Coral (Talk)

Coral (Talk) is an open-source commenting platform designed for newsrooms and publishers to host and moderate on-site conversations. It provides a customizable comment widget, moderation tooling, and developer APIs to integrate with existing registration and publishing systems.

Key Features

• Moderation suite with queues, reviewer roles, and tools to surface or hide content
• Real-time comment delivery and notifications for active discussions
• GraphQL API and GraphiQL support for querying and extending platform data
• Plugin architecture for server- and client-side extensions and integrations
• Configurable authentication and registration integrations to use site SSO
• Privacy-first design: no ads, no tracking scripts in core code
• Docker and source deployment options; production-ready configuration using MongoDB and Redis

Use Cases

• Publishers and newsrooms wanting an integrated, self-hosted comment system with advanced moderation
• Organizations that need to migrate comments from third-party providers while retaining data control
• Communities or membership sites requiring configurable moderation workflows and SSO integration

Limitations and Considerations

• Production installs require MongoDB and Redis and appropriate operational resources for scale
• Customization beyond configuration typically requires developer work (plugins or UI changes)
• Some optional features/plugins depend on third-party APIs or API keys (for example, external toxicity/perspective services)

Coral offers a developer-friendly, extensible solution for hosting and moderating on-site conversations, balancing configurability with newsroom-focused moderation features. It is suited to organizations that need data control and integration flexibility.