Vanilla JavaScript

Don’t want to use a framework? JamComments works with plain JavaScript too. See a live demo.

Why Use the Vanilla Client?

Even without server-side rendering, this approach has advantages over other comment widgets:

• Minimal setup (~10 lines of code)
• No custom CSS to write
• Small footprint: ~2.6kb (gzipped) JavaScript + ~3.6kb (gzipped) HTML loaded on demand

Installation

Option 1: npm

npm install @jam-comments/client

Option 2: CDN

<script src="https://unpkg.com/@jam-comments/client"></script>

Basic Usage

With ES modules:

import { initialize } from "@jam-comments/client";

initialize("#comments-container", {
  path: window.location.pathname,
  apiKey: "your-api-key",
  domain: "your-site.com",
  environment: "production",
});

With CDN:

<script src="https://unpkg.com/@jam-comments/client"></script>
<script>
  JamComments.initialize("#comments-container", {
    path: window.location.pathname,
    apiKey: "your-api-key",
    domain: "your-site.com",
    environment: "production",
  });
</script>

The first argument is a CSS selector (like "#comments-container") or a direct reference to an HTML element (like document.getElementById('comments-container')). The comment form and any existing comments will be rendered inside this element.

Promise-Based API

initialize() returns a Promise that resolves after the form is ready:

initialize("#comments", {
  path: window.location.pathname,
  apiKey: "your-api-key",
  domain: "your-site.com",
}).then((element) => {
  // Form is now rendered and ready
  element.classList.add('is-loaded');
});

The promise resolves after the first repaint, so it’s safe to use for CSS animations:

Configuration Options

Option	Required?	Description
path	Yes	The page path for loading and saving comments
domain	Yes	Your site’s domain (from account settings)
apiKey	Yes	Your API key (from account settings)
environment	Yes	”production” or “development”
dateFormat	No	Date format using PHP syntax. Default: “m/d/Y”

Important Considerations

Loading comments client-side has trade-offs:

• Performance: The comment form loads after your page, which may cause a slight layout shift
• SEO: Search engines may not see the comments as easily as server-rendered content

For better performance and SEO, use a server-side integration if possible. The vanilla client is best for sites where you can’t run server-side code.