Init Recent Comments – Templated, Modern, Minimal

Init Recent Comments is a developer-friendly plugin that lets you display the latest comments anywhere via a simple shortcode. It uses clean HTML, minimal CSS, and fully customizable templates. No widgets, no bloated options. Just lightweight, extendable code — made for real sites, with native Block Editor support and Abilities API integration for the next generation of automation tools. Key design goals:

• Native Block Editor blocks, one per shortcode, with live preview
• Abilities API support (WordPress 6.9+) for AI agents and automation tools
• Templated rendering with override support from themes
• Clean CSS you can disable or replace
• REST-ready architecture (future-proof)
• No jQuery, no nonsense

Perfect for blogs, news sites, or anyone who wants a better way to show active discussions. This plugin is part of the Init Plugin Suite — a collection of minimalist, fast, and developer-focused tools for WordPress. GitHub repository: https://github.com/brokensmile2103/init-recent-comments

2.0.1 – October 2, 2026

• Security: recent comments (shortcodes, blocks, and abilities) now only include comments on published posts — the same rule as WordPress core's Recent Comments widget. Previously, approved comments on private or draft posts (and those posts' titles) could be shown publicly. The query can still be customized through init_plugin_suite_recent_comments_query_args / init_plugin_suite_user_recent_comments_query_args
• Security: recent reviews (from Init Review System) now skip reviews whose post isn't publicly viewable (draft, pending, private, deleted), so those post titles, links, and review contents are no longer exposed. New filter init_plugin_suite_recent_comments_visible_reviews lets developers adjust the result
• Security (Abilities API): get-user-recent-comments only allows looking up guest comments by user_email for users who can moderate comments, so the public endpoint can no longer be used to match email addresses to commenters. Lookups by user_id / user_login are unchanged
• Security (Abilities API): get-user-recent-reviews only returns non-approved reviews (pending, rejected, ...) to users with the manage_options capability (the same capability Init Review System uses for review management). Approved reviews stay public
• Fix: the maxheight attribute (and the block's "Max Height" setting) is now actually applied (e.g. maxheight="300px"). Previously the value was ignored and the list was always capped at 650px. Values that aren't a plain number + unit (px, em, rem, vh, vw, %) keep the old 650px behavior
• Fix: the "Disable built-in CSS" option now also applies to the four blocks — previously a page using a block still loaded the plugin's stylesheet even with the option on
• Fix: review links were double-escaped, breaking post URLs that contain query strings (e.g. & in plain permalinks)
• Fix: "time ago" values are now calculated from GMT timestamps instead of the deprecated current_time( 'timestamp' ) pattern, so they stay correct across timezones and DST
• Fix: the Shortcode Builder's Copy / Close buttons and "Shortcode Preview" label are now translated (the script read the wrong i18n object), Copy also works on non-HTTPS admin screens, and labels are inserted as text instead of HTML — synced with the Init Review System 2.0.1 builder
• Fix: the user shortcodes no longer leave an unclosed output buffer when a template file can't be found
• Fix: the settings sanitizer now respects a disable_css value of 0 set programmatically
• Fix: the Block Editor script now declares its wp-data dependency
• Performance: posts, users, and parent comments are now loaded in batches before rendering — about 6 database queries instead of ~33 for 10 comments (and 5 instead of ~32 for 10 reviews) on sites without a persistent object cache
• Performance: template files are located once per request instead of once per item
• Performance: when caching is enabled through the TTL filters, cached lists are now invalidated automatically when comments, posts, or reviews change (using WordPress last_changed and Init Review System's cache version), so new comments show up immediately instead of after the TTL expires
• Code quality: all PHP files now follow the WordPress Coding Standards (WPCS 3), matching the rest of the Init Plugin Suite
• i18n: added the new strings to the .pot file and the Vietnamese translation

2.0.0 – August 4, 2026

• New: Abilities API support (WordPress 6.9+): registers four read-only abilities under the init-recent-comments category — get-recent-comments, get-recent-reviews, get-user-recent-comments, and get-user-recent-reviews — mirroring all four shortcodes exactly. This plugin has no write actions, so all of its data is safely exposed. Discoverable and executable via PHP, wp_get_abilities(), and — when a site opts in — the wp-abilities/v1 REST namespace. Fully optional and backward-compatible: on WordPress versions older than 6.9, the integration silently does nothing
• New: Block Editor (Gutenberg) support: four dynamic blocks, grouped under their own Init Recent Comments block category (instead of the generic "Widgets" category) — Recent Comments, Recent Reviews, User Recent Comments, and User Recent Reviews, matching the four existing shortcodes. Each block is registered via block.json (with a PHP render.php file wired through the "render" field, WP 6.1+) that calls the exact same shortcode function as its shortcode counterpart — no duplicated display logic, output always matches. The editor integration is a single, no-build-step vanilla JavaScript file using wp.serverSideRender for a live preview directly in the editor
• Changed: Requires at least raised from 5.5 to 6.9 to support the Abilities API integration. Requires PHP remains 7.4
• Tested up to: 7.1

1.5 – July 21, 2026

• Shortcode Builder in the admin settings page now generates the prefixed shortcodes ([init_plugin_suite_recent_comments], [init_plugin_suite_recent_reviews], [init_plugin_suite_user_recent_comments], [init_plugin_suite_user_recent_reviews]) by default; legacy tags remain fully supported
• Updated documentation to use the prefixed shortcodes as the primary examples, with legacy tags noted as backward-compatible aliases
• Uninstall routine now reliably removes the plugin's settings option
• Documented the default caching behavior (TTL = 0 for comments/reviews) in the Filters for Developers section
• Internal code cleanup for readability and maintainability

1.4 – November 5, 2025

• Introduced new user-specific shortcodes:
• [init_plugin_suite_user_recent_comments] — display recent comments made by a specific user
• [init_plugin_suite_user_recent_reviews] — display recent reviews made by a specific user
• Backward-compat maintained: [init_user_recent_comments] and [init_user_recent_reviews]
• Both shortcodes reuse existing template system (wrapper.php / review-wrapper.php), ensuring UI consistency
• Fully supports pagination, theme mode, max height, and query argument overriding through filters
• Added new helpers for fetching user data:
• init_plugin_suite_recent_comments_get_user_comments()
• init_plugin_suite_recent_comments_get_user_reviews()
• Implemented separate cache groups for user comments & user reviews
• TTL fully customizable via filters (init_plugin_suite_user_recent_comments_ttl, init_plugin_suite_user_recent_reviews_ttl)
• Updated review item template:
• Display reviewer name and avatar resolved from user_id instead of relying on non-existing author_name
• Fallback support for anonymous reviewers
• Internal improvements and cleanup for code reliability and maintainability

1.3 – November 4, 2025

• Added new filter init_plugin_suite_recent_comments_query_args allows developers to modify or extend the comment query args before running get_comments()
• Improved recent comments retrieval function:
• Supports overriding query parameters via filter (e.g., filter by post_type, change number, include meta_query, etc.)
• Maintains full backward compatibility
• UI update for Reply-to context:
• Recent comment items now display "Replying to {Author}" when the comment has a parent
• Added minimal CSS styling (non-intrusive, inherits container background)
• Codebase refinements:
• Minor internal cleanups for readability and maintainability
• Consistent filter naming across features to match the plugin's prefix standard

1.2 – October 12, 2025

• Enhanced caching flexibility for existing functions:
• Added TTL filter support to init_plugin_suite_recent_comments_get_comments()
• Added TTL filter support to init_plugin_suite_recent_comments_get_reviews()
• Added TTL filter support to init_plugin_suite_recent_comments_get_total_comments()
• Introduced new helper function init_plugin_suite_recent_comments_get_total_by_posts() for counting total approved comments across multiple post IDs
• Separated cache group for comment totals (init_comment_totals) to improve cache isolation and performance
• Developers can now customize cache durations via filters
• Default TTL values remain unchanged (0 for comments/reviews, 5 minutes for totals)
• Minor internal optimizations for stability and consistency

1.1 – October 1, 2025

• Added new shortcode [init_recent_reviews] for displaying recent reviews
• Introduced prefixed shortcodes [init_plugin_suite_recent_comments] and [init_plugin_suite_recent_reviews] for better naming consistency
• Maintained backward compatibility: old shortcodes [init_recent_comments] and [init_recent_reviews] still work
• Added template override support for review wrapper (init-recent-comments/review-wrapper.php)
• Unified CSS handling and options across both comments and reviews shortcodes

1.0 – June 16, 2025

• Initial release
• Static shortcode [init_recent_comments]
• Basic settings page to toggle CSS
• Template override support
• Clean CSS with disable option