Reddit Explore

Search Reddit for posts on any topic using the Apify trudax/reddit-scraper-lite actor and produce a structured summary of community sentiment.

Prerequisites

Before running, verify:

1. apify-client is installed: pip3 install apify-client
2. APIFY_TOKEN is set as an environment variable

If either is missing, refer the user to references/apify-setup.md in this skill’s directory for setup instructions.

Workflow

Step 1: Determine the search topic

The search topic comes from $ARGUMENTS. If $ARGUMENTS is empty or missing, ask the user what topic they want to search Reddit for.

Step 2: Run the Reddit search script

Execute the search script with the user’s topic:

python3 ~/.agents/skills/reddit-explore/scripts/reddit_search.py --query "$ARGUMENTS" --max-items 30

The script outputs JSON results to stdout. If it fails:

• “APIFY_TOKEN not found”: Guide the user through setting up their token (see references/apify-setup.md)
• “apify-client not installed”: Run pip3 install apify-client
• Other errors: Show the error message and help troubleshoot

Step 3: Analyze and summarize results

Read the JSON output. Each item contains:

• title – Post title
• communityName – Subreddit name
• upVotes – Score
• numberOfComments – Comment count
• url – Link to the post
• body – Post text content
• createdAt – When it was posted

Step 4: Produce a structured summary

Present findings in this format:

Overview

Brief 2-3 sentence summary of what Reddit thinks about the topic.

Community Sentiment

• Overall tone: Positive / Mixed / Negative
• Key subreddits: List the most active communities discussing this

Key Themes

Positives / Pros:

• Bullet points of praised aspects, with post references

Negatives / Cons:

• Bullet points of criticized aspects, with post references

Neutral / Informational:

• Notable factual observations from the community

Notable Posts

List 3-5 of the most relevant/upvoted posts with:

• Title, subreddit, score
• Brief summary of the post content
• Link to the post

Summary

A concise takeaway of the community consensus.

Tips

• For broad topics, the script searches with the exact query provided. If results are sparse, suggest the user try alternative phrasings.
• Posts are sorted by relevance by default.
• The script deduplicates results by URL automatically.
• Apify free tier provides $5/month in credits; each search typically costs a few cents.