TryGhost/Ghost · error · Error

Failed to add comment

Error message

Failed to add comment

What it means

comments.add() POSTs a new comment to /members/api/comments with a body of {comments: [comment]}. If the response is not ok, it throws. This is the primary write path for submitting a comment and failures here are typically validation (422) or auth (401) errors.

Source

Thrown at apps/comments-ui/src/utils/api.ts:232

                }
            },
            add({comment}: {comment: AddComment}) {
                const body = {
                    comments: [comment]
                };
                const url = endpointFor({type: 'members', resource: 'comments'});
                return makeRequest({
                    url,
                    method: 'POST',
                    headers: {
                        'Content-Type': 'application/json'
                    },
                    body: JSON.stringify(body)
                }).then(function (res) {
                    if (res.ok) {
                        return res.json();
                    } else {
                        throw new Error('Failed to add comment');
                    }
                });
            },
            edit({comment}: {comment: Partial<Comment> & {id: string}}) {
                const body = {
                    comments: [comment]
                };
                const url = endpointFor({type: 'members', resource: `comments/${comment.id}`});
                return makeRequest({
                    url,
                    method: 'PUT',
                    headers: {
                        'Content-Type': 'application/json'
                    },
                    body: JSON.stringify(body)
                }).then(function (res) {
                    if (res.ok) {
                        return res.json();

View on GitHub (pinned to 47d8b0e2ad)

Solutions

1. Validate the comment body client-side (non-empty, within length limits) before calling add.
2. Check the Network tab response body for the 422/401 details to surface a specific message.
3. If 401, re-authenticate the member and retry; if 403, inform the user comments may be closed.
4. Debounce or rate-limit the submit button to avoid 429s from double-clicks.

function isValidCommentBody(html: string): boolean {
  const text = html.replace(/<[^>]*>/g, '').trim();
  return text.length > 0 && text.length <= 10000;
}

try {
  const result = await api.comments.add({comment});
} catch (e) {
  if (e instanceof Error && e.message === 'Failed to add comment') {
    // check member session; show validation/auth error to user
  }
}

When it happens

Trigger: The POST returns 4xx/5xx. The comment body is empty or fails server-side validation (422), the member is not authenticated (401), the member is banned or lacks comment permissions (403), the post has comments closed (403), or the server rejects the payload schema. Rate limiting (429) on rapid successive posts is also possible.

Common situations: A member submits an empty comment or one exceeding the length limit. A member whose session expired between loading the form and submitting. A post where the author closed comments after the form was opened. Spam protection rejecting the submission.

Related errors

• Failed to edit comment
• Failed to fetch comments
• Failed to read comment
• Failed to fetch site data
• Failed to fetch replies

AI-assisted analysis of TryGhost/Ghost@47d8b0e2ad (2026-08-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/35ece7140b110b7e. Report an issue: GitHub.