reddit-search

Reddit Search

Use this skill for bounded public Reddit research.

Experience Rules

1. Speak in the user's business language, not collection terminology.
2. Ask at most one question, and only when it changes the route or credit bound.
3. Start with the smallest useful sample and expand only after review.
4. Keep implementation, delivery, and network controls out of the conversation.
5. Fail fast on hard command, contract, auth, or private-surface failures. When a supported run completes with empty, sparse, noisy, or off-topic evidence, apply the quality rules below before concluding that the evidence is exhausted.

Route Index

Read only the matching route reference before execution. Read result-shape details only when transforming completed records; they are not a preflight.

User asks for	Route references	Default first pass
Keyword posts, communities, or a Reddit search URL	references/search.md	20 posts or 10 communities
Keyword comment evidence	references/search.md; read references/post-comments.md only after selecting threads	20 discovery posts, then up to 3 relevant threads
One supplied post URL's comments	references/post-comments.md	1 post and up to 50 comments
A guided pain-point or product-opinion deep-dive	references/search.md; read references/post-comments.md only after selecting threads	20 discovery posts, then 3 suggested threads
A subreddit search, feed, metadata, or deep collection	references/community.md	20 feed posts; deep scope is bounded separately
An explicitly named public Reddit profile and its activity	references/profile.md	20 posts and 20 comments
Result transformation needs fields beyond the summary below	references/result-shapes.md	Preserve the raw result file

First Question

Do not ask when the user supplied a keyword, URL, subreddit, or profile and a safe default applies. Otherwise ask only the highest-information question:

Missing decision	Ask
No research target	What Reddit topic, URL, subreddit, or public profile should I research?
A deep subreddit request has no bound	What date range or maximum post count should bound the deep collection?
Multiple expensive directions compete	Which one should I run first: discovery, a thread deep-dive, a subreddit, or a public profile?

Never ask for credentials, schema fields, implementation choice, delivery settings, or retry strategy.

Run Protocol

1. Select one route and apply its references.
2. Run the narrowest semantic route that answers the first pass.
3. Keep the JSON result under .postplus/ as durable evidence.
4. Inspect record types and relevance. If the evidence is not useful, apply the quality rules below without repeating an identical request or exceeding the approved PostPlus credit bound.
5. Keep the complete raw records in the result file; normalize only the user-facing evidence; read references/result-shapes.md only if more field interpretation is needed.
6. Report scope, counts by result type, representative evidence, limits, and one useful next action. Do not imply a bounded pass is exhaustive.

Multiple keywords are separate, attributable requests. They may run in parallel, but their result sets remain separate until presentation.

Public Command Boundary

• Readiness: postplus doctor --skill reddit-search.
• Inspect route flags only when needed with postplus research run <route> --help.
• Select the route:
  • reddit-search for keyword discovery, public search URLs, community search, and ordinary subreddit feeds;
  • reddit-post-comments for one or more selected post threads;
  • reddit-subreddit-posts for bounded deep subreddit collection;
  • reddit-user-activity for an explicitly named public profile.
• Run postplus research run <route> --<query/url/subreddit/handle flags> --limit <n> --wait --output <result.json>.
• Use only the semantic flags shown by the selected route.
• If a run returns a saved async checkpoint, resume it with postplus research run --resume-from <result.json> rather than starting a duplicate run.
• Requested tasks use existing PostPlus credits after the current price and balance are checked. Estimate-only requests do not execute. Stop on insufficient credits; do not recharge, buy a subscription, or repeat an uncertain paid operation.

Scope Boundary

Supported: public keyword discovery, public search URLs, public post threads, public subreddit content and metadata, and explicitly requested public profile activity.

Excluded: login or account access, posting or messaging, private/deleted content recovery, real-identity inference, private-data enrichment, automated sentiment analysis, media download, external delivery, and network tuning.

Command Selection

Need	Route	Flags
Keyword/search URL/feed discovery	reddit-search	repeat --query or --url, plus sort/time-range/limit
Selected thread comments	reddit-post-comments	repeat --url, plus limit
Deep subreddit pass	reddit-subreddit-posts	repeat --subreddit, optional --posted-after, plus limit
Named public profile	reddit-user-activity	repeat --handle, post-limit, comment-limit

Only if platform scope or evidence interpretation remains unclear, consult platform contract; it is not a preflight.

Evidence Quality

1. Classify records before drawing conclusions: discovery posts identify threads; comment claims require actual comments.
2. For keyword comment research, discover posts first, then inspect up to three relevant threads; change a poor discovery query before expanding.
3. Allow at most two changed follow-up passes after successful but insufficient results, within approved scope and budget; do not repeat an identical request or hide a failed/pending operation.
4. Stop when sufficient, at the bound, or when another pass would not help. Report useful evidence and uncertainty; preserve raw results and source links.

Use dataType + id for deduplication; preserve comment parent IDs and depth. Missing values are unknown, not zero. Full machine fields belong to postplus research schema --route <route> --json; consult it only when required for processing, not before every request.

postplus research run reddit-search \
  --query "example topic" \
  --wait \
  --output ./result.json

Follow the CLI's structured result and reported next action; do not infer recovery from free-text messages. Reuse explicit user approval that already covers the requested scope and maximum cost; otherwise obtain approval before confirming a quote. Never infer spending authorization from a task alone. Resume the same operation through its returned checkpoint or action; never resubmit uncertain work, repeat exhausted recovery, or switch providers to bypass failure.