Hao Nguyen

Init Chat Engine is a clean and minimal frontend chatbox plugin, designed for homepage or site-wide communication with comprehensive administrative controls.
This plugin is the core user system behind the <a href="https://en.inithtml.com/init-plugin-suite-minimalist-powerful-and-free-wordpress-plugins/" rel="nofollow ugc">Init Plugin Suite</a> – optimized for frontend-first interaction, extensibility, and real-time gamification.
GitHub repository: <a href="https://github.com/brokensmile2103/init-chat-engine" rel="nofollow ugc">https://github.com/brokensmile2103/init-chat-engine</a>
Key Features:
Frontend Experience: 
– Built with 100% REST API and Vanilla JS 
– No jQuery, no bloat – blazing fast 
– Fully embeddable via <code>[init_chatbox]</code> shortcode 
– Guest messaging support (optional) 
– Smart polling system (adaptive 3.5–10s based on activity) 
– Browser notifications when new messages arrive 
– Scroll-up to load history, scroll-down to auto-scroll 
– Optimistic sending & “new message” jump button 
– Clean UI with customizable themes 
– Template override supported (<code>chatbox.php</code>)
Administrative Control: 
– Complete Settings Panel – Basic, Security, and Advanced configurations 
– Message Management – Search, view, delete messages with pagination 
– User Moderation – Ban/unban users by IP or user ID with expiration 
– Rate Limiting – Prevent spam with configurable message limits 
– Word Filtering – Block messages containing prohibited words 
– Statistics Dashboard – View chat activity, user engagement, and trends 
– Cleanup Tools – Automatic and manual cleanup of old messages 
– Custom CSS Support – Full styling customization options
Security & Moderation: 
– IP-based and user-based banning system 
– Configurable rate limiting (messages per minute) 
– Word filtering with custom blocked word lists 
– Message moderation queue (optional) 
– Automatic cleanup of old messages and expired bans 
– Admin override capabilities
Multilingual Ready: 
– Translation-ready with full <code>.pot</code> file included 
– Vietnamese translation included 
– Easy to translate to any language
Perfect for community-based sites, forums, fanpages, manga readers, SaaS dashboards, customer support, or any interactive chat widget.
<h3>Shortcode Attributes</h3>
Shortcode <code>[init_chatbox]</code> supports the following attributes:
<ul>
<li><code>height</code> – Set chat height (e.g., <code>height="400px"</code>)</li>
<li><code>width</code> – Set chat width (e.g., <code>width="100%"</code>)</li>
<li><code>theme</code> – Apply custom theme (e.g., <code>theme="dark"</code>)</li>
<li><code>show_avatars</code> – Override avatar setting (<code>true</code>/<code>false</code>)</li>
<li><code>show_timestamps</code> – Override timestamp setting (<code>true</code>/<code>false</code>)</li>
<li><code>title</code> – Add custom chat title</li>
<li><code>class</code> – Add custom CSS classes</li>
<li><code>id</code> – Set custom container ID</li>
</ul>
Example: <code>[init_chatbox height="500px" title="Community Chat" theme="modern"]</code>
<h3>Filters for Developers</h3>
This plugin provides filters and actions to allow developers to extend word filtering, message processing, and chat behavior without modifying core files.
<code>init_plugin_suite_chat_engine_word_filter_strategy</code> 
Modify word filtering strategy (<code>substring</code>, <code>word</code>, <code>regex</code>). 
Applies to: Message validation 
Params: <code>string $strategy</code>, <code>array $settings</code>, <code>string $message</code>
<code>init_plugin_suite_chat_engine_blocked_words</code> 
Modify the blocked-words list before validation. 
Applies to: Message validation 
Params: <code>array $blocked_words</code>, <code>array $settings</code>, <code>string $message</code>
<code>init_plugin_suite_chat_engine_bypass_filter</code> 
Bypass filtering under custom conditions (VIP, internal users, etc.). 
Applies to: Message validation 
Params: <code>bool $bypass</code>, <code>string $message</code>, <code>WP_User|null $user</code>, <code>array $settings</code>
<code>init_plugin_suite_chat_engine_word_block_hit</code> (action) 
Triggered when a word filter rule blocks a message. 
Applies to: Message validation 
Params: <code>string $blocked_word</code>, <code>string $message</code>, <code>string $strategy</code>
<code>init_plugin_suite_chat_engine_enrich_message_row</code> 
Extend chat message data (add flags, metadata, user info, etc.). 
Applies to: Backend DB → JSON output 
Params: <code>array $message_row</code>, <code>WP_User|null $user</code>
<h3>License</h3>
This plugin is licensed under the GPLv2 or later. 
You are free to use, modify, and distribute it under the same license.

Init Chat Engine – Real-Time, Community, Extensible

A lightweight, real-time community chat system built with REST API and Vanilla JS. No jQuery, no reload. Full admin panel with moderation tools.

Paul

monikamuut

courtneycouch

tipiirai

Janne Lehtinen

Muut represents a complete re-imagination of what internet discussion forums and commenting should be. It’s a modern, fast, highly scalable discussion platform that you can embed onto your WordPress website, and personalize with css to match the design of your site.
<iframe loading="lazy" class="youtube-player" width="750" height="422" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/huOjL8t-q_0?version=3&rel=1&showsearch=0&showinfo=1&iv_load_policy=1&fs=1&hl=en-US&autohide=2&wmode=transparent" allowfullscreen="true" style="border:0;" sandbox="allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox"></iframe>
Starting at just $16 a month, you have a discussion platform that offers unlimited posts, comments, users, threads — and we never charge you based on usage. That means you’ll never be punished by having to pay more for a successful community.
Whether you’re setting up for the first time or have just updated to the new version of the plugin, you’re going to love what we’ve done to make implementing Muut in your WordPress website easy and flexible.
<h4>Why Muut?</h4>
<ul>
<li>Unified system for both forums and commenting. Same users and design</li>
<li>Full featured forums makes your WordPress site conversational</li>
<li>Flat or threaded commenting for small or big topics</li>
<li>Real-time. No page reloads – posts, replies, likes and users appear in real-time</li>
<li>Spam filtering, email notifications and 20+ different language versions</li>
</ul>
<h4>Built For WordPress</h4>
<ul>
<li>Skinnable style the discussion directly from the WordPress CSS editor</li>
<li>Focus on content. Text focused, uncluttered and linear user interface</li>
<li>Comes with five widgets, all of which update in real-time </li>
<li>Single Sign-On. Use the WordPress login, users and avatars</li>
</ul>
<h4>Optimized for SEO</h4>
<ul>
<li>Micro format optimized static content</li>
<li>Static content served from your domain</li>
<li>Custom S3 bucket support for Developer accounts</li>
<li>Escaped fragment support for Google</li>
</ul>
<h4>New! Widget Details</h4>
<ul>
<li>Online Users – Now the Online Users list isn’t limited to just your main forum page and channel embeds. You can use the Online Users widget on any of your pages to show who is currently logged in (and how many other people are viewing the site). Watch users’ portraits appear on the fly as they sign in to join the discussion.</li>
<li>Latest Comments – Since Muut is so great to use as the commenting system on your posts and pages, the Latest Comments widget keeps track of which posts have received the latest comments and who made them, and all the users on your website can see it update in real-time as they participate in the discussions on all your posts.</li>
<li>Trending Topics – If you want to help users stay on top of which posts are getting the most activity on your forum, the Trending Posts widget does just that, with real-time updates to comments and likes—not to mention the trademark Muut green “currently typing” circle.</li>
<li>Discussion Channel – You can now embed a single specific channel in your website’s sidebar. Users can watch and join the discussion without having to stop browsing the rest of your website.</li>
<li>My Feed – By using the My Feed widget, users can keep track of all the activity on all the discussions they’ve joined and postes they’ve made right in your website’s sidebars.</li>
</ul>
You can find more information about Muut at our <a href="https://muut.com" rel="nofollow ugc">website</a> and read the full <a href="http://learn.muut.com/integrations/wordpress/getting-started" rel="nofollow ugc">plugin documentation</a>. For more information about why we do what we do, check out our <a href="https://muut.com/manifesto/" rel="nofollow ugc">Manifesto</a> and see our <a href="https://muut.com/pricing/" rel="nofollow ugc">pricing page</a> for details on the features available on your Muut subscription.

Muut – Commenting and Forums Re-Imagined

Your install instructions don't mention that it requires a forum on your site.  Wasted my time as I am NOT going to signup on your site.



Requires site signup

Muut represents a complete re-imagination of what internet discussion forums and commenting should be. It’s a modern, fast, highly scalable discussion …

Init Chat Engine – Real-Time, Community, Extensible vs Muut – Commenting and Forums Re-Imagined