Guide

How to use commentpull

Download the browser extension, install it, and extract Facebook comments in a few clicks. YouTube works without the extension; Instagram support through the extension is coming soon.

commentpull is in beta

Features can change or break without notice, the service may be unavailable at times, and results may be incomplete — Facebook changes its page layout often. Please double-check important results and don't rely on commentpull for anything critical yet.

Source-available — check the code yourself

The whole project, including the website and this browser extension, is public on GitHub. You don't have to take our word for what it does — read the code, or ask someone you trust to: github.com/Arthurdotself/CommentPull.

How it works

  • Facebook — uses the CommentPull browser extension. It reads the comments Facebook already shows to your logged-in account, inside your browser, and hands them to this page. No Facebook password or token is shared with us.
  • Instagram — coming soon. It is planned to work the same way as Facebook, through the browser extension.
  • YouTube — you paste your own YouTube Data API key and your browser talks to Google directly.

Only the Facebook flow needs the extension. The steps below show how to get it running.

1

Download the extension

Download the extension as a ZIP file (it contains only the browser-extension folder) and unzip it anywhere you'll keep it. The full source is also in the public GitHub repository.

Download ZIP View on GitHub

Prefer the command line? Run git clone https://github.com/Arthurdotself/CommentPull.git.

After unzipping, the extension is the folder named browser-extension — the one that contains manifest.json.

2

Install it in your browser

Works in Chrome and other Chromium browsers such as Edge, Brave and Opera.

  1. Open the extensions page: type chrome://extensions in the address bar (edge://extensions in Edge, brave://extensions in Brave).
  2. Turn on Developer mode (toggle in the top-right corner).
  3. Click Load unpacked and select the browser-extension folder.
  4. Click the puzzle-piece icon in the toolbar and pin “CommentPull Lab” so it is easy to open.

Good to know: the extension isn't on the Chrome Web Store yet, so your browser may show a “developer mode” reminder on start-up — that is expected. Keep the folder where you unzipped it (the browser loads it from there), and press the reload icon on the extension after updating the files. Safari and Firefox are not supported yet.

Extension not detected yet

After installing or reloading the extension, refresh this page. This indicator turns green when it is working.

3

Extract comments

  1. Make sure you are logged in to Facebook in this same browser.
  2. Go to the commentpull home page, choose Facebook and paste the post URL.
  3. Press Extract Comments. The extension opens the post in a new tab, expands comments and replies, and scrolls for you. A progress badge appears on the Facebook page.
  4. Keep that tab open until it finishes. It then closes on its own and brings you back to commentpull with your results.
  5. Filter the comments, pick a winner, or export to CSV, Excel or JSON.

For YouTube, paste your YouTube Data API key — it doesn't need the extension. Instagram support is coming soon.

Manual mode (optional)

You can also drive the extension yourself: open a Facebook post, click the extension icon, set a limit and press “Start collecting” (or “Snapshot visible” for a quick capture). Then import the saved results below.

Import results from the extension

Results stay in your browser — nothing is uploaded.

No results imported yet.

Troubleshooting

  • “Extension not detected” — make sure it is enabled on the extensions page, then refresh commentpull. If you just updated the files, press the extension's reload icon first.
  • Zero or too few comments — Facebook changes its page structure often, so the collector can fall behind. Open the extension popup, press Debug info (it copies a report that contains no comment text) and attach it to a GitHub issue.
  • The run stops early — the Facebook tab must stay open and you must stay logged in. Very large posts take a while; you can set a limit in the popup.
  • Can't see the post — the extension only reads what Facebook shows your own account. It does not get around logins or privacy settings.

What the extension can and can't do

  • It runs only on facebook.com and on commentpull.com pages. Its only permissions are activeTab and storage.
  • It makes no network requests of its own: collected comments are kept in the extension's local storage and passed to the commentpull page open in your browser. You can clear them any time from the import panel above.
  • It scrolls the page and clicks only on-page controls such as “View more comments”, “replies” and the comment-sort menu so that more comments load. It contains no code that reads your password, cookies or messages, or that posts, likes or comments for you — you can confirm this in the source.
  • Automated collection can go against Facebook's terms. Use it only on content you are allowed to view and process, and read our Terms and Privacy Policy.

Every one of these statements can be checked in the source code — that's the point of keeping it public.