Reddit Cultivate

Reddit Cultivation Skill (AppleScript Chrome Control)

Build and maintain Reddit presence by controlling your real Chrome browser via AppleScript. No Playwright, no Selenium, no API tokens.

How It Works

Claude Code → osascript → Chrome (real browser, logged in) → Reddit

• AppleScript executes JavaScript in Chrome's active tab
• Chrome is already logged into Reddit → cookies sent automatically
• Same-origin fetch → no CORS, no detection, no IP blocks
• Reddit cannot distinguish this from human browsing

Prerequisites

• macOS only (AppleScript is a macOS technology)
• Chrome: View → Developer → Allow JavaScript from Apple Events ✓ (restart Chrome after enabling)
• User logged into Reddit in Chrome

Method Detection (Run First)

Chrome multi-profile can cause AppleScript to not see windows. Always detect first:

WINDOWS=$(osascript -e 'tell application "Google Chrome" to return count of windows' 2>/dev/null)
if [ "$WINDOWS" = "0" ] || [ -z "$WINDOWS" ]; then
    echo "Use Method 2 (System Events + Console)"
else
    echo "Use Method 1 (execute javascript)"
fi

Method 1: AppleScript Execute JavaScript (Preferred)

Works when count of windows > 0.

Navigate

osascript -e 'tell application "Google Chrome" to tell active tab of first window to set URL to "https://www.reddit.com/r/SideProject/rising/"'

Execute JS & Read Result (document.title trick)

# Run JS that writes result to document.title
osascript -e 'tell application "Google Chrome" to tell active tab of first window to execute javascript "fetch(\"/api/me.json\",{credentials:\"include\"}).then(r=>r.json()).then(d=>{document.title=\"R:\"+JSON.stringify({name:d.data.name,karma:d.data.total_karma})})"'

# Wait, then read title
sleep 2
osascript -e 'tell application "Google Chrome" to return title of active tab of first window'

JXA for Complex JS (avoids escaping hell)

osascript -l JavaScript -e '
var chrome = Application("Google Chrome");
var tab = chrome.windows[0].activeTab;
tab.execute({javascript: "(" + function() {
    // Complex JS here — no escaping needed
    fetch("/r/SideProject/rising.json?limit=10", {credentials: "include"})
        .then(r => r.json())
        .then(d => {
            var posts = d.data.children.map(p => ({
                title: p.data.title.substring(0, 60),
                score: p.data.score,
                comments: p.data.num_comments,
                id: p.data.name,
                url: "https://reddit.com" + p.data.permalink
            }));
            document.title = "POSTS:" + JSON.stringify(posts);
        });
} + ")();"});
'

Method 2: System Events + Console (Multi-Profile Fallback)

When AppleScript can't see Chrome windows (multi-profile bug), use keyboard automation.

Step 1: Copy JS to Clipboard

python3 -c "
import subprocess
js = '''(async()=>{
    let resp = await fetch('/api/me.json', {credentials: 'include'});
    let data = await resp.json();
    document.title = 'R:' + JSON.stringify({name: data.data.name, karma: data.data.total_karma});
})()'''
subprocess.run(['pbcopy'], input=js.encode(), check=True)
"

Step 2: Execute via Chrome Console Keyboard Shortcuts

osascript -e '
tell application "System Events"
    tell process "Google Chrome"
        set frontmost to true
        delay 0.3
        -- Cmd+Option+J = open/close Console
        key code 38 using {command down, option down}
        delay 1
        -- Select all + Paste + Enter
        keystroke "a" using {command down}
        delay 0.2
        keystroke "v" using {command down}
        delay 0.5
        key code 36
        delay 0.3
        -- Close Console
        key code 38 using {command down, option down}
    end tell
end tell'

Step 3: Read Title via System Events

sleep 3
osascript -e '
tell application "System Events"
    tell process "Google Chrome"
        return name of window 1
    end tell
end tell'

Workflow

Step 1: Check Account Status

Get username, karma, verify login using /api/me.json.

Step 2: Scan Rising Posts

For each target subreddit, fetch rising posts:

/r/{subreddit}/rising.json?limit=10

Look for:

• Rising posts with < 15 comments (early = more visibility)
• Score > 2 (some traction)
• Questions you can answer or discussions with genuine insight

Step 3: Draft Comments

Rules:

• 1-3 sentences preferred. Sometimes 4 max. Short > long.
• Add genuine value (insights, experience, helpful info)
• No self-promotion, no links, no emojis
• Match the subreddit's culture
• Each comment must be unique

Anti-AI Detection Rules (CRITICAL):

Reddit users are very good at spotting AI comments. Follow these rules or get called out.

BANNED words (instant AI detection): delve, tapestry, nuance/nuanced, realm, robust, pivotal, leverage, comprehensive, enhance, facilitate, catalyst, intricate, furthermore, moreover, consequently, nonetheless, endeavour, utilize/utilization, crucial, vital, significant, landscape, underscore, streamline

BANNED phrases:

• "It's important to note that..."
• "Great question!"
• "In today's [anything]..."
• "plays a crucial role"
• "I hope this helps!"
• Starting with a compliment before answering

BANNED patterns:

• ❌ Uniform sentence length (mix short and long)
• ❌ Bullet points or numbered lists in comments
• ❌ Perfect grammar with zero contractions
• ❌ Generic "I had a similar experience" without details
• ❌ Compliment → answer structure

REQUIRED human patterns:

• ✅ Use contractions: "I've", "don't", "it's", "wouldn't"
• ✅ Use casual Reddit language: "tbh", "imo", "fwiw", "ngl"
• ✅ Include specific details: tool names, version numbers, time, what went wrong
• ✅ Hedge opinions: "not sure if this helps but", "take this with a grain of salt"
• ✅ Mix sentence lengths: short sentence. Then a longer one. Then short again.
• ✅ Mild frustration when appropriate: "honestly this took me way too long to figure out"
• ✅ Be opinionated — take a stance. Don't "both sides" everything.
• ✅ Sometimes just write 1 sentence.
• ✅ Occasional informal grammar: starting with "And" or "But", sentence fragments

THE BALANCE (CRITICAL):

Comments should sound like an expert talking to a friend at a bar — deep technical substance, casual delivery. Not corporate AI assistant, not lazy troll.

Think: expert knowledge, casual delivery.

• Specific numbers, tool names, architecture decisions, tradeoffs
• Contractions, hedging, sentence fragments, mild opinions
• People read it and think "this person clearly knows their stuff" — not "this is ChatGPT"

Example of GOOD comment:

ran into the same thing when we were building our pipeline. switching from euclidean
to cosine similarity fixed it -- the normalized space handles magnitude differences
way better when you're working with 768-dim embeddings.

one gotcha: make sure you L2-normalize before indexing, not at query time. saves you
~40ms per lookup at scale.

Self-Promotion Rules:

• ❌ NEVER directly namedrop your product in comments
• ✅ Use indirect references: "when building our brand consistency system", "in our production AI system"
• Follow 9:1 rule: 9 helpful comments for every 1 that hints at your work

Formatting (CRITICAL):

• ❌ NO blockquote format (> text) for multi-paragraph comments
  • Blockquotes render as one continuous block without paragraph breaks
• ✅ Use plain paragraphs with double newlines (\n\n) between them
  • Reddit renders these as separate <p> tags with visual spacing

Step 4: Post All Comments

Get modhash, then post each comment with 4s delay between posts.

// Get modhash first
let me = await fetch("/api/me.json", {credentials: "include"}).then(r=>r.json());
let uh = me.data.modhash;

// Post comment
let body = new URLSearchParams({
    thing_id: "t3_xxxxx",  // post fullname
    text: "Your comment here",
    uh: uh,
    api_type: "json"
});
let resp = await fetch("/api/comment", {
    method: "POST",
    credentials: "include",
    headers: {"Content-Type": "application/x-www-form-urlencoded"},
    body: body.toString()
});
let result = await resp.json();
document.title = "POSTED:" + JSON.stringify(result);

Step 5: Session Summary with Links

ALWAYS end with a summary table containing direct links to every comment posted.

The comment link format is:

https://www.reddit.com/r/{subreddit}/comments/{post_id}/comment/{comment_id}/

Example summary table:

Recommended Target Subreddits

Retry & Repeat Rules

• ❌ Never post identical text to the same post
• ❌ Never retry more than once
• ✅ Multiple comments in the same subreddit = fine, as long as each has a different angle

Rate Limiting

Karma Milestones

Algorithm Insights

• First 30 minutes determine if post reaches Hot page
• Early upvotes weighted 10x more than later ones
• 2 early comments > 20 passive upvotes
• Best posting time: Sunday 6-8 AM ET
• Upvote ratio matters: 100↑/10↓ (90%) beats 150↑/50↓ (75%)

Troubleshooting

Why AppleScript (Not Playwright/Selenium)