karanb192/reddit-mcp-buddy

Reddit Browser for Claude Desktop and AI Assistants

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that enables Claude Desktop and other AI assistants to browse Reddit, search posts, and analyze user activity. Clean, fast, and actually works - browse subreddits with no API keys; add free Reddit credentials for search, comments, user analysis, and full metrics.

npm version npm downloads GitHub stars License: MIT

🎬 See It In Action

Claude checking Reddit's reaction to the Dune Part Three trailer and whether the AirPods Max 2 are worth $549

Claude analyzing real-time sentiment about H-1B visa changes across r/cscareerquestions and r/india

Table of Contents

• What makes Reddit MCP Buddy different?
• Quick Start
• What can it do?
• Available Tools
• Authentication
• Installation Options
  • Global Install
  • From Source
  • Using Docker
  • Claude Desktop Extension
• Comparison with Other Tools
• Troubleshooting
• Development
• Support
• Related Resources

What makes Reddit MCP Buddy different?

• 🚀 Zero setup - Browse subreddits instantly, no Reddit API registration needed (search, comments, user analysis, and engagement metrics need free credentials)
• ⚡ Up to 10x more requests - Three-tier authentication system (10/60/100 requests per minute)
• 🎯 Clean data - No fake "sentiment analysis" or made-up metrics
• 🧠 LLM-optimized - Built specifically for AI assistants like Claude
• 📦 TypeScript - Fully typed, reliable, and maintainable
• ✅ Proven rate limits - Thoroughly tested authentication tiers with verification tools

Quick Start (30 seconds)

For Claude Desktop - Desktop Extension (Easiest!)

1. Download: reddit-mcp-buddy.mcpb
2. Install: Open the downloaded file
3. Done! Reddit tools are now available in Claude

For Claude Desktop - NPM Method (Alternative)

Add this to your claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "reddit": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "reddit-mcp-buddy"]
    }
  }
}

For Claude Code

Run this command to add the MCP server (user scope):

claude mcp add --transport stdio reddit-mcp-buddy -s user -- npx -y reddit-mcp-buddy

For Other MCP Clients

Use the NPM method: npx -y reddit-mcp-buddy

What can it do?

Ask your AI assistant to:

• 📊 "What's trending on Reddit?" - Browse hot posts from r/all
• 🔍 "Search for discussions about AI" - Search across all subreddits
• 💬 "Get comments from this Reddit post" - Fetch post with full comment threads
• 👤 "Analyze user spez" - Get user history, karma, and activity
• 📚 "Explain Reddit karma" - Understand Reddit terminology

Available Tools

browse_subreddit

Browse posts from any subreddit with sorting options.

- Subreddit:
  - "all" - entire Reddit frontpage
  - "popular" - trending across Reddit
  - Any specific subreddit (e.g., "technology", "programming", "science")
- Sort by: hot, new, top, rising, controversial
- Time range: hour, day, week, month, year, all (for top/controversial sort)
- Include subreddit info: Optional flag for subreddit metadata (requires credentials)

No credentials? Results are served from Reddit's public RSS feed (data_source: "rss"): score, num_comments, upvote_ratio, and nsfw come back null, and the include_nsfw filter can't be applied. Add credentials (Authentication) for full data via the API.

search_reddit

Search across Reddit or specific subreddits.

- Query: Your search terms
- Filter by: subreddit, author, time, flair
- Sort by: relevance, hot, top, new, comments

get_post_details

Get a post with all its comments.

- Input:
  - Reddit URL (supports multiple formats), OR
  - Post ID alone (will auto-detect subreddit, 2 API calls), OR
  - Post ID + subreddit (most efficient, 1 API call)
- Supported URL formats:
  - reddit.com, www.reddit.com
  - old.reddit.com, new.reddit.com
  - np.reddit.com (No Participation links)
  - m.reddit.com (mobile links)
  - redd.it short URLs
  - URLs with query params (?utm_source=...) or fragments (#comment)
- Options: comment sorting, depth, link extraction

user_analysis

Analyze a Reddit user's profile.

- Username: Any Reddit user
- Returns: karma, posts, comments, active subreddits

reddit_explain

Get explanations of Reddit terms.

- Terms: karma, cake day, AMA, ELI5, etc.

Authentication (Optional)

Want more requests? Add Reddit credentials to your Claude Desktop config:

Setup Steps

1. Go to https://www.reddit.com/prefs/apps
2. Click "Create App" or "Create Another App"
3. Fill out the form:
   • Name: Any name (e.g., "reddit-mcp-buddy")
   • App type: Select "script" (CRITICAL for 100 rpm!)
   • Description: Optional
   • About URL: Leave blank
   • Redirect URI: http://localhost:8080 (required but unused)
4. Click "Create app"
5. Find your credentials:
   • Client ID: The string under "personal use script"
   • Client Secret: The secret string
6. Update your Claude Desktop config:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "reddit": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "reddit-mcp-buddy"],
      "env": {
        "REDDIT_CLIENT_ID": "your_client_id",
        "REDDIT_CLIENT_SECRET": "your_client_secret",
        "REDDIT_USERNAME": "your_username",
        "REDDIT_PASSWORD": "your_password"
      }
    }
  }
}

Three-Tier Authentication System

Reddit MCP Buddy supports three authentication levels, each with different rate limits:

Mode	Rate Limit	Required Credentials	Best For
Anonymous	10 req/min*	None	Testing, light usage
App-Only	60 req/min	Client ID + Secret	Regular browsing
Authenticated	100 req/min	All 4 credentials	Heavy usage, automation

*Server-side cap. Anonymous requests are served from Reddit's logged-out RSS feed, which applies its own stricter per-IP throttle (often one uncached request per 25-60 seconds). The 15-minute cache and automatic retries absorb much of this, but sustained anonymous browsing is effectively slower than 10 req/min.

How It Works:

• Anonymous Mode: Default mode, no setup required. Only browse_subreddit (plus the offline reddit_explain) works: Reddit blocks the logged-out JSON API, so browse results come from Reddit's public RSS feed (data_source: "rss") with engagement metrics and NSFW flags as null. The remaining tools require credentials.
• App-Only Mode: Uses OAuth2 client credentials grant (works with both script and web apps)
• Authenticated Mode: Uses OAuth2 password grant (requires script app type)

Important Notes:

• Script apps support BOTH app-only (60 rpm) and authenticated (100 rpm) modes
• Web apps only support app-only mode (60 rpm maximum)
• For 100 requests/minute, you MUST use a script app with username + password

Privacy & Data Handling

Reddit MCP Buddy is designed with privacy and transparency in mind. Here's how your data is handled:

Data Collection

• Reddit API Data: The server fetches public Reddit content (posts, comments, user profiles) through Reddit's official API
• No Tracking: We don't collect, store, or transmit any analytics, telemetry, or usage data
• No Third Parties: All data flows directly between your machine, Reddit's API, and your AI assistant

Local Storage

• Authentication Credentials (optional):
  • Stored locally in ~/.reddit-mcp-buddy/auth.json when using --auth CLI setup
  • Passwords are never written to disk - only used in-memory for OAuth token exchange
  • Environment variables (recommended for Claude Desktop) are never persisted by this server
• Cache Data:
  • Reddit API responses are temporarily cached in memory to improve performance
  • Cache size limited to 50MB maximum
  • All cache data is cleared when the server stops
  • Can be disabled with REDDIT_BUDDY_NO_CACHE=true

Data Transmission

• Reddit API Only: Your credentials are only sent to Reddit's official OAuth endpoints (https://oauth.reddit.com and https://www.reddit.com)
• No External Services: No data is sent to any other external services, analytics platforms, or third parties
• Local Processing: All data processing happens locally on your machine

Security Notes

• Read-Only Operations: All tools are read-only - the server never posts, comments, or modifies any Reddit content
• Credential Safety:
  • OAuth tokens are refreshed automatically and kept in memory; only --auth CLI setups also cache the token in ~/.reddit-mcp-buddy/auth.json (file mode 600)
  • Client secrets are treated as sensitive and never logged
  • Use environment variables in Claude Desktop config for maximum security
• Open Source: Full source code is available at https://github.com/karanb192/reddit-mcp-buddy for security auditing

GDPR & Privacy Compliance

• No Personal Data Collection: We don't collect or process any personal data beyond what's necessary to authenticate with Reddit's API
• User Control: You control all credentials and can delete ~/.reddit-mcp-buddy/auth.json at any time
• Right to Erasure: Simply delete the auth file or uninstall the server to remove all local data

Questions or Concerns?

If you have any privacy questions or concerns, please open an issue on GitHub.

Testing & Development

Testing Your Rate Limits

Reddit MCP Buddy includes comprehensive testing tools to verify your authentication is working correctly:

# Clone the repository first
git clone https://github.com/karanb192/reddit-mcp-buddy.git
cd reddit-mcp-buddy
npm install

# Test with your current environment settings
npm run test:rate-limit

# Test specific authentication modes
npm run test:rate-limit:anon    # Test anonymous mode (10 rpm)
npm run test:rate-limit:app     # Test app-only mode (60 rpm)
npm run test:rate-limit:auth    # Test authenticated mode (100 rpm)

The rate limit tester will:

• Start a local server instance
• Make rapid API requests to test rate limits
• Display a real-time progress bar
• Confirm which authentication tier you're using
• Show exactly when rate limiting kicks in

Interactive Authentication Setup (for local testing only)

For local development and testing, you can set up authentication interactively:

npx -y reddit-mcp-buddy --auth

This will prompt you for Reddit app credentials and save them locally. Note: This does NOT work with Claude Desktop - use environment variables in your Claude config instead.

Testing with HTTP Mode

To test the server directly in your terminal:

# Run in HTTP mode on port 3000
npx -y reddit-mcp-buddy --http

# Or with custom port
REDDIT_BUDDY_PORT=8080 npx -y reddit-mcp-buddy --http

Note: The server runs in stdio mode by default (for Claude Desktop). Use --http flag for testing with Postman MCP or direct API calls.

Installation Options

Global Install

npm install -g reddit-mcp-buddy
reddit-buddy --http  # For testing

From Source

git clone https://github.com/karanb192/reddit-mcp-buddy.git
cd reddit-mcp-buddy
npm install
npm run build
npm link

Using Docker

git clone https://github.com/karanb192/reddit-mcp-buddy.git
cd reddit-mcp-buddy
docker build -t reddit-mcp-buddy .
docker run -it reddit-mcp-buddy

Claude Desktop Extension

For one-click installation in Claude Desktop, download the pre-built extension:

📦 Download reddit-mcp-buddy.mcpb

Installation: Simply open the downloaded .mcpb file - Claude Desktop will automatically install the extension and the Reddit tools will be immediately available.

Build from Source (Optional)

If you prefer to build the extension yourself:

git clone https://github.com/karanb192/reddit-mcp-buddy.git
cd reddit-mcp-buddy
./scripts/build-mcpb.sh

Note: Most users should use the standard npm installation method shown in Quick Start.

Comparison with Other Tools

Feature	Reddit MCP Buddy	Other MCP Tools
Zero Setup	✅ Browse instantly; free keys unlock the rest	❌ Keys required for everything
Max Rate Limit	✅ 100 req/min proven	❓ Unverified claims
Language	TypeScript/Node.js	Python (most)
Tools Count	5 (focused)	8-10 (redundant)
Fake Metrics	✅ Real data only	❌ "Sentiment scores"
Search	✅ Full search	Limited or none
Caching	✅ Smart caching	Usually none
LLM Optimized	✅ Clear params	Confusing options
Rate Limit Testing	✅ Built-in tools	❌ No verification

Rate Limits

Mode	Requests/Minute	Cache TTL	Setup Required
Anonymous	10	15 min	None
App-only	60	5 min	Client ID + Secret
Authenticated	100	5 min	All credentials

Cache TTL applies to subreddit listings. Post details (10 min), search results (10 min), and user profiles (15 min) use fixed TTLs in all modes. Anonymous throughput is additionally bounded by Reddit's own per-IP RSS throttle, which is stricter than 10/min for uncached requests.

Why Reddit MCP Buddy?

What others do wrong:

• ❌ Fake metrics - "sentiment scores" that are just keyword counting
• ❌ Complex setup - Requiring API keys just to start
• ❌ Bloated responses - Returning 100+ fields of Reddit's raw API
• ❌ Poor LLM integration - Confusing parameters and unclear descriptions

What we do right:

• ✅ Real data only - If it's not from Reddit's API, we don't make it up
• ✅ Clean responses - Only the fields that matter
• ✅ Clear parameters - LLMs understand exactly what to send
• ✅ Fast & cached - Responses are instant when possible

Examples

Your AI can now answer:

"What are the top posts about GPT-4 today?"

→ search_reddit with query="GPT-4", time="day", sort="top"

"Show me what's trending in technology"

→ browse_subreddit with subreddit="technology", sort="hot"

"What do people think about this article?"

→ search_reddit with the article URL to find discussions

"Analyze the user DeepFuckingValue"

→ user_analysis with username="DeepFuckingValue"

"Get the comments from this Reddit post"

→ get_post_details with url="https://reddit.com/r/..."

"What's trending across all of Reddit?"

→ browse_subreddit with subreddit="all", sort="hot"

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

"Can't achieve 100 requests/minute"

• Ensure your app type is "script" not "web" or "installed"
• Script apps created by one account can only authenticate as that same account
• Run npm run test:rate-limit:auth to verify (requires cloning the repo)
• If still failing, create a new script app while logged into the authenticating account

"Command not found" error

# Ensure npm is installed
node --version
npm --version

# Try the full global-bin path
$(npm prefix -g)/bin/reddit-mcp-buddy

Browsing works but search / comments / user analysis fail

• Without credentials only browse_subreddit (served from Reddit's public RSS feed, no scores or comment counts) and the offline reddit_explain work
• Anonymous browsing can also hit Reddit's own RSS rate limit (HTTP 429); the server retries automatically, but sustained throttling can still fail
• Solution: Add Reddit credentials (see Authentication)

Rate limit errors

• Without auth: 10 requests/minute server cap, and Reddit's own RSS feed throttles harder per IP (the server retries automatically)
• With app credentials only: 60 requests/minute
• With full authentication: 100 requests/minute
• Solution: Add Reddit credentials (see Authentication)

"Subreddit not found"

• Check spelling (case-insensitive)
• Some subreddits may be private or quarantined
• Try "all" or "popular" instead

Connection issues

• Reddit may be down (check https://www.redditstatus.com)
• Firewall blocking requests
• Try restarting the MCP server

Environment Variables

Authentication Variables

Variable	Description	Required	Rate Limit
REDDIT_CLIENT_ID	Reddit app client ID	No	60 req/min (with secret)
REDDIT_CLIENT_SECRET	Reddit app secret	No	60 req/min (with ID)
REDDIT_USERNAME	Reddit account username	No	100 req/min (with all 4)
REDDIT_PASSWORD	Reddit account password	No	100 req/min (with all 4)
REDDIT_USER_AGENT	Custom user agent string (applies when credentials are configured)	No	-

Server Configuration

Variable	Description	Default
REDDIT_BUDDY_HTTP	Run as HTTP server instead of stdio	false
REDDIT_BUDDY_PORT	HTTP server port (when HTTP=true)	3000
REDDIT_BUDDY_HOST	Interface the HTTP server binds to	127.0.0.1
REDDIT_BUDDY_ALLOWED_ORIGINS	Comma-separated browser origins allowed to call the HTTP endpoint	none
REDDIT_BUDDY_ALLOWED_HOSTS	Comma-separated host:port values accepted in the Host header (DNS-rebinding protection)	loopback values when bound to localhost
REDDIT_BUDDY_NO_CACHE	Disable caching (always fetch fresh)	false

HTTP mode has no authentication. It binds to localhost so only your machine can reach it, and rejects Host headers outside the loopback set. Setting REDDIT_BUDDY_HOST=0.0.0.0 exposes it to your whole network - only do that on a trusted network (e.g. inside Docker, which sets it deliberately). On a non-loopback bind the Host check is off by default, since clients legitimately arrive with a container IP or service name; set REDDIT_BUDDY_ALLOWED_HOSTS to restrict it. Browser requests are rejected unless their origin is listed in REDDIT_BUDDY_ALLOWED_ORIGINS; non-browser clients like Postman are unaffected.

Technical Details

Smart Caching System

Reddit MCP Buddy includes intelligent caching to improve performance and reduce API calls:

• Memory Safe: Hard limit of 50MB - won't affect your system performance
• Per-Content TTLs: Post details (10min), user profiles (15min), search results (10min); subreddit listings use the mode default (15min anonymous, 5min with credentials)
• LRU Eviction: Automatically removes least-used data when approaching limits
• Hit Tracking: Optimizes cache based on actual usage patterns

This means faster responses and staying well within Reddit's rate limits, all while using minimal system resources.

Development

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Run in development
npm run dev

# Build
npm run build

# Run tests
npm test                     # Unit tests
npm run test:integration     # Integration tests
npm run test:all             # All tests

# Test rate limits
npm run test:rate-limit       # Test with current environment
npm run test:rate-limit:anon  # Test anonymous mode (10 rpm)
npm run test:rate-limit:app   # Test app-only mode (60 rpm)
npm run test:rate-limit:auth  # Test authenticated mode (100 rpm)

# Lint
npm run lint

# Type check
npm run typecheck

Requirements

• Node.js >= 18.0.0
• npm or yarn
• TypeScript 5.5+

Contributing

PRs welcome! See CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.

We keep things simple:

• No fake analytics
• Clean, typed code
• Clear documentation
• Fast responses

Support

• 🐛 Report bugs
• 💡 Request features
• ⭐ Star on GitHub

🔗 Related Resources

Official MCP Resources

• MCP Registry - Official registry of MCP servers
• MCP Specification - Official Model Context Protocol specification
• MCP TypeScript SDK - SDK used to build this server
• MCP Servers Repository - Collection of official MCP server implementations
• Awesome MCP Servers - Community-curated list of MCP servers

Where to Find This Server

• MCP Registry API Link - Direct API query for this server
• MCP Registry Search - Search for "reddit" to find all versions
• NPM Package - Install via npm/npx
• GitHub Repository - Source code and issues

View All Versions via API

# Get all versions of reddit-mcp-buddy from the registry
curl -s "https://registry.modelcontextprotocol.io/v0/servers?search=reddit-mcp-buddy" | jq

# Get just names, version numbers, and latest flag
curl -s "https://registry.modelcontextprotocol.io/v0/servers?search=reddit-mcp-buddy" | \
  jq '.servers[] | {name: .server.name, version: .server.version, isLatest: ._meta."io.modelcontextprotocol.registry/official".isLatest}'

License

MIT - Use it however you want!

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Made with ❤️ for the MCP community. No venture capital, no tracking, just a good MCP server.

Built by Karan Bansal (Head of AI at ArmorCode). I write about Claude Code, MCP, and production agentic AI at karanbansal.in/blog.