| name | reddit-post |
| description | Post to a single subreddit. STUB — Reddit fundamentally breaks the cross-post / cron / warm patterns the other skills assume; this file documents why and what shape the skill should take when actually used. Read it before attempting anything Reddit-related. Use when the user says "post to reddit", "submit to r/<sub>", or runs /reddit-post. |
Reddit post — STUB (architecturally different from every other platform)
Don't auto-fan or cron this. Reddit's spam systems will shadow-ban accounts that behave like the rest of our platforms. This skill is for hand-crafted, one-at-a-time posts to specific subreddits where you've already built karma.
Why this is different from /x-post, /instagram-post, etc.
Three structural problems that the existing skills' patterns can't survive:
- Self-promotion is heavily policed. Most relevant subs (r/Christianity, r/iOSProgramming, r/SideProject, r/SaaS, r/IndieDev) enforce a 10:1 rule — 10 contributing comments for every self-promo post. A daily-devotional fan-out post would be flagged as spam within days. Cross-posting the same content to multiple subs is one of the most heavily flagged behaviors.
- Each sub has its own culture. A "I built this, here's the technical post-mortem" post that thrives in r/SwiftUI tanks in r/Christianity, and vice versa. The "draft once, fan to all" pattern that works for IG / LinkedIn / X breaks here. Every Reddit post must be hand-crafted to its sub.
- Bot detection is aggressive. Reddit flags new accounts that have no comment history but suddenly start posting links. Karma must be earned manually first; automation can't shortcut this.
What this skill is NOT
- ❌ Not called by
/post-daily-devotional (would get the account banned).
- ❌ Not called by
/feature-post (cross-platform fan-out doesn't apply).
- ❌ Not paired with
/reddit-warm (auto-engagement triggers spam filters faster than auto-posting).
- ❌ Not cron-fired.
What this skill IS
A single-shot post helper. The user picks a subreddit they've already participated in, drafts a post in the sub's specific voice, and the skill submits it.
Typical usage:
/reddit-post SideProject "DocVault: a self-hosted finance + document workspace I built solo" \
"Hey r/SideProject. I've been building DocVault for the last few months — it's a Mac/Linux/web tool that ingests …"
The body can be Markdown (Reddit's markdown subset) or a URL (link post).
Pre-flight: account is ready
Before invoking this skill the FIRST time:
- Reddit account exists and is logged in via
/reddit-login (state at ~/.config/agent-browser/reddit-default.json).
- The account has at least 2-3 weeks of organic comment activity in the target sub. Not optional. Reddit's spam classifier weighs account age + comment history heavily.
- The subreddit's posting rules have been read (every sub has a wiki / sidebar with format requirements: flair, title format, no self-promo days, etc.). Many subs require flair on every post and reject unflaired ones immediately.
If any of those isn't true, abort and tell the user. Do not paper over with retries.
Right shape when implemented
Step 1: Sanity checks
SUB="$1"
TITLE="$2"
BODY="$3"
[ -n "$SUB" ] && [ -n "$TITLE" ] && [ -n "$BODY" ] || { echo "missing args"; exit 1; }
[ ${#TITLE} -le 300 ] || { echo "title too long (Reddit cap: 300 chars)"; exit 1; }
Step 2: Switch to Reddit tab
bash scripts/switch_to_platform_tab.sh "reddit.com" "https://www.reddit.com/"
If agent-browser get url returns a login page, abort with "run /reddit-login first".
Step 3: Navigate to the submit page
agent-browser open "https://www.reddit.com/r/${SUB}/submit"
agent-browser wait --load networkidle
agent-browser wait $(bash scripts/jitter.sh 1500 3000)
If Reddit redirects to a "you can't post here" page (sub is private / restricted / you're banned), abort cleanly with the error.
Step 4: Pick post type — link vs text
Detect from $BODY: if it's a URL (^https?://), use the Link tab; otherwise Post (text). Reddit's submit page has tabs Post / Images & Video / Link / Poll.
Step 5: Fill title + body, attach flair if required
agent-browser type @<TITLE_REF> "$TITLE"
agent-browser wait $(bash scripts/jitter.sh 400 1000)
agent-browser type @<BODY_OR_URL_REF> "$BODY"
agent-browser wait $(bash scripts/jitter.sh 600 1500)
If the sub requires flair (most do), there's an "Add flair" button that opens a picker. The skill should prompt the user for the flair value if it's not passable as a 4th arg, OR fail with a clear message and a list of available flairs (read from the picker).
Step 6: Post
agent-browser wait $(bash scripts/jitter.sh 1500 3500)
agent-browser click "@<POST_BUTTON_REF>"
agent-browser wait 5000
Step 7: Verify + run log
After submission, capture the new post URL (Reddit redirects to /r/<sub>/comments/<id>/<slug>/). Save to ~/.social-skills/logs/post/reddit-default-<ts>.json. Manually check the post in the next few hours — Reddit can shadow-remove it (visible only to you) without notification.
Failure modes specific to Reddit
- AutoModerator removal: subs run AutoMod scripts that remove posts not matching format. If your post disappears within a minute, check the sub's modlog or the sticky "post requirements" thread.
- Shadowban: account-level Reddit ban that's invisible to the affected user. Test: log out, view your profile in incognito. If posts don't appear, you're shadowbanned — this is hard to recover from.
- Karma threshold: many subs require minimum comment karma (e.g. 10 in their sub or 100 globally). Posts from accounts under threshold are auto-removed.
- Cooldowns: Reddit rate-limits posts (especially link posts) per-sub. Don't post to the same sub more than 1-2× per week.
- Rule against posting your own content: r/Christianity for instance disallows linking to your own app/blog. Read every sub's rules.
Status
🚫 Stub only — not yet implemented. When you're ready to use Reddit (account warmed, target subs identified, sub rules read), come back and fill in the @ref discovery in steps 3-6. Probably ~1 hour to wire up; the content production per post is the real cost.
