To show replies beneath their parent comments in WordPress, enable threaded comments under Settings → Discussion, choose a nesting depth, and save. The active theme must also support threaded comments; the setting alone cannot make a theme display replies hierarchically.
Enable threaded comments in WordPress
- In the dashboard, go to Settings → Discussion.
- Check Enable threaded (nested) comments and select how many levels of replies to allow. WordPress documents this setting as the control for nesting replies. WordPress Settings Discussion documentation.
- Save the changes.
- Confirm that comments are enabled for the post or page you are checking.
When threaded comments are working, a reply appears nested beneath its original comment rather than as another top-level comment. WordPress comments documentation describes replies as shown “nested” underneath the original comment.
Check whether your theme renders the comment hierarchy
The Discussion setting controls whether replies may be threaded and the permitted depth, but the theme controls how comments are output. WordPress notes that themes need to be specially coded to display threaded comments properly. WordPress Settings Discussion documentation.
In the active theme, inspect comments.php. It normally calls the core wp_list_comments() function to display the comment list. A custom callback or walker can change the HTML and may flatten the list or omit child comments. The function reference documents its depth, callback, walker, pagination, and ordering arguments: wp_list_comments().
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How WordPress identifies parent comments
WordPress stores a comment’s parent relationship in comment_parent. Core admin code uses that field when identifying a parent, and WP_Comment::get_children() can return descendants as a threaded tree. WP_Comment reference.
That stored relationship and the visible layout are separate concerns: a reply can have a parent in the database but still appear flat if the theme’s rendering code does not preserve the hierarchy.
Troubleshoot replies that are not nested
- Threading is off or too shallow: Return to Settings → Discussion, enable threaded comments, and choose a depth that accommodates the reply chain. WordPress core also has a maximum-depth mechanism; its default filter maximum is 10, an implementation limit rather than a recommended setting. Settings documentation and core Discussion settings source.
- The reply is pending moderation: Check that the reply is approved and visible. Core admin logic distinguishes approved and pending parent relationships. WP_Comments_List_Table reference.
- The theme template does not render the list as a hierarchy: Check that the active theme’s
comments.phpcallswp_list_comments(), and inspect whether a custom callback or walker preserves child comments and parent-child markup. wp_list_comments() reference. - The reply appears on another page or in an unexpected order: Comment pagination and ordering are separate from nesting. The
per_page,page,reverse_top_level, andreverse_childrenoptions can affect which comments appear and their sequence. wp_list_comments() reference and Settings Discussion documentation. - You recently changed settings or templates: Clear page, object, and CDN caches, then test a post with an approved top-level comment and an approved reply.
Basic theme template example
For a theme that uses the standard comment-list function, a basic call can look like this:
<?php
wp_list_comments([
'type' => 'comment',
'max_depth' => 5,
]);
?>This sets the function’s maximum rendered depth to five for that call; it does not replace the Discussion setting or guarantee that a custom theme template will produce accessible, nested markup. Use a custom callback or walker only when you need to control the output HTML, and verify that it retains child comments. See the official function reference for supported arguments.
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