diff --git a/plugins/talk-plugin-toxic-comments/client/components/CheckToxicityHook.js b/plugins/talk-plugin-toxic-comments/client/components/CheckToxicityHook.js
index 2e4c66d3e..22c378435 100644
--- a/plugins/talk-plugin-toxic-comments/client/components/CheckToxicityHook.js
+++ b/plugins/talk-plugin-toxic-comments/client/components/CheckToxicityHook.js
@@ -1,10 +1,19 @@
 import React from 'react';
 
+/**
+ * CheckToxicityHook adds hooks to the `commentBox`
+ * that handles checking a comment for toxicity.
+ */
 export default class CheckToxicityHook extends React.Component {
+
+  // checked signifies if we already sent a request with the `checkToxicity` set to true.
   checked = false;
 
   componentDidMount() {
     this.toxicityPreHook = this.props.registerHook('preSubmit', (input) => {
+
+      // If we haven't check the toxicity yet, make sure to include `checkToxicity=true` in the mutation.
+      // Otherwise post comment without checking the toxicity.
       if (!this.checked) {
         input.checkToxicity = true;
         this.checked = true;
@@ -12,6 +21,8 @@ export default class CheckToxicityHook extends React.Component {
     });
 
     this.toxicityPostHook = this.props.registerHook('postSubmit', () => {
+
+      // Reset `checked` after comment was successfully posted.
       this.checked = false;
     });
   }
diff --git a/plugins/talk-plugin-toxic-comments/client/index.js b/plugins/talk-plugin-toxic-comments/client/index.js
index 46f8c0fc0..c364a2a00 100644
--- a/plugins/talk-plugin-toxic-comments/client/index.js
+++ b/plugins/talk-plugin-toxic-comments/client/index.js
@@ -1,11 +1,6 @@
 import translations from './translations.yml';
 import CheckToxicityHook from './components/CheckToxicityHook';
 
-/**
- * coral-plugin-offtopic depends on coral-plugin-viewing-options
- * in other to display filter and use the streamViewingOptions slot
- */
-
 export default {
   translations,
   slots: {
diff --git a/plugins/talk-plugin-toxic-comments/server/apiKey.js b/plugins/talk-plugin-toxic-comments/server/apiKey.js
deleted file mode 100644
index 43e02d154..000000000
--- a/plugins/talk-plugin-toxic-comments/server/apiKey.js
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,6 +0,0 @@
-const apiKey = process.env.TALK_PERSPECTIVE_API_KEY;
-if(!apiKey) {
-  throw new Error('Please set the TALK_PERSPECTIVE_API_KEY environment variable to use the toxic-comments plugin. Visit https://www.perspectiveapi.com/ to request API access.');
-}
-
-module.exports = apiKey;
diff --git a/plugins/talk-plugin-toxic-comments/server/config.js b/plugins/talk-plugin-toxic-comments/server/config.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..67155cd45
--- /dev/null
+++ b/plugins/talk-plugin-toxic-comments/server/config.js
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+module.exports = {
+  API_ENDPOINT: 'https://commentanalyzer.googleapis.com/v1alpha1',
+  API_KEY: process.env.NODE_ENV !== 'test' ? process.env.TALK_PERSPECTIVE_API_KEY : '',
+  TOXICITY_THRESHOLD: process.env.TALK_TOXICITY_THRESHOLD || 0.8,
+};
diff --git a/plugins/talk-plugin-toxic-comments/server/constants.js b/plugins/talk-plugin-toxic-comments/server/constants.js
deleted file mode 100644
index 1aee300a6..000000000
--- a/plugins/talk-plugin-toxic-comments/server/constants.js
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,3 +0,0 @@
-module.exports = {
-  TOXICITY_THRESHOLD: 0.85,
-};
diff --git a/plugins/talk-plugin-toxic-comments/server/errors.js b/plugins/talk-plugin-toxic-comments/server/errors.js
index 17a2d20c6..e5c77ff78 100644
--- a/plugins/talk-plugin-toxic-comments/server/errors.js
+++ b/plugins/talk-plugin-toxic-comments/server/errors.js
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
-const {APIError} = require('../../../errors');
+const {APIError} = require('errors');
 
+// ErrToxic is sent during a `CreateComment` mutation where
+// `input.checkToxicity` is set to true and the comment contains
+// toxic language as determined by the perspective service.
 const ErrToxic = new APIError('Comment is toxic', {
   status: 400,
   translation_key: 'COMMENT_IS_TOXIC',
diff --git a/plugins/talk-plugin-toxic-comments/server/hooks.js b/plugins/talk-plugin-toxic-comments/server/hooks.js
index 49f7f5d1c..32f61b905 100644
--- a/plugins/talk-plugin-toxic-comments/server/hooks.js
+++ b/plugins/talk-plugin-toxic-comments/server/hooks.js
@@ -1,49 +1,44 @@
-const perspective = require('./perspective');
+const {getScores, isToxic} = require('./perspective');
 const {ErrToxic} = require('./errors');
-const {TOXICITY_THRESHOLD} = require('./constants');
 const ActionsService = require('../../../services/actions');
 
+// We don't add the hooks during _test_ as the perspective API is not available.
+if (process.env.NODE_ENV === 'test') {
+  return null;
+}
+
 module.exports = {
   RootMutation: {
     createComment: {
       async pre(_, {input}, _context, _info) {
 
-        // Don't call out to perspective when running tests.
-        if (process.env.NODE_ENV === 'test') {
-          return;
-        }
-
-        const apiKey = require('./apiKey');
-
         // TODO: handle timeouts.
-        const scores = await perspective.getScores(apiKey, input.body);
+        const scores = await getScores(input.body);
+        const commentIsToxic = isToxic(scores);
 
-        const isToxic = scores.SEVERE_TOXICITY.summaryScore > TOXICITY_THRESHOLD;
-        if (input.checkToxicity && isToxic) {
+        if (input.checkToxicity && commentIsToxic) {
           throw ErrToxic;
         }
+
+        // attach scores to metadata.
         input.metadata = Object.assign({}, input.metadata, {
           perspective: scores,
         });
 
-        if (isToxic) {
+        if (commentIsToxic) {
+
+          // TODO: this should have a different status than Premod.
           input.status = 'PREMOD';
         }
       },
       async post(_, _input, _context, _info, result) {
-
-        // Perspective is not available when running tests.
-        if (process.env.NODE_ENV === 'test') {
-          return result;
-        }
-
-        const score = result.comment.metadata.perspective.SEVERE_TOXICITY.summaryScore;
-        const isToxic = score > TOXICITY_THRESHOLD;
-        if (isToxic) {
+        if (isToxic(result.comment.metadata.perspective)) {
 
           // TODO: this is kind of fragile, we should refactor this to resolve
           // all these const's that we're using like 'COMMENTS', 'FLAG' to be
           // defined in a checkable schema.
+
+          // Add a flag to the comment.
           await ActionsService.create({
             item_id: result.comment.id,
             item_type: 'COMMENTS',
diff --git a/plugins/talk-plugin-toxic-comments/server/perspective.js b/plugins/talk-plugin-toxic-comments/server/perspective.js
index e863b4777..e66e6ed10 100644
--- a/plugins/talk-plugin-toxic-comments/server/perspective.js
+++ b/plugins/talk-plugin-toxic-comments/server/perspective.js
@@ -1,9 +1,13 @@
 const fetch = require('node-fetch');
+const {API_ENDPOINT, API_KEY, TOXICITY_THRESHOLD} = require ('./config');
 
-const API_ENPOINT = 'https://commentanalyzer.googleapis.com/v1alpha1';
-
-async function getScores(apiKey, text) {
-  const response = await fetch(`${API_ENPOINT}/comments:analyze?key=${apiKey}`, {
+/**
+ * Get scores from the perspective api
+ * @param  {string} text to be anaylized
+ * @return {object} object containing toxicity scores
+ */
+async function getScores(text) {
+  const response = await fetch(`${API_ENDPOINT}/comments:analyze?key=${API_KEY}`, {
     method: 'POST',
     headers: {
       'Content-Type': 'application/json',
@@ -32,6 +36,29 @@ async function getScores(apiKey, text) {
   };
 }
 
+/**
+ * Get toxicity probability
+ * @param  {object} scores as returned by `getScores`
+ * @return {number} toxicity probability from 0 - 1.0
+ */
+function getProbability(scores) {
+  return scores.SEVERE_TOXICITY.summaryScore;
+}
+
+/**
+ * isToxics determines if given probabilty or scores meets the toxicity threshold.
+ * @param  {object|number} scores or probability
+ * @return {boolean}
+ */
+function isToxic(scoresOrProbability) {
+  const probability = typeof scoresOrProbability === 'object'
+    ? getProbability(scoresOrProbability)
+    : scoresOrProbability;
+  return probability > TOXICITY_THRESHOLD;
+}
+
 module.exports = {
   getScores,
+  getProbability,
+  isToxic,
 };
diff --git a/plugins/talk-plugin-toxic-comments/server/typeDefs.graphql b/plugins/talk-plugin-toxic-comments/server/typeDefs.graphql
index 7352db00f..b4dfc8345 100644
--- a/plugins/talk-plugin-toxic-comments/server/typeDefs.graphql
+++ b/plugins/talk-plugin-toxic-comments/server/typeDefs.graphql
@@ -1,4 +1,7 @@
 input CreateCommentInput {
+
+  # If true, the mutation will fail when the
+  # body contains toxic language.
   checkToxicity: Boolean
 }