reddit

name	reddit
description	Browser + JSON-API automation for Reddit. Use when navigating Reddit, searching subreddits/threads, reading rules, scanning new/hot, discovering BuildOS engagement opportunities, or running the Reddit warmup flow. Prefers Reddit's public JSON API for fast read-only discovery and Chrome for review and interaction.

Reddit

Load this when interacting with Reddit. Most discovery work uses Reddit's public JSON API (fast, read-only, no auth required). Use Chrome for review, rule reading, and any interaction (voting, commenting, posting).

Detailed flows and selectors live in references/workflows.md — load that when you need exact click patterns or the API query patterns.

Two modes, and when to use each

Mode	When	Why
JSON API (curl)	Bulk discovery: subscribers, rules, top/hot/new, search	~100x faster than browser scraping. Handles rate limits cleanly.
Chrome browser	Reading individual threads, upvoting, commenting, profile review	Reddit's rendering includes context the API flattens; interaction requires auth.

Default: discover with JSON API, review/interact with Chrome.

JSON API quick reference

Base pattern: append .json to any Reddit URL. Use a real User-Agent header.

UA="Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10_15_7) AppleWebKit/537.36 Chrome/124.0.0.0 Safari/537.36"

# Sub metadata + submit rules
curl -sS -A "$UA" "https://www.reddit.com/r/{sub}/about.json"

# Full rules
curl -sS -A "$UA" "https://www.reddit.com/r/{sub}/about/rules.json"

# Top posts (week / month)
curl -sS -A "$UA" "https://www.reddit.com/r/{sub}/top.json?t=week&limit=25"
curl -sS -A "$UA" "https://www.reddit.com/r/{sub}/top.json?t=month&limit=25"

# Hot / new
curl -sS -A "$UA" "https://www.reddit.com/r/{sub}/hot.json?limit=25"
curl -sS -A "$UA" "https://www.reddit.com/r/{sub}/new.json?limit=100"

# Search within a sub (pattern for thread-type matching)
curl -sS -A "$UA" "https://www.reddit.com/r/{sub}/search.json?q=%22what+tool%22&restrict_sr=1&t=month&sort=relevance&limit=10"

Rate limits: ~10 req/min for anonymous. Pace sleep 7 between requests. Script in the repo: docs/marketing/social-media/reddit/tools/fetch-sub.sh (add if missing).

429 response: Reddit returns an HTML "Too Many Requests" page instead of JSON (size ~1294 bytes). Always check HTTP status; retry with exponential backoff.

Blocked endpoints:

• Claude Code's built-in WebFetch tool cannot fetch reddit.com — always use curl via Bash.

URL map (browser)

Purpose	URL
Sub front	https://www.reddit.com/r/{sub}/
Sub rules	https://www.reddit.com/r/{sub}/about/rules/
Sub about (sidebar)	https://www.reddit.com/r/{sub}/about/
Sub new	https://www.reddit.com/r/{sub}/new/
Sub hot	https://www.reddit.com/r/{sub}/hot/
Sub top (week)	https://www.reddit.com/r/{sub}/top/?t=week
Sub search	https://www.reddit.com/r/{sub}/search/?q={q}&restrict_sr=1&t=month
Old Reddit (cleaner rules)	https://old.reddit.com/r/{sub}/about/rules/
Single thread	https://www.reddit.com/r/{sub}/comments/{id}/
Inbox / notifications	https://www.reddit.com/message/inbox/
User profile	https://www.reddit.com/user/{username}/
Submit a post	https://www.reddit.com/r/{sub}/submit
Site-wide search	https://www.reddit.com/search/?q={q}
Google restriction trick	site:reddit.com/r/{sub} "{q}" — for when Reddit search is unhelpful

Prerequisites for interaction

• User is logged into Reddit in Chrome with the burner account (per T10 karma task).
• Account has cleared any AutoMod karma/age gates required by the target sub (see each sub's profile in docs/marketing/social-media/reddit/subreddit-profiles/).

Keyboard shortcuts (new Reddit)

j/k next/previous post · a/z upvote/downvote · s save · . expand comment tree. (Only relevant when already on the page; don't use for bulk discovery.)

Quick reference (one-liners)

Read rules     → /r/{sub}/about/rules/  (or JSON API about/rules.json)
Find threads   → JSON API: hot.json / new.json / search.json?q=...&restrict_sr=1&t=month
Open thread    → /r/{sub}/comments/{id}/
Upvote         → click ▲ (or `a` key if focused)
Comment        → click "Add a comment" → write → click Comment
Post (text)    → /r/{sub}/submit → pick Text → title + body → Post
Flair a post   → during submission or via the flair icon next to the post title

When to read references/workflows.md

Open that file when:

• You need exact selectors or submit-form layout details.
• You're crafting or posting a comment or reply (Stage 2 of the warmup flow).
• You need the per-sub flair rules (many subs require flair — unflaired posts get removed).
• Rate limits are mysteriously blocking you and you want the diagnosis table.
• Something isn't working as the quick-reference suggests.

Critical rules (cross-sub, non-negotiable for BuildOS)

1. Never mention BuildOS outside a sub's sanctioned self-promo surface. Each sub's profile lists exactly where that is (daily/weekly/fortnightly threads, or nowhere).
2. Never run user research or beta recruitment. Almost every creator/ADHD/productivity sub bans this explicitly with permaban consequences.
3. Never lead with "AI" as the product frame in the 8 AI-hard-ban subs (see reddit-subreddit-tracker.md for the list).
4. Always disclose founder relationship when mentioning BuildOS in any sanctioned surface. Non-disclosure = ban in r/podcasting and culturally everywhere else.
5. 90/10 rule: 90% value contribution, 10% product mention. Violating this gets 80%+ of SaaS companies banned within a month on Reddit.
6. Respect cultural canaries. Each sub has a pinned or high-upvote mod/community post that draws the anti-promo line. They're catalogued in the tracker's "Cultural canaries" section.

Integrations in this repo

This skill is loaded by .claude/commands/reddit-warmup.md before any Reddit interaction. The command drives the daily engagement flow and references the tracker + per-sub profiles in docs/marketing/social-media/reddit/.