Reddit Researcher
Search Reddit for posts and comments matching your keywords, extract insights and pain points.
Environment Variables
| Variable | Required | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
REDDIT_SUBREDDITS | No | all | Comma-separated list of subreddits (e.g., technology,programming) |
REDDIT_KEYWORDS | Yes | — | Comma-separated keywords to search for |
REDDIT_SEARCH_ENGINE | No | bing | Search engine: bing, google, or reddit (direct JSON API) |
Scripts
scan.sh — Search Reddit
Searches Reddit for posts matching keywords using DuckDuckGo.
./scripts/scan.sh <keywords>
Output: List of Reddit post titles with URLs.
summarize.sh — Extract Pain Points
Fetches Reddit posts and extracts common themes, complaints, and requests.
./scripts/summarize.sh <post_urls_file>
Output: Markdown summary with pain points, desires, and patterns.
export.sh — Export Findings
Exports all research findings to a markdown file with timestamp.
./scripts/export.sh <summary_file>
Output: reddit-research-YYYY-MM-DD.md in the output directory.
Usage Example
export REDDIT_KEYWORDS="AI coding,ChatGPT,developer tools"
export REDDIT_SUBREDDITS="programming,technology,artificial"
# Search for posts
./scripts/scan.sh "$REDDIT_KEYWORDS" > posts.txt
# Summarize findings
./scripts/summarize.sh posts.txt
# Export results
./scripts/export.sh summary.md
Notes
- Uses Bing as primary search engine, with Reddit JSON API and Google as fallbacks — designed to work even when DuckDuckGo blocks automated queries
- Set
REDDIT_SEARCH_ENGINE=redditfor direct Reddit API access (no search engine needed) - Respects rate limits; adds delays between requests
- Results cached in
~/.openclaw/workspace/skills/reddit-researcher/cache/ - Output format is Reddit markdown with proper link formatting