Twikoo

Twikoo is a comment system for static websites. A front-end script on each page shows the comments and the form, and a backend stores them and sends the notifications. The backend runs either as cloud functions on one of several hosting platforms, or as a self-hosted server started with the tkserver package on Node.js.

The front end is a JavaScript file that the page includes by hand, or through a site theme that supports Twikoo. Comments are stored in MongoDB or in D1 on Cloudflare, and the self-hosted server falls back to a local lokijs file when no MongoDB connection is set. The comment panel has an embedded management area behind a password, where comments can be hidden, deleted and reviewed, and the settings changed. Comments can be imported from Valine, Artalk and Disqus, and the interface has nine locales.

Worth knowing

The cloud functions need Node.js 20 or newer. The self-hosted server runs as a long-running process that the operator starts with nohup or a systemd service, and the docs advise a reverse proxy in front of it for HTTPS. Spam checks through Akismet or Tencent Cloud content security each need the operator’s own account.