Show HN: BeBlob – A Gitlab-Powered Comment Section for Static Websites
gitlab.comHi everyone!
I'm happy to introduce BeBlob, an open-source widget that adds a comment section to any static or dynamic website—without needing a dedicated backend—by leveraging GitLab issues. Inspired by my personal journey hosting my blog (belev.me) on GitLab Pages and noticing existing GitHub-backed solutions like utterances (https://github.com/utterance/utterances) and giscus (https://laymonage.com/posts/giscus), I wanted to create a similar tool for GitLab users.
BeBlob automatically maps each webpage to a GitLab issue and uses GitLab OAuth for user authentication. It supports emoji reactions, markdown comments with live preview, code-highlighting and a set of customizable themes—four in total—that match the Hexo Cactus (https://probberechts.github.io/hexo-theme-cactus/) theme I use on my blog.
The solution is far from polished, but I wanted to get it out there and receive feedback from real users as early as possible. I’ve already integrated it into my personal blog, so I’m the first real user!
Source code: https://gitlab.com/antonbelev/beblob Demo page: https://antonbelev.gitlab.io/beblob-demo/
Looking forward to your feedback! Demo link returns 404 Apologies, looking to fix it now! In the meantime the widget is visible on any blog post on my personal blog e.g. https://belev.me/2025/02/13/hexo-bluesky-feed-is-now-an-offi... - The demo page intends to also show the different themes and allow the user to switch between them. Will get it sorted asap. This is now fixed, I forgot to change the visibility setting to public for the Gitlab Pages of the demo project, thank you for reporting it https://antonbelev.gitlab.io/beblob-demo/