Paper Terminal

Forum App Design Template

Thredly is a community forum app design with a Paper Terminal look, built for founders and designers launching a text-first discussion product.

Use this template

Forum app home feed screen with thread list, vote gutters, and board switcher

Forum app thread detail screen with nested reply tree and vote gutters

Forum app boards directory screen with community tiles and join buttons

Explore the screens

Preview the forum mobile app design, fully editable in Sleek.

Create PostScreen 4

NotificationsScreen 5

ProfileScreen 6

About the Forum App

Thredly is a forum app design template built on a "Paper Terminal" aesthetic: warm bone-paper backgrounds, near-black ink text, and an electric coral accent reserved for upvotes, active tabs, and primary actions. A muted sage handles tags and resolved states. A chunky grotesk carries thread titles and board names while a monospaced face renders every number (vote counts, timestamps, reply counts) so metadata reads like a terminal readout. The result feels like warm community boards crossed with the crispness of a code editor.

The template ships six connected screens that form a complete forum flow. The Home feed stacks threads in a continuous list divided by hairline rules, each with a left-edge vote gutter, outlined tag chips, and a top board switcher. Thread detail pins the original post with an inline image and opens into a threaded reply tree with vertical indent lines and a "Best / New / Top" sort bar. A Boards directory grids out communities with member counts and coral "Join" chips, a flat inset Composer handles new posts, Notifications lists replies and milestones, and a Profile leads with a big mono karma number.

Use it in Sleek and make it yours: restyle the palette, edit any screen with AI by describing the change, and add the flows your product needs. Then export it to code, copy it into Figma, or hand a prompt to an AI agent to build it for real, far faster than starting from a blank canvas.

Screens included

Home Feed

A top board switcher (All, /design, /running, /homelab, /books) over a divided list of threads, each with a coral vote gutter, grotesk title, mono meta, and outlined tag chips. The fast, scroll-first entry point.

Thread Detail

A pinned original post with body text and an inline image, followed by a threaded reply tree with vertical indent lines, inline vote gutters, and a Best / New / Top sort bar. This is where discussions deepen.

Boards

A two-column grid of community tiles showing monogram icons, member counts, description lines, and coral Join or outlined Joined chips, plus a community search field. The discovery surface for finding boards.

Create Post

A flat inset composer with a board selector, title field, monospaced markdown toolbar, and a coral Post button labeled for the chosen board. Makes writing a new thread quick and structured.

Notifications

A divided list of replies, mentions, upvotes, and milestones like hitting 500 upvotes, each with a square icon and mono timestamp, plus a Clear all action. Keeps users on top of their activity.

Profile

A big mono total-karma number above post and comment counts, Threads / Comments / Saved tabs, and a list of the user's threads with vote gutters and board tags. The user's home base.

Key features

Paper Terminal aesthetic: bone paper, ink text, electric coral accent
Grotesk titles paired with monospaced metadata readouts
Signature left-edge vote gutter on every thread, comment, and reply
Continuous thread lists divided by hairline ink rules
Outlined rectangular tag chips with mono labels
Threaded reply tree with vertical indent lines
Fixed bottom nav with a solid coral underline for the active tab
Flat inset composer with a markdown toolbar

Who it's for

Founders validating a niche community or forum MVP

Product designers needing a text-first discussion app starting point

Indie developers building a Reddit-style community app

Community builders prototyping a board-based forum

What you can build

Launch an MVP for a niche interest community
Mock up screens for an investor or stakeholder pitch
Hand a consistent forum UI off to developers
Explore a redesign of an existing discussion app

How to use this template

1
Open the template
Browse the screens and preview the full design to see if it fits your idea.
2
Use this template
Open your own fully editable copy in Sleek with one click.
3
Edit with AI
Restyle the palette, change layouts, and add or remove screens just by describing what you want.
4
Export and ship
Export your design or hand it to developers, and keep building toward launch.

Questions, answered. Everything to know before you start.

How do I build a forum app from this template?

Click "Use this template" to open it in Sleek as your own editable project, then shape it by describing the changes you want: restyle the palette, edit any screen, and add the flows your community needs. You start from six complete screens instead of a blank canvas, so you reach a working forum app design much faster.

What screens are included in this forum app design template?

Six connected screens: Home feed, Thread detail, Boards directory, Create post, Notifications, and Profile. Together they cover the core forum flow, from scrolling threads and joining boards to posting, voting, and tracking karma.

Can I customize the forum app UI?

Yes. Use the template in Sleek and edit any screen by chatting with the AI: change the palette, swap the grotesk and monospaced type pairing, adjust the vote gutter, or add and remove flows. There's no manual redraw; you describe the change and it's applied.

Is this template suitable for a Reddit-style community app?

Absolutely. The board switcher, vote gutters, threaded replies, and Boards directory map directly onto a Reddit or Hacker News style community. Adjust the boards, tags, and content to fit your niche.

Is this forum app design template free to use?

You can open and explore the design for free, then use it in your own Sleek project to build on it. Editing and exporting follow Sleek's standard plans.

Can I export the design to code or Figma?

Yes. Sleek exports your design as code, copies straight into Figma with no plugin, or hands you a ready-made prompt that an AI agent like Claude Code or Cursor can use to build it into a real, working app.

Something else? Write to support@sleek.design.