What Is Bounty Hunt?Bounty Hunt transforms your XenForo forum into an active, incentivised resource board. You post "Most Wanted" listings for addons, styles, scripts, or any resource your community needs — and your members compete to find them in exchange for premium membership rewards.
It's engagement, growth, and community contribution all rolled into one. Members are motivated to participate because there's a real reward waiting. You get the resources your forum needs. Everyone wins.
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Why Your Forum Needs ThisEvery forum admin has a wishlist of resources they can't track down. Bounty Hunt puts your entire community to work on that list — and because rewards are granted automatically the moment you approve a submission, there's zero admin overhead once it's running.
No spreadsheets. No manual messages. No chasing people up. Just post a bounty, approve the winning tip, and XenForo handles the rest.
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How It Works1.
Post a bountyCreate a listing in the ACP with a title, description, resource URL hint, category, tier, and priority. Assign it to a reward tier and set its display order. It goes live on your public Bounty Hunt page instantly.
2. 🕵️ Members submit tips
Any logged-in member can click "Claim Bounty" and submit a tip — including a source URL, notes, and an optional file attachment. The tip lands in your admin submissions queue and you receive a private conversation notification immediately.
3.
You review and approveOpen the submission in the ACP, review the details, download any attachment, add admin notes, and approve or reject. If VirusTotal scanning is enabled, every uploaded file is checked against their database automatically before it even reaches you.
4.
Reward granted automaticallyOn approval, the submitting member receives their user upgrade instantly — no manual action required. The bounty is marked as Claimed, and optionally a thread is posted to a forum of your choice announcing the find.
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Fully Customisable TiersBounty Hunt ships with four built-in tiers — Platinum, Gold, Silver, and Standard — but you can create as many custom tiers as your forum needs. Each tier is fully configurable:
- Custom label colour — the pill badge shown on bounty cards
- Custom banner colour — the accent stripe on the tier section header
Custom reward label — shown publicly on the card (e.g. "12 Months Premium")
User Upgrade ID — the XenForo upgrade granted automatically on approval
User Group ID — optionally promote the member to a group on approval
The reward duration is entirely controlled by your existing XenForo User Upgrade configuration — Bounty Hunt simply fires the upgrade. If your Gold upgrade runs for six months, Gold bounties reward six months. Change the upgrade duration in XenForo and every future approval reflects it automatically. No duplication, no drift.
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Categories & OrganisationKeep your bounty board tidy with fully manageable categories. Each category gets its own colour-coded label with automatic light/dark text contrast, making it easy for members to scan at a glance. Add, edit, reorder, and delete categories freely from the ACP.
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Built-In VirusTotal ScanningWhen members upload file attachments with their tips, Bounty Hunt can automatically scan them against the VirusTotal database using your API key. Every file is hashed with SHA-256 and checked before it reaches your review queue. Results are displayed clearly in the submission detail view:
Clean — no detections
Suspicious — minor flags, review carefully
Malicious — significant detections, handle with caution
Unknown — file not yet in the VirusTotal database
No plugin on your forum should be installed without verification. This feature gives you a first line of defence without ever leaving your admin panel.
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Instant Admin NotificationsEvery time a member submits a tip, you receive a private conversation directly in your XenForo inbox — sent from the submitting member, so you can reply to them directly if needed. The notification includes the bounty title, their notes, and their source URL. Never miss a submission.
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Approval Thread PostingWhen you approve a submission, Bounty Hunt can automatically post a thread to a forum of your choice announcing the successful find. The thread title and body are fully customisable via XenForo phrases, with variables available for the bounty title, submitting member's username, tier, and reward label. Great for keeping your community engaged and celebrating contributions publicly.
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Anonymous SubmissionsMembers can choose to submit anonymously if they prefer. Their identity is still recorded in the ACP for admin review and reward purposes, but their username is hidden from any public-facing output. Useful for sensitive or competitive resource finds.
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Member Submission TrackingEvery member has access to their own submission history via the My Submissions page, accessible from the Bounty Hunt navigation dropdown. They can track the status of every tip they've submitted — pending, approved, or rejected — and see any admin notes left for them. The Claimed Bounties view filters down to their approved wins, complete with the resource icon alongside each entry.
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Rich Admin Control PanelEverything is managed from a clean, dedicated section in your XenForo ACP:
- Bounty list — status badges, tier indicators, and quick actions
Submissions queue — pending filter, file indicators, and VirusTotal results- Submission detail — full member info, downloadable attachments, and admin notes
- Category management — colour picker and display order
Tier management — full colour, reward, upgrade, and group configuration- Options page — all global settings in one place
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Requirements- XenForo 2.3.0 or newer
- PHP 8.0+
- MySQL 5.7+ / MariaDB 10.3+
- cURL (for VirusTotal scanning — optional)
