# Reddit Access

> Access Reddit content via old.reddit.com HTML parsing without authentication. Use when you need to fetch Reddit posts, search subreddits, get post details with comments, or retrieve user posts. Triggers include "get Reddit posts", "search Reddit", "fetch from r/", "Reddit comments", "user posts on Reddit", when the user provides a Reddit URL starting with "https://www.reddit.com/r/" or "https://old.reddit.com/r/", or any task involving reading public Reddit content.

- Skill: `rewse/reddit-access` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 2 files)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add rewse/reddit-access`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/rewse/reddit-access/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Web & Frontend
- Author: rewse (https://skillmd.com/u/rewse)
- Updated: 2026-09-22
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/rewse/reddit-access

---


# reddit-access

Access Reddit content by parsing `old.reddit.com` HTML pages.

## Prerequisites

- Python 3
- [uv](https://docs.astral.sh/uv/) (dependencies are managed inline via script metadata)

## Commands

### Get subreddit posts

```bash
uv run ~/.agents/skills/reddit-access/scripts/reddit.py posts <subreddit> [limit] [sort]
```

- `subreddit`: Subreddit name (without r/)
- `limit`: Number of posts (default: 25, max: 100)
- `sort`: Sort order - `hot`, `new`, `top`, `rising` (default: hot)

**Example:**
```bash
uv run ~/.agents/skills/reddit-access/scripts/reddit.py posts python 10 hot
```

**Output:**
```json
[
  {
    "id": "abc123",
    "title": "Post title",
    "author": "username",
    "score": 42,
    "num_comments": 15,
    "url": "https://old.reddit.com/r/python/comments/abc123/...",
    "created_utc": 1234567890
  }
]
```

### Get post details with comments

**With post ID:**
```bash
uv run ~/.agents/skills/reddit-access/scripts/reddit.py details <post_id> [subreddit]
```

**With URL:**
```bash
uv run ~/.agents/skills/reddit-access/scripts/reddit.py details <url>
```

- `post_id`: Reddit post ID
- `subreddit`: Optional subreddit name for faster lookup (when using post ID)
- `url`: Full Reddit URL (new or old Reddit format)

**Example with post ID:**
```bash
uv run ~/.agents/skills/reddit-access/scripts/reddit.py details abc123 python
```

**Example with new Reddit URL:**
```bash
uv run ~/.agents/skills/reddit-access/scripts/reddit.py details "https://www.reddit.com/r/python/comments/abc123/post_title/"
```

**Output:**
```json
{
  "post": {
    "title": "Post title",
    "selftext": "Post content...",
    "author": "username",
    "score": 42
  },
  "comments": [
    {
      "author": "commenter",
      "body": "Comment text",
      "score": 10
    }
  ]
}
```

### Search within subreddit

```bash
uv run ~/.agents/skills/reddit-access/scripts/reddit.py search <subreddit> <query> [limit]
```

- `subreddit`: Subreddit to search in
- `query`: Search query
- `limit`: Number of results (default: 25)

**Example:**
```bash
uv run ~/.agents/skills/reddit-access/scripts/reddit.py search python "async await" 10
```

### Get user posts

```bash
uv run ~/.agents/skills/reddit-access/scripts/reddit.py user <username> [limit]
```

- `username`: Reddit username (without u/)
- `limit`: Number of posts (default: 25)

**Example:**
```bash
uv run ~/.agents/skills/reddit-access/scripts/reddit.py user rewselab 10
```

## Common Workflows

### Read a Reddit post from URL

```bash
# Simply pass the Reddit URL (new or old Reddit)
uv run ~/.agents/skills/reddit-access/scripts/reddit.py details "https://www.reddit.com/r/python/comments/abc123/post_title/"
```

### Read discussion

```bash
# Get post and read comments
uv run ~/.agents/skills/reddit-access/scripts/reddit.py details abc123 python
```

### Monitor trending topics

```bash
# Get hot posts from multiple subreddits
uv run ~/.agents/skills/reddit-access/scripts/reddit.py posts programming 15 hot
uv run ~/.agents/skills/reddit-access/scripts/reddit.py posts python 15 hot
uv run ~/.agents/skills/reddit-access/scripts/reddit.py posts MachineLearning 15 hot
```

### Research a topic

```bash
# Search across relevant subreddits
uv run ~/.agents/skills/reddit-access/scripts/reddit.py search python "type hints" 20
uv run ~/.agents/skills/reddit-access/scripts/reddit.py search learnpython "type hints" 20
```

### Track user activity

```bash
# Get recent posts from a user
uv run ~/.agents/skills/reddit-access/scripts/reddit.py user username 25
```

## Notes

- Parses `old.reddit.com` HTML pages (no API key or auth required)
- Rate limiting: Be respectful, avoid rapid requests
- User-Agent is set to a browser string to avoid blocks
- All output is JSON format
- Dependencies managed inline via uv script metadata (beautifulsoup4)
- Works with public content only (no private subreddits or user data)

## Error Handling

Errors are returned as JSON to stderr:
```json
{
  "error": "Error message"
}
```

Common errors:
- Subreddit not found (404)
- Post not found (404)
- Rate limited (429) - wait and retry
- Network timeout - retry with exponential backoff