Ghost and comments
Ghost has a native comments feature, but it ties commenting to Ghost membership: readers sign up as members to post. That works for some publications and is limiting for others, because it turns commenting into a signup step. If you want anyone to be able to comment, including anonymous and guest readers, a hosted embed is a straightforward alternative you can add to any Ghost theme.
Gabden keys a thread to each post's canonical URL, so every article gets its own discussion and the thread stays with the URL through theme changes.
The embed
The snippet is one container and one script:
<div id='gabden-conversations'></div>
<script async src='https://YOUR-SITE.gabden.com/conversations.js'
data-page='canonical'
data-theme='auto'></script>Get your own Gabden subdomain (the YOUR-SITE part of the URL) from the dashboard after you create a site. There are two ways to place it in Ghost.
Option 1: edit the theme
If you can edit your theme files, open post.hbs (the template Ghost uses to render a single post). Find where the article content ends, below the {{content}} helper and any author or newsletter section. Paste the embed there. Re-upload the theme, or if you develop locally, commit and deploy as usual.
Placing it in post.hbs means comments appear on posts but not on pages or the homepage, which is what you want. If you also want comments on static pages, add the same snippet to page.hbs.
Option 2: code injection
If you would rather not touch theme files, Ghost has a code injection feature in its admin settings. This is less precise, because site-wide injection runs everywhere, so you would need a small script to only mount the container on post pages. Editing post.hbs is cleaner and is the approach we recommend when you have theme access.
Turning off native comments
If Ghost's native comments are enabled, disable them so readers are not shown two comment areas. In Ghost admin, the comments setting is under the general settings; switch it off. Then your theme renders only the Gabden thread. If your theme includes the native comments helper directly, remove that block from post.hbs when you add the embed.
Canonical URLs
Ghost sets a canonical URL for each post automatically, which is exactly what the thread key relies on. If you have customized canonical tags or serve posts under a custom domain plus a Ghost subdomain, make sure the canonical points at the URL you want readers to share, so everyone lands on the same thread rather than splitting across two.
Identity and moderation
Unlike native Ghost comments, Gabden does not require membership to post. Readers can comment anonymously, as a guest with a name and email, or sign in with Google or GitHub. You control the gate with four moderation modes: pre-moderate everything, auto-approve, auto-approve returning verified people, or moderate only anonymous users. There is a blocked-word filter, a spam and pending queue, threaded replies, and like and heart reactions.
For a publication that already uses Ghost memberships for a newsletter, this separation is useful: membership stays about the newsletter and paid content, while commenting stays open to everyone. You are not forcing a reader to become a member just to reply to a post.
Performance
The embed is about 10KB and loads on its own after the article, so it does not slow Ghost's already fast rendering. There are no tracking cookies and no fingerprinting, which keeps a privacy-minded publication clean.
Themes and dark mode
Gabden has light and dark themes with presets, so you can match the thread to your Ghost theme, including sites that offer a dark mode. Pick the preset that fits, or adjust it in the dashboard.
Once it is live, check a post on desktop and mobile to confirm placement, then leave it. The full options are in the docs, and you can preview the reader experience under Conversations.
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