GDPR Cookie Consent for Developers: What You Actually Need to Build

What You Actually Need to Build Most developers know they need a cookie banner. Fewer know what it actually has to do. Showing a banner isn't enough. GDPR compliance means blocking non-essential scripts before they fire, storing a consent record for each visitor, and giving users a clear path to change their mind at any time. This guide covers exactly what you need to build, the mistakes that trigger enforcement, and how to ship it without writing everything from scratch. What Does GDPR Actually Require for Cookie Consent? Two EU laws work together here. The ePrivacy Directive (Article 5(3)) says you need consent before storing or accessing information on a user's device. GDPR (Article 6(1)(a)) defines what that consent must look like: freely given, specific, informed, and unambiguous. Non-essential scripts must not fire until a user actively says yes. In practice, that means four things: blocking non-essential scripts by default, offering granular consent categories, giving equal visu