Add members only comments to your Ghost membership website using an integration with Cove comments

[Cove](https://cove.chat/) allows you to embed fully functional comment threads from your subscribed members, allowing you to build a community for your membership audience on Ghost.

This guide will walk you through how to integrate Cove comments with your Ghost site by creating a custom integration, and adding some pre-defined code to your site’s theme.

### Prerequisites

Cove is only compatible with Ghost version 3.9 and above, please ensure your version of Ghost is [up to date](https://docs.ghost.org/update/). You’ll also need to enable Members in Ghost admin and ensure it is configured correctly using [our Stripe documentation](/content/help/stripe/index.html) for more details.

## Create a Cove account

[Sign up for Cove](https://cove.chat/) with their 14 day free trial. [See their plans](https://cove.chat/pricing/) for more information on pricing after the trial.

## Create a new custom integration

Add a new custom integration within Ghost Admin:

For your own reference, add an integration title, description and icon:

**Tip:** You can save the icon from the top of this page and use that!

## Set your Ghost integration credentials in Cove

Next, copy and paste your integration details into your [Cove account](https://app.cove.chat/setup/) in the Setup area:

## Add the code to your theme

Next, in your Ghost theme, locate the template file where you want to insert comments on your site. This is usually inside `post.hbs`, right after the content of your posts.

In **Casper**, Ghost’s default theme, you’ll see a line of code specifically reserved for inserting comments. This is where you’ll want to paste the embed code (make sure you remove the comments on line 65 and 69):

Copy the [official installation example](https://app.cove.chat/install/) within your Cove account into your `post.hbs` file. It will look something like this:

```html
<section class="article-comments gh-canvas">
    {{#if @site.members_enabled}}
    <h2><span id="cove-count"></span> Comments</h2>
    <div id="cove"></div>

{{#if @member}}
        <p>Signed in as {{@member.email}} · <a href="javascript:" data-members-signout>Sign out</a></p>
    {{else}}
        <p>Become a {{@site.title}} member below to join the conversation. As a member, you will also receive new posts by email (you can unsubscribe at any time).</p>
        <form data-members-form="signin" id="cove-login">
        <input class="cove-input" data-members-email type="email" required="true" placeholder="your@email.com" />
        <button type="submit" class="cove-button">Sign in to comment</button>
        <span class="signin-success" style="display:none">Great! Please check your inbox for a log in link.</span>
        <span class="signin-error" style="display:none">Something didn't work. Please try again.</span>
        </form>
    {{/if}}

<script>
    const Cove = {
        publication: "YOUR_SITE_ID",
        contentId: "{{id}}",
        memberId: "{{@member.uuid}}",
        memberEmail: "{{@member.email}}"
    }
    </script>
    {{/if}}
</section>
```

## Update your theme

Once you’ve updated the active version of your theme in the Design view of Ghost Admin, your Cove comments integration will be ready to go 🎉

Here’s an example of what Cove comments look like on a Ghost site:

For further information about using Cove to power your site’s comments, check out [their full documentation](https://cove.chat/help/).

## Launch your big idea

Last week, 10,603 brand new publications got started with Ghost.

Today, it's your turn.

[Start publishing now →](https://account.ghost.org/signup/)