
• Pagination: page limit, show all pages toggle
• Minimum topic type level (normal/sticky/announcement/global)
• Show announcements first: announcements and global announcements lead each page of the list
• Exclude topics by ID
• Display parent forum names
• Topic title link target (first post, last post, or first unread)
• Optional advertisement/HTML block in sidebar
• Show/hide date in side view
• Show/hide postlove like counts (hidden when postlove is not installed)
• Reset all user preferences to defaults
• Built-in version checker

All integrations are optional soft dependencies — Recent Topics works without any of them.

• Post Love (avathar/postlove) — like counts per topic (column in top/bottom view, inline hearts in side view)
• Collapsible Categories (phpbb/collapsiblecategories) — collapse/expand the Recent Topics block
• Topic Preview (vse/topicpreview) — hover preview tooltips on topic titles
• mChat (dmzx/mchat) — side-by-side display via template event

For extension developers: custom PHP events, deprecated event aliases, and integration details are documented in contrib/Events.md.

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1. Disable, delete data and remove the extension paybas/recenttopics if previously installed.
2. Download the latest release and unzip it.
3. Copy the contents to /ext/avathar/recenttopics/ (so that ext.php is at /ext/avathar/recenttopics/ext.php).
4. Navigate in the ACP to Customise -> Manage extensions.
5. Find Recent Topics under "Disabled Extensions" and click Enable.

1. Navigate in the ACP to Customise -> Manage extensions and click Disable for Recent Topics (do not delete its data).
2. Replace the files in /ext/avathar/recenttopics/ with the new release.
3. Click Enable for Recent Topics. Enabling runs the new version's database migrations, so a plain file swap is not enough.
4. Purge the cache (General -> Purge the cache).

1. Navigate in the ACP to Customise -> Manage extensions.
2. Click the Disable link for Recent Topics.
3. To permanently uninstall, click Delete Data, then delete the recenttopics folder from /ext/avathar/.

• Support forum

GNU General Public License v2

Originally by PayBas and nickvergessen. Maintained by Andy Vandenberghe (Sajaki).