Spam pipeline

Every comment posted through Livewire or the API passes through the spam pipeline in CommentObserver on create and on body edit.

Verdict	What happens
deny	Save is aborted (`creating`/`updating` returns `false`). API returns 422 with `code: spam_rejected`. Webhook `spam_deny`. Logged to `commentify_spam_logs`.
review	Saved with `is_approved = false`. Hidden from the public thread. Webhook `pending`. Author can still see their own row.
allow	Normal flow (`is_approved` still respects `require_approval`).

Checkers run in spam.checkers order. The worst verdict wins (deny > review > allow). A deny short-circuits remaining checkers. Reasons merge. When an external checker throws or times out, spam.fail_mode is allow (fail open) or review (hold). Failures are report()ed.

Built-in checkers

`heuristic` (default, no network)

Configured under spam.heuristic:

Signal	Default	Verdict
Blocked term in body (case-insensitive substring)	`[]`	deny `blocked_term`
Link host equals or is a subdomain of `blocked_domains`	`[]`	deny `blocked_domain:…`
More than `max_links * 2` links	`max_links` 2	deny `too_many_links`
More than `max_links` links	2	review `too_many_links`
Author has fewer than `trusted_after` approved comments and posted a link	3	review `untrusted_author_with_link`
Identical body from the same author (or guest email/IP) within `duplicate_window` seconds	300	review `duplicate_body`

With guests.stricter_spam (default true):

Guest missing email while guest.require_email → deny guest_missing_email
Guest with any link → review guest_with_link
Duplicate window also matches guest email + IP

`akismet`

Set AKISMET_KEY. Posts to {key}.rest.akismet.com/1.1/comment-check with IP, user agent, author, email, body, and comment_type reply or comment.

Akismet true + header X-akismet-pro-tip: discard → deny akismet_discard
Akismet true otherwise → review akismet_spam
Anything else, or missing key → allow (skips)

The installer can write the key to .env. Blank key at runtime is a no-op.

`toxicity`

Google Perspective Comment Analyzer. See AI toxicity. Add 'toxicity' to spam.checkers and set COMMENTIFY_PERSPECTIVE_KEY. Billed per call.

Logging

Non-allow verdicts persist to commentify_spam_logs when spam.log is true: user_id, ip, body_hash (SHA-256), 250-char excerpt, decision, reasons, checker. The pipeline runs before the row exists, so logs store a hash rather than a comment id.

”Not spam” in Filament

On the Spam Log resource, Not spam re-approves the matching held comment (hash + author) and submits ham to Akismet when configured. Unmatched logs still write an audit row (not_spam_unmatched). See Filament.

Custom checkers

Implement Usamamuneerchaudhary\CommentifyPro\Contracts\SpamChecker and list the class name in spam.checkers (built-in aliases heuristic, akismet, toxicity are resolved first; anything else is treated as a FQCN):

use Usamamuneerchaudhary\CommentifyPro\Contracts\SpamChecker;
use Usamamuneerchaudhary\CommentifyPro\Spam\CommentCandidate;
use Usamamuneerchaudhary\CommentifyPro\Spam\SpamVerdict;

final class BlockUrlShorteners implements SpamChecker
{
    public function check(CommentCandidate $candidate): SpamVerdict
    {
        foreach ($candidate->links() as $link) {
            $host = parse_url($link, PHP_URL_HOST);

            if (in_array($host, ['bit.ly', 't.co'], true)) {
                return SpamVerdict::deny('url_shortener', 'block-url-shorteners');
            }
        }

        return SpamVerdict::allow();
    }
}

'spam' => [
    'checkers' => ['heuristic', \App\Spam\BlockUrlShorteners::class],
],

CommentCandidate includes body, author, ip, userAgent, parentId, guestName, guestEmail, plus links(), isGuest(), and authorFrom().

Pair guests with require_approval and heuristic. Humans should not be the first line of defence at 2am.

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API

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Features

Help

Built-in checkers

`heuristic` (default, no network)

`akismet`

`toxicity`

Logging

”Not spam” in Filament

Custom checkers

​Built-in checkers

​heuristic (default, no network)

​akismet

​toxicity

​Logging

​”Not spam” in Filament

​Custom checkers

Built-in checkers

`heuristic` (default, no network)

`akismet`

`toxicity`

Logging

”Not spam” in Filament

Custom checkers