Remark42 is a self-hosted, lightweight, and simple (yet functional) comment engine, which doesn't spy on users. It can be embedded into blogs, articles or any other place where readers add comments.

Social login via Google, Facebook and Github
Multi-level nested comments with both tree and plain presentations
Import from disqus
Markdown support
Moderator can remove comments and block users
Voting and pinning system
Sortable comments
Extractor for recent comments, cross-post
Export data to json with automatic backups
No external databases, everything embedded in a single data file
Fully dockerized and can be deployed in a single command
Clean, lightweight and fully customizable UI
Multi-site mode from a single instance
Integration with automatic ssl via nginx-le

Install

Backend

copy provided docker-compose.yml and customize for your needs
make sure you don't keep DEV=true for any non-development deployments
pull and start docker-compose pull && docker compose up

Parameters

Command line	Environment	Default	Multi	Scope	Description
--url	REMARK_URL	`https://remark42.com`	no	all	url to remark server
--bolt	BOLTDB_PATH	`/tmp`	no	all	path to data directory
--dbg	DEBUG	`false`	no	all	debug mode
--dev	DEV	`false`	no	all	development mode, no auth!
--site	SITE	`remark`	yes	server	site name(s)
--admin	ADMIN		yes	server	admin(s) names (user id)
--backup	BACKUP_PATH	`/tmp`	no	server	backups location
--max-back	MAX_BACKUP_FILES	`10`	no	server	max backup files to keep
--session	SESSION_STORE	`/tmp`	no	server	path to session store directory
--store-key	STORE_KEY	`secure-store-key`	no	server	session store encryption key
--google-cid	REMARK_GOOGLE_CID		no	server	Google OAuth client ID
--google-csec	REMARK_GOOGLE_CSEC		no	server	Google OAuth client secret
--facebook-cid	REMARK_FACEBOOK_CID		no	server	Facebook OAuth client ID
--facebook-csec	REMARK_FACEBOOK_CSEC		no	server	Facebook OAuth client secret
--github-cid	REMARK_GITHUB_CID		no	server	Github OAuth client ID
--github-csec	REMARK_GITHUB_CSEC		no	server	Github OAuth client secret
--provider		`disqus`	no	import	provider type for import
--site		`remark`	no	import	site ID
--file		`disqus.xml`	no	import	import file

Run modes

server activates regular, server mode
import performs import from external providers (disqus and internal json, see /api/v1/admin/export)

Register oauth2 providers

Authentication handled by external providers. You should setup oauth2 for all (or some) of them in order to allow users to make comments. It is not mandatory to have all of them, but at least one should be property configured.

Google Auth Provider

Create a new project: https://console.developers.google.com/project
Choose the new project from the top right project dropdown (only if another project is selected)
In the project Dashboard center pane, choose "API Manager"
In the left Nav pane, choose "Credentials"
In the center pane, choose "OAuth consent screen" tab. Fill in "Product name shown to users" and hit save.
In the center pane, choose "Credentials" tab.
- Open the "New credentials" drop down
- Choose "OAuth client ID"
- Choose "Web application"
- Application name is freeform, choose something appropriate
- Authorized origins is your domain ex: https://remark42.mysite.com
- Authorized redirect URIs is the location of oauth2/callback constructed as domain + /auth/google/callback, ex: https://remark42.mysite.com/auth/google/callback
- Choose "Create"
Take note of the Client ID and Client Secret

instructions for google oauth2 setup borrowed from oauth2_proxy

GitHub Auth Provider

Create a new "OAuth App": https://github.com/settings/developers
Fill "Application Name" and "Homepage URL" for your site
Under "Authorization callback URL" enter the correct url constructed as domain + /auth/github/callback. ie https://remark42.mysite.com/auth/github/callback
Take note of the Client ID and Client Secret

Facebook Auth Provider

From https://developers.facebook.com select "My Apps" / "Add a new App"
Set "Display Name" and "Contact email"
Choose "Facebook Login" and then "Web"
Set "Site URL" to your domain, ex: https://remark42.mysite.com
Under "Facebook login" / "Settings" fill "Valid OAuth redirect URIs" with your callback url constructed as domain + /auth/facebook/callback
Select "App Review" and turn public flag on. This step may ask you to provide a link to your privacy policy.

Frontend

TBD

API

Authorization

GET /auth/{provider}/login?from=http://url - perform "social" login with one of supported providers and redirect to url
GET /auth/{provider}/logout - logout

type User struct {
    Name    string `json:"name"`
    ID      string `json:"id"`
    Picture string `json:"picture"`
    Profile string `json:"profile"`
    Admin   bool   `json:"admin"`
}

currently supported providers are google, facebook and github

Commenting

POST /api/v1/comment - add a comment. auth required

type Comment struct {
    ID        string          `json:"id"`      // comment ID, read only
    ParentID  string          `json:"pid"`     // parent ID
    Text      string          `json:"text"`    // comment text
    User      User            `json:"user"`    // user info, read only
    Locator   Locator         `json:"locator"` // post locator
    Score     int             `json:"score"`   // comment score, read only
    Votes     map[string]bool `json:"votes"`   // comment votes, read only
    Timestamp time.Time       `json:"time"`    // time stamp, read only
    Pin       bool            `json:"pin"`     // pinned status, read only
}

type Locator struct {
    SiteID string `json:"site"`     // site id
    URL    string `json:"url"`      // post url
}

GET /api/v1/find?site=site-id&url=post-url&sort=fld&format=tree - find all comments for given post

This is the primary call used by UI to show comments for given post. It can return comments in two formats - plain and tree. In plain format result will be sorted list of Comment. In tree format this is going to be tree-like object with this structure:

type Tree struct {
    Nodes []Node `json:"comments"`
}

type Node struct {
    Comment store.Comment `json:"comment"`
    Replies []Node        `json:"replies,omitempty"`
}

Sort can be time or score. Supported sort order with prefix -/+, i.e. -time. For tree mode sort will be applied to top-level comments only and all replies always sorted by time.

PUT /api/v1/comment/{id}?site=site-id&url=post-url - edit comment, allowed once in 5min since creation

Content-Type: application/json

{
  "text": "edit comment blah http://radio-t.com 12345",
  "summary": "fix blah"
}

GET /api/v1/last/{max}?site=site-id - get up to {max} last comments
GET /api/v1/id/{id}?site=site-id - get comment by comment id
GET /api/v1/comments?site=site-id&user=id - get comment by user id
GET /api/v1/count?site=site-id&url=post-url - get comment's count for {url}

GET /api/v1/list?site=site-id - list commented posts, returns array or PostInfo

type PostInfo struct {
    URL   string `json:"url"`
    Count int    `json:"count"`
}

GET /api/v1/user - get user info, auth required
PUT /api/v1/vote/{id}?site=site-id&url=post-url&vote=1 - vote for comment. vote=1 will increase score, -1 decrease. auth required

Admin

DELETE /api/v1/admin/comment/{id}?site=site-id&url=post-url - delete comment by id. auth and admin required
PUT /api/v1/admin/user/{userid}?site=site-id&block=1 - block or unblock user. auth and admin required
GET /api/v1/admin/export?site=side-id&mode=[stream|file] - export all comments to json stream or gz file. auth and admin required
POST /api/v1/admin/import?site=side-id - import comments from the backup. auth and admin required
PUT /api/v1/admin/pin/{id}?site=site-id&url=post-url&pin=1 - pin or unpin comment. auth and admin required