Init Recent Comments – Templated, Modern, Minimal

Block Editor (Gutenberg)

Four dynamic blocks are available under their own Init Recent Comments category in the block inserter — no shortcodes needed if you prefer working entirely in the editor:

• Recent Comments — equivalent to [init_plugin_suite_recent_comments]
• Recent Reviews — equivalent to [init_plugin_suite_recent_reviews]
• User Recent Comments — equivalent to [init_plugin_suite_user_recent_comments]
• User Recent Reviews — equivalent to [init_plugin_suite_user_recent_reviews]

Each block shares the exact same rendering code as its shortcode, so switching between the Block Editor and shortcodes never changes the output. Block settings map directly to shortcode attributes, and a live preview is shown right in the editor as you configure it.

Abilities API (WordPress 6.9+)

On WordPress 6.9 and above, Init Recent Comments 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 the plugin’s four shortcodes exactly. This plugin has no write actions at all (it’s a pure display plugin), so all of its functionality is safely exposed. These abilities are discoverable and executable via PHP ( wp_get_abilities() ), and — for sites that opt in — the wp-abilities/v1 REST namespace. This integration is fully optional: on WordPress versions older than 6.9, it silently does nothing and the rest of the plugin is unaffected.

Privacy note: looking up guest comments by user_email through get-user-recent-comments requires the moderate_comments capability, and get-user-recent-reviews only returns non-approved reviews ( pending , rejected , …) to users with manage_options . Everything else stays public, exactly like the shortcodes.

Usage

Prefer working in the Block Editor? Each shortcode below has an equivalent block — see the “Block Editor (Gutenberg)” section above.

Use the shortcode anywhere:

[init_plugin_suite_recent_comments number="5" maxheight="400px"]

Recent reviews:

[init_plugin_suite_recent_reviews number="5"]

Recent comments of a specific user:

[init_plugin_suite_user_recent_comments user_id="123"]

Recent reviews of a specific user:

[init_plugin_suite_user_recent_reviews user_id="123"]

The legacy tags [init_recent_comments] , [init_recent_reviews] , [init_user_recent_comments] , and [init_user_recent_reviews] still work exactly the same way, for backward compatibility with existing content.

Attributes:

• number – Total items to show (default: 5)
• maxheight – Optional max height with scroll and hidden scrollbar (example: 300px )
• paged – Optional pagination
• theme – Light or dark (example: theme="dark" )
• For user shortcodes: user_id , user_login , or user_email can be used to target the user

To override templates, create the folder in your theme:

your-theme/ └── init-recent-comments/ ├── wrapper.php ├── review-wrapper.php ├── comment-item.php └── review-item.php<h3>Filters for Developers</h3>

This plugin provides multiple filters to help developers customize caching behavior and performance for recent comments, reviews, and total comment count queries.

By default, comment/review queries are NOT cached (TTL = 0) so newly posted comments always show up immediately — this is intentional, since most sites using this plugin expect real-time freshness. If your site has heavy traffic and you’re fine with a short delay before new comments appear, you can enable caching yourself using the filters below (a value like 60 for 60 seconds is a reasonable starting point). Total comment count queries default to a 5-minute TTL instead, since counts are less time-sensitive.

init_plugin_suite_recent_comments_ttl

Control the cache TTL (in seconds) for recent comments. Applies to: Recent Comments Query Params: int $ttl

init_plugin_suite_recent_comments_query_args

Allows developers to modify or extend the WP_Comment query arguments before the query runs. Applies to: Recent Comments Query Params: array $args

init_plugin_suite_recent_reviews_ttl

Control the cache TTL (in seconds) for recent reviews. Applies to: Recent Reviews Query Params: int $ttl

init_plugin_suite_user_recent_comments_ttl

Control cache TTL (in seconds) for recent comments by a specific user. Applies to: [init_user_recent_comments] Params: int $ttl , array $args

init_plugin_suite_user_recent_reviews_ttl

Control cache TTL (in seconds) for recent reviews by a specific user. Applies to: [init_user_recent_reviews] Params: int $ttl , array $args

init_plugin_suite_total_comments_ttl

Control the cache TTL (in seconds) for total approved comment counts by post type. Applies to: Total Comments Query Params: int $ttl , array $post_types

init_plugin_suite_total_by_posts_ttl

Control the cache TTL (in seconds) for total approved comment counts across multiple post IDs. Applies to: Total by Post IDs Query Params: int $ttl , array $post_ids

init_plugin_suite_recent_comments_visible_reviews

Filter the list of reviews after reviews on non-public posts (draft, pending, private, deleted) have been removed. Applies to: Recent Reviews and User Recent Reviews Params: array $visible , array $reviews

License

This plugin is licensed under the GPLv2 or later. You are free to use, modify, and distribute it under the same license.