Set up a Google API key for enhanced detection

For Comment Shield — takes about 5 minutes, free.

Is this necessary? No. Comment Shield detects toxic comments entirely locally on your machine even without this step. Google's Perspective API is an optional extra for especially subtle cases. If you don't add a key, everything simply stays fully local as usual — nothing gets sent to Google.
1

Open a Google Cloud project

Go to the Google Cloud Console and sign in with a Google account. An existing project is fine — if you don't have one yet, click "Create Project" and create a new project with any name (e.g. "comment-shield").

Go to Google Cloud Console →
2

Enable the Perspective API

In your active project, open the Perspective Comment Analyzer API page and click "Enable." Without this step, the key won't work later.

Open the API page →
3

Create an API key

Under APIs & Services → Credentials → Create Credentials → API key, Google generates a new key instantly. Copy it — you'll need it again in a moment.

Go to Credentials →
4

Restrict the key (recommended)

Click the newly created key and, under "API restrictions," select only "Perspective Comment Analyzer API." That way the key can only ever be used for this one purpose, even if it were ever accidentally leaked.

5

Add the key to Comment Shield

Open Comment Shield's settings → "Detection & Display" section → "Enhanced Detection (Beta)", paste the key in, and click "Save." From then on, checked comments are additionally scored via the Perspective API.

Frequently asked questions

Does this cost anything?

The Perspective API has a free quota that's normally more than enough for personal use. Comment Shield also queues comment checks one at a time (a small queue) to avoid unnecessarily hitting the limit.

What happens to my data?

Only the plain comment text (max. 3000 characters) is sent to Google for scoring — no usernames, no profile data. Details are in our Privacy Policy.

Can I remove the key again?

Yes, any time — just clear the field in settings and save. Comment Shield then goes back to working purely locally.