From c9bd606f4cd4c3a8e28847445977bf2f023aa2a3 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: "@gapmiss" <gapmiss@proton.me>
Date: Mon, 13 Jul 2026 11:51:46 -0500
Subject: [PATCH] fix: unify comment counts across frontmatter, history
 sidebar, and comments file using recursive count

---
 src/comments.ts     | 15 +++++++++++++++
 src/history-view.ts | 19 +++++++++++++++++--
 src/main.ts         |  3 ++-
 3 files changed, 34 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)

diff --git a/src/comments.ts b/src/comments.ts
index 6724f46..bf416b6 100644
--- a/src/comments.ts
+++ b/src/comments.ts
@@ -94,6 +94,21 @@ function renderComment(
 	return md;
 }
 
+function countNestedComments(comments: Comment[]): number {
+	let total = 0;
+	for (const c of comments) {
+		total += 1;
+		if (c.children) {
+			total += countNestedComments(c.children);
+		}
+	}
+	return total;
+}
+
+export function countAllComments(data: CommentsResponse): number {
+	return countNestedComments(data.comments);
+}
+
 export function renderComments(
 	data: CommentsResponse,
 	slug: string,
diff --git a/src/history-view.ts b/src/history-view.ts
index 5b93156..9061485 100644
--- a/src/history-view.ts
+++ b/src/history-view.ts
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 import { ItemView, normalizePath, Notice, setIcon, TFile, type WorkspaceLeaf } from 'obsidian';
 import type SubstackClipperPlugin from './main';
 import type { HistoryEntry } from './types';
-import { fetchComments, renderComments } from './comments';
+import { countAllComments, fetchComments, renderComments } from './comments';
 
 export const HISTORY_VIEW_TYPE = 'substack-clipper-history';
 
@@ -256,7 +256,22 @@ export class HistoryView extends ItemView {
 						`${this.plugin.settings.saveDirectory}/${entry.username}/${entry.slug}-comments.md`,
 					);
 					await this.plugin.writeFile(commentsPath, commentsMd);
-					entry.commentCount = commentsData.comments.length;
+					entry.commentCount = countAllComments(commentsData);
+
+					const notePath = normalizePath(
+						`${this.plugin.settings.saveDirectory}/${entry.username}/${entry.slug}.md`,
+					);
+					const noteFile = this.app.vault.getAbstractFileByPath(notePath);
+					if (noteFile instanceof TFile) {
+						const content = await this.app.vault.read(noteFile);
+						const updated = content.replace(
+							/^comment-count: \d+$/m,
+							`comment-count: ${String(entry.commentCount)}`,
+						);
+						if (updated !== content) {
+							await this.app.vault.modify(noteFile, updated);
+						}
+					}
 				}
 				entry.lastUpdated = new Date().toISOString();
 				succeeded++;
diff --git a/src/main.ts b/src/main.ts
index 66f9400..39e2092 100644
--- a/src/main.ts
+++ b/src/main.ts
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ import { fetchHtml, extractPreloads, parsePost, parseUrl, extractImages, extract
 import { htmlToMarkdown } from './converter';
 import { postprocessMarkdown } from './postprocess';
 import { downloadAllMedia } from './downloader';
-import { fetchComments, renderComments } from './comments';
+import { countAllComments, fetchComments, renderComments } from './comments';
 
 export default class SubstackClipperPlugin extends Plugin {
 	settings: SubstackClipperSettings;
@@ -115,6 +115,7 @@ export default class SubstackClipperPlugin extends Plugin {
 							await this.writeFile(commentsJsonPath, JSON.stringify(commentsData, null, 2));
 						}
 
+						article.commentCount = countAllComments(commentsData);
 						const commentsMd = renderComments(commentsData, slug, domain);
 						const commentsPath = normalizePath(`${this.settings.saveDirectory}/${username}/${slug}-comments.md`);
 						await this.writeFile(commentsPath, commentsMd);