reddit-engagement

name	reddit-engagement
description	Safe Reddit community engagement for AI projects. Use for analyzing communities, building karma, and strategic promotion while avoiding risky communities (anti-AI, hackers, criminals). Research-only mode - no posting without explicit authorization.
metadata	{"version":"1.0.0","author":"do-ops","spec":"agentskills.io","mode":"research-only","warning":"Never post without explicit user authorization"}

Reddit Engagement for AI Projects

Safe, strategic Reddit community engagement for promoting AI agent projects like do-deal-relay.

⚠️ CRITICAL: This skill is RESEARCH-ONLY. Never post to Reddit without explicit user authorization.

Quick Start

import { RedditEngagement } from "./reddit-engagement";

// Initialize research mode (never posts)
const reddit = new RedditEngagement({
  mode: "research", // "research" | "engagement" (requires auth)
  projectName: "do-deal-relay",
  projectType: "ai-agent",
});

// Research safe communities
const communities = await reddit.analyzeCommunities({
  topic: "ai-agents",
  riskThreshold: "low", // Exclude medium/high risk
});

// Get engagement strategy
const strategy = await reddit.buildEngagementStrategy({
  targetCommunities: communities.safe,
  timeline: "90-days",
});

Core Concepts

Concept	Description
90/10 Rule	9 non-promotional contributions for every 1 promotional
Karma Building	100+ karma minimum before any promotion (500+ ideal)
Risk Assessment	Analyze communities for anti-AI sentiment, malicious actors
Value-First	Solve problems first, mention product as ONE solution
Research Mode	Always research before engaging - never post blindly

Community Risk Assessment

Safe Communities (🟢 Low Risk)

AI Agent Specific:

• r/AI_Agents (212K) - Purpose-built for AI agents
• r/AgentsOfAI (68K) - Developer-focused
• r/Build_AI_Agents (2.6K) - Agent development
• r/aiagents (51K) - AI agent discussions

Technical:

• r/artificial (1.1M) - Academic/professional
• r/LLMDevs (112K) - Developer-focused
• r/LocalLLaMA (541K) - Local deployment

Project Showcase:

• r/SideProject (453K) - Founder-friendly
• r/coolgithubprojects (60K) - Technical projects
• r/alphaandbetausers (22K) - Beta testing

Communities to Avoid (🔴 High Risk)

Anti-AI Sentiment:

• Mainstream tech subs (r/technology) - often anti-AI in comments
• Creative communities (r/art, r/writing) - AI art concerns

Security Risks:

• Communities encouraging jailbreaking/exploits
• Low moderation communities with spam
• Any community with criminal activity coordination

Caution Required (🟡 Medium Risk):

• r/ChatGPT (11M) - High volume, strict rules
• r/ArtificialIntelligence (1.6M) - Low moderation, spam
• r/OpenAI (2.5M) - Anti-corporate sentiment

Research Mode

Always start with research:

// Phase 1: Community Analysis
const analysis = await reddit.researchCommunities({
  queries: ["AI agents", "deal discovery", "referral automation"],
  depth: "thorough",
});

// Risk assessment
for (const community of analysis.communities) {
  const risk = await reddit.assessRisk(community, {
    checkAntiAISentiment: true,
    checkMaliciousActors: true,
    checkModerationQuality: true,
    checkSpamLevel: true,
  });

  if (risk.level === "high") {
    console.log(`🚫 Avoid: ${community.name} - ${risk.reasons.join(", ")}`);
  } else if (risk.level === "medium") {
    console.log(`⚠️ Caution: ${community.name} - ${risk.reasons.join(", ")}`);
  } else {
    console.log(`✅ Safe: ${community.name}`);
  }
}

Safe Engagement Strategy

Phase 1: Foundation (Days 1-30)

No promotional activity. Karma building only.

const phase1 = {
  activities: [
    "Create Reddit account (if new)",
    "Join 5-7 target subreddits",
    "Comment 5-10x daily on rising posts",
    "Answer questions, share expertise",
    "Build 100+ karma (target 500+)",
  ],
  rules: [
    "ZERO promotional activity",
    "Never mention your project",
    "Focus on helping others",
    "Understand community culture",
  ],
};

Phase 2: Integration (Days 31-60)

Community integration with minimal mentions.

const phase2 = {
  activities: [
    "Continue 5-10 value-add comments daily",
    "Add 1-2 value-first mentions weekly",
    "Participate in discussions",
    "Build relationships",
  ],
  ratio: "15:1 helpful-to-promotional",
};

Phase 3: Strategic Promotion (Day 90+)

Full promotion with established reputation.

const phase3 = {
  activities: [
    "Post in showcase threads",
    "Share case studies with data",
    "Create technical tutorials",
    "Respond to ALL comments within 2 hours",
  ],
  ratio: "9:1 non-promotional-to-promotional",
  requirements: {
    karma: 500,
    accountAge: "90+ days",
    commentsInTargetSubs: 50,
  },
};

Content Strategy

High-Performing Post Types

1. Technical Tutorials

   • "How I built X using Y"
   • Architecture explanations
   • Problem-solution deep dives

2. Case Studies

   • "How we increased [metric] by [%]"
   • Before/after comparisons
   • Specific metrics and results

3. Personal Journey

   • "I built X to solve Y"
   • Technical challenges overcome
   • Honest lessons learned

4. Open Source Tools

   • Free resources that drive awareness
   • Code examples and demos

Effective Disclosure Templates

Always disclose your affiliation:

"Full disclosure: I built this tool to solve [problem]
after struggling with [pain point]. Happy to answer questions!"

"This is my product... [clear, honest statement]"

"Shameless plug, but... [humble approach]"

Value-First Comment Pattern

When someone asks "How do you discover AI/tech deals?"

> "I've tried manual monitoring, RSS feeds, and now AI agents.
>
> Manual works but doesn't scale. RSS is good for news but misses signals.
>
> AI agents can monitor multiple sources and score opportunities.
> The trade-off is setup complexity and API costs.
>
> We built [do-deal-relay] specifically for this - it uses coordinated
> agents to watch multiple sources. Trade-off: requires Cloudflare setup.
>
> Happy to share more about the agent architecture if anyone's interested."

Risk Mitigation

Anti-AI Detection

async function detectAntiAISentiment(subreddit: string): Promise<Risk> {
  const indicators = [
    "Frequent 'AI is overhyped' discussions",
    "Downvoting of AI-related posts",
    "Job displacement fear discussions",
    "Creative community concerns about AI art",
  ];

  // Analyze recent posts and comments
  const recentContent = await fetchRecentContent(subreddit, 100);
  const sentiment = analyzeSentiment(recentContent, "anti-AI");

  return {
    level:
      sentiment.score > 0.7 ? "high" : sentiment.score > 0.3 ? "medium" : "low",
    indicators: sentiment.matches,
  };
}

Malicious Actor Detection

async function detectMaliciousActivity(subreddit: string): Promise<Risk> {
  const redFlags = [
    "Discussions of jailbreaking/bypassing safety",
    "Coordination of bot spam",
    "Requests for exploits or vulnerabilities",
    "Criminal activity discussions",
  ];

  const analysis = await analyzeCommunityContent(subreddit, redFlags);

  return {
    level: analysis.matches.length > 0 ? "high" : "low",
    redFlags: analysis.matches,
  };
}

Pre-Posting Checklist

Before ANY promotional activity:

• Account is 90+ days old
• 500+ karma achieved
• 50+ meaningful comments in target subreddit
• Read and understood subreddit rules
• Risk assessment completed (anti-AI, malicious actors)
• Demo video/content prepared
• Disclosure statement ready
• UTM tracking configured
• Response plan (will reply to ALL comments)

Posting Schedule

Optimal Timing

• Best Days: Tuesday-Thursday
• Best Time: 6-8 AM EST
• Critical First 2 Hours: Respond to EVERY comment
• Active Engagement: 67% more upvotes with creator participation

Cross-Posting Strategy

const safeCrossPosting = {
  maxCommunities: 3,
  spacing: "2-4 hours between posts",
  customization: "Customize title for each community",
  never: "Copy-paste same content",

  schedule: [
    {
      time: "Day 1 8 AM",
      community: "r/AI_Agents",
      angle: "Agent architecture",
    },
    {
      time: "Day 1 2 PM",
      community: "r/SideProject",
      angle: "Founder journey",
    },
    {
      time: "Day 2 10 AM",
      community: "r/coolgithubprojects",
      angle: "Technical implementation",
    },
  ],
};

Metrics to Track

interface EngagementMetrics {
  // Karma growth
  totalKarma: number;
  commentKarma: number;
  linkKarma: number;

  // Engagement rates
  commentsToUpvoteRatio: number; // Target > 0.05
  clickThroughRate: number; // 2.1% average, 8.3% top 10%
  conversionRate: number; // 1.2% average, 4.7% top 10%

  // Community health
  responseRate: number; // % of comments you respond to
  positiveSentiment: number; // % positive responses

  // Warning signs
  downvoteRatio: number; // Watch for > 20%
  removalRate: number; // Posts removed by mods
}

Emergency Procedures

If Account Gets Shadowbanned

const recoveryPlan = {
  detection: [
    "Posts not appearing in r/new",
    "Comments invisible to others",
    "Check r/ShadowBan",
  ],
  immediate: [
    "Stop all promotional activity",
    "Contact Reddit support",
    "Review recent posts for rule violations",
  ],
  prevention: [
    "Never use multiple accounts",
    "Never manipulate votes",
    "Maintain 9:1 ratio strictly",
  ],
};

If Receiving Negative Feedback

1. Acknowledge immediately
2. Ask clarifying questions
3. Offer solutions or explanations
4. Never argue or become defensive
5. Take detailed feedback to improve

Best Practices

DO:

✓ Research communities thoroughly before engaging ✓ Build karma and reputation first (30+ days minimum) ✓ Provide value before promotion (9:1 ratio minimum) ✓ Always disclose your affiliation ✓ Respond to all comments within 2 hours ✓ Customize content for each community ✓ Focus on problem-solving, not product features ✓ Be humble and transparent about limitations

DON'T:

✗ Post without explicit user authorization ✗ Engage with anti-AI or toxic communities ✗ Post in communities with poor moderation ✗ Ignore the 90/10 rule ✗ Copy-paste content across communities ✗ Get defensive about criticism ✗ Post without understanding community culture ✗ Use clickbait or misleading titles

Integration

With web-search-researcher

// Research communities before engaging
skill web-search-researcher
query: "r/AI_Agents community quality reviews"
output: temp/reddit-community-research.md

// Analyze findings
skill reddit-engagement
research: temp/reddit-community-research.md
riskThreshold: "low"
output: temp/safe-communities.json

With self-learning-feedback

// Review engagement effectiveness
skill self-learning-feedback
analyze: temp/reddit-engagement-results.md
criteria: ["karma_growth", "sentiment", "conversion"]
lesson: "What worked and what didn't"

References

• Full Community Analysis: temp/reddit-ai-communities-analysis.md
• Reddit Site Rules: https://www.reddit.com/rules/
• Self-Promotion Guidelines: https://www.reddit.com/wiki/selfpromotion
• Reddit Marketing Stats: Pew Research 2024, HubSpot 2025

Summary

Key Success Factors:

1. Research first - Never post blindly
2. Build reputation - 30+ days, 500+ karma
3. Value-first - 9:1 non-promotional ratio
4. Safe communities - Avoid anti-AI, malicious actors
5. Active engagement - Respond to all comments
6. Full disclosure - Always state affiliation

Remember: This skill is RESEARCH-ONLY. Never post without explicit authorization.

For complete community analysis and risk assessment, see temp/reddit-ai-communities-analysis.md.

Rationalizations

Concern	Counter-Argument
"This is just a small change, no need for coordination."	Even small changes can have side effects. Structured coordination ensures nothing is missed.
"Writing an ADR/Plan takes too much time."	Investing time in planning saves significantly more time during execution and debugging.
"I can do this all in one go."	Breaking tasks down into atomic steps increases reliability and allows for better verification.

Red Flags

• Starting execution before a plan is approved.
• Making multiple unrelated changes in a single commit.
• Skipping validation gates or quality checks.
• Lack of coordination between parallel tasks leading to conflicts.
• Failing to update documentation after architectural changes.