Waline is a safe and concise comment system that supports Markdown, offers free deployment, and allows users to comment without registering.

This template has built-in integration for Waline. You just need to deploy the server-side application and fill in one line of configuration to enable it.

Step 1: Deploy Waline Server

Please refer to the Waline Official Quick Start Guide to complete the server deployment:

👉 https://waline.js.org/en/guide/get-started/

The official documentation provides a free one-click deployment solution on Vercel. The entire process takes about 5 minutes.

Once deployed, you will receive a Waline service address, such as:

• https://your-waline-project.vercel.app/ (Default Vercel domain)
• Or your bound custom domain

Save this address; you will need it in the next step.

Step 2: Configure in This Template

Edit config/_default/params.toml and fill in your service address:

[comments]
    enabled  = true
    provider = "waline"

[comments.waline]
    serverURL = "https://your-waline-project.vercel.app/"  # ← Fill in your address here
    pageview  = true       # Also enable article pageview statistics

    # Optional: Custom emoji package (default is Weibo emoji)
    emoji = ["https://unpkg.com/@waline/emojis@1.0.1/weibo"]

    # Required fields for comments
    requiredMeta = ["name"]

    [comments.waline.locale]
        admin = "Admin"    # Administrator badge

Save and restart hugo server, and the comment section will appear at the bottom of your article pages.

Features Overview

Pageview Statistics

After setting pageview = true, pageviews will automatically be displayed at the top of the article (Requires Waline server support).

Comment Management Dashboard

Visit https://your-waline-project.vercel.app/ui/ to access the management interface. The first registered account automatically becomes the administrator, who can review and delete comments.

Email Notifications

You can be notified via email when someone replies. This requires configuring SMTP information in Vercel environment variables. See the Official Documentation - Notification for details.

FAQ

Comment section not showing up?
Check if there is a trailing slash / at the end of serverURL, and ensure the Vercel service is running normally (you should see the Waline welcome page when visiting the serverURL directly).

Cookie banner blocking the comment section?
If you have enabled the Cookie consent feature, users must accept “Functional Cookies” before the comment section will appear. You can disable the Cookie prompt in params.toml or instruct users to accept it.