Reddit Account Operations

Run a Reddit account within sub rules, not into automod or shadowban — karma phases, quotas, removal recovery. Use when posting from a cron or agent. Trigger on "post to reddit", "reddit bot", "automod removed my post", "reddit shadowban", "karma requirement".

The goal is not to comment fast. The goal is to operate Reddit like a careful, helpful human contributor: stable browser, correct context, useful action, no spam, no reputational risk.

Reddit's Content Policy and each subreddit's rules bind this skill. Where they conflict with a quota below, they win.

Access, data and network — read before running

What	Detail
Browser	A logged-in Chrome profile you control, via CDP on 127.0.0.1:<BROWSER_PORT>. The agent acts as your real account.
Credentials	None stored by the skill. Session cookies live in the browser profile; modhash is read from /api/me.json per run.
Public writes	Posts and replies are public and attributed to <REDDIT_USERNAME>. Irreversible in practice.
Persisted locally	<WORKSPACE_DIR>/memory/ — run recaps, post/reply URLs, karma counts, per-sub state, ideas, learnings. Plain markdown, never encrypted.
Retention	You own it. Default: prune entries older than 90 days; keep reddit-learnings.md if you want long memory. Delete the dir to erase all history.
Network egress	None by default. Webhooks are opt-in. If you set alerts.webhook, run status, post/reply URLs, karma and blocker text leave your machine to Telegram/Slack/Discord and are stored by that provider. Leave it empty to keep everything local.
Human approval	Recommended for every top-level post. Required whenever this doc says STOP.

When to Use

Trigger	Action
"post to reddit" / cron fires	§Login check → §Phase gate → §Post structure
"reply to this thread"	§Qualification → §Reply templates → §Quotas
"automod removed my post"	§Recovery → freeze sub 7 days → log
"did I get shadowbanned"	§Recovery, shadowban row → human verification
CAPTCHA or challenge appears	STOP. Hand to a human. §Challenges
"is karma high enough"	§Phase gating

Configure for your brand

Placeholder	Example	Your value
<BRAND_NAME>	"Acme Studio"	—
<BRAND_DOMAIN>	"acme.studio"	—
<REDDIT_USERNAME>	"u/AcmeAlex"	—
<BROWSER_PROFILE>	"reddit-live"	—
<BROWSER_PORT>	"9223"	—
<NICHE_KEYWORDS>	"contester amende OR retrait permis"	—
<TARGET_SUBS>	"r/conseiljuridique, r/AskFrance"	—
<WORKSPACE_DIR>	"~/.openclaw/workspace/reddit-acme"	—

yaml

# <WORKSPACE_DIR>/config.yaml
reddit:
  username: <REDDIT_USERNAME>
  browser_profile: <BROWSER_PROFILE>
  browser_port: <BROWSER_PORT>
discovery:
  niche_keywords: <NICHE_KEYWORDS>
  target_subs: [r/<sub-1>, r/<sub-2>]
workspace:
  dir: <WORKSPACE_DIR>
alerts:
  channel: telegram | slack | discord
  webhook: ""        # empty = no network egress (default)

bash

# Idempotent memory init — creates only what is missing
mkdir -p "<WORKSPACE_DIR>/memory" && cd "$_" && for f in recaps post-log reply-log karma-log subs-state ideas learnings; do [ -f "reddit-$f.md" ] || : > "reddit-$f.md"; done
# Output: (silent) — 7 files in <WORKSPACE_DIR>/memory/

Snippets assume the OpenClaw browser CLI bound by CDP; any CDP stack works (Playwright, Puppeteer, Chrome MCP) — swap the calls.

Roles (mental separation, one physical profile)

Role	Purpose	Default resting page
red-post	Act as the account: posts, replies, inbox, karma, flair	/user/<REDDIT_USERNAME without u/>
red-engage	Discover and qualify: searches, rising/new in target subs	/search/?q=<NICHE_KEYWORDS>&type=link&t=day&sort=new
red-observe	Read-only maintenance: subscribe, save, read, observe sub rules	/

Never collapse the three into chaotic browsing. After every run, navigate back to the role's resting page.

Login check (first step of every run)

bash

openclaw browser --browser-profile <BROWSER_PROFILE> status
# Output: running  (if "stopped" → report and STOP; relaunching Chrome is a user action)

openclaw browser --browser-profile <BROWSER_PROFILE> evaluate --fn "async () => { const d = await (await fetch('/api/me.json',{credentials:'include'})).json(); return {name: d.data?.name ?? null, link_karma: d.data?.link_karma ?? null, comment_karma: d.data?.comment_karma ?? null, total_karma: d.data?.total_karma ?? null, modhash: !!d.data?.modhash}; }"
# Output: {"name":"AcmeAlex","link_karma":42,"comment_karma":318,"total_karma":360,"modhash":true}
# name: null → login expired → report and STOP

Phase gating (karma)

Phase	Condition	Authorized
A	total_karma < 100	Karma-builder + ops crons only. Brand-mentioning crons abort with "phase A, karma=X, skip".
B	total_karma ≥ 100	All crons. First week: 1 reply/day, not 3. Karma-builder stays on 2 more weeks.
B (forced)	Manual override line in reddit-karma-log.md	Established brands accepting more early removals. Auto-freeze on removal (§Recovery) still applies. Document why in reddit-learnings.md.

Karma gates exist because a new account should contribute to a community before it promotes anything. The phases mirror that intent — they are not a way to unlock a gate faster. Karma-builder comments must be independently useful to the thread they are in; if a comment only exists to move the counter, don't post it. Turn karma-builder off at total_karma ≥ 250 because the account has a real history by then, not because a threshold cleared. Karma is not the only gate: some subs require 90+ days of account age regardless, and some ban automation outright — if a sub forbids automation or requires a karma the account lacks, you don't go there.

Read reddit-karma-log.md (last line = state) and verify via /api/me.json. Crossing 100 alerts the user; never auto-flip crons — the user enables Phase B by hand.

Qualification of a post for reply

Repliable only if all hold — any check fails → skip, and say why in the recap:

• Age ≤ 24h (created_utc) · comments < 200 · score ≥ 1 · not removed/locked
• Real question in your domain — not a vent, a meme, or a request for free work
• ≤ 1 expert-like reply already in the top 10 comments
• Sub not frozen (reddit-subs-state.md) and never touched before on this thread (reddit-reply-log.md)
• Phase A: no domain-expert reply at all — general helpful comments only

Reply and post templates

Phase A (karma builder, no brand): 1-3 sentences, conversational, sub's tone, never expert-grade advice (medical/legal/financial), never a link, never a professional signature.

Phase B (brand-aware, pedagogical — not promotional):

text

[Acknowledge the situation in 1 sentence, neutral tone.]
[General rule / framework in 2-3 sentences. Cite a source only if essential. No promise.]
[Concrete next step the OP can take alone: deadline, document to gather, official portal.]
[Optional: if the case is complex, note a specialist can review it. No brand name.]

Informative post (regular cadence, e.g. Tue + Fri) — pick a sub whose karma requirement is met, that is not frozen, and where you have not posted in 14 days:

text

Title: [Question-form or "Guide:" prefix, ≤ 100 chars]

**Context**: [1 paragraph framing the problem people face]
**The rule / framework**: [2-3 paragraphs, plain language: sources, deadlines, mechanics]
**What to do concretely**: 1. [Action] 2. [Action] 3. [Action]
**Takeaway**: [1 paragraph]

---
*[Generic role tag, e.g. "Specialist in <field>"]. I don't take case-specific questions in public comments.*

Apply the sub's required flair; if no relevant flair exists, skip the sub.

Brand link policy — ZERO outgoing links to <BRAND_DOMAIN> (or any owned domain) in any reply or post, body or footer. The single exception is a DM the user initiated, where one neutral pointer is allowed — see §Identity guardrails. One brand URL is enough for automod removal or a sub ban in legal/medical/financial subs. Your username profile is the only allowed brand signal.

Quotas (hard limits)

Action	Limit
Replies / 24h (Phase B)	3 max
Replies / Reply Pass run	1-2 max
Informative posts / week · / day	2 max · 1 max
Subscribes / week	5 max
Actions in same sub	min 6h apart
Actions globally	min 30 min apart
Karma builder comments / run · / day	1-2 max · 3 max

Count entries in reddit-reply-log.md and reddit-post-log.md at start of every run; abort early if a quota is already met.

Parallel crons share the global limit: take <WORKSPACE_DIR>/.lock at run start, release it at exit. Without the lock, the 30-min rule is unenforceable across jobs — two crons violate it silently.

Anti-spam triggers

Avoid	Use instead
"DM me", "contact me", "check our site", "more info here"	don't ask, don't link
<BRAND_NAME> in the body · "free consultation"	no brand name, no marketing
Phone number, email	never
Emojis · ALL CAPS	sober tone; bold/italic sparingly
Any URL on <BRAND_DOMAIN> (incl. www., subdomains)	never, in any reply or post
bit.ly / tinyurl / shorteners	banned — Reddit spam-flags them directly
≥ 2 links in one comment	max 1 external link per post, none in replies

Behavioral: Reddit's published limits and most sub rules forbid reposting the same content < 7 days apart, and more than 3 actions in 30 min. Write each reply for its own thread — a copy-pasted opener is spam whether or not anything flags it. Wait ≥ 5 min after a post is created before replying: below that you have not read it. The quotas above exist to keep your account inside these rules and to keep the sub readable — not to defeat a detection system.

Automation challenges — STOP, don't adapt

When Reddit shows a CAPTCHA, a challenge page, or any anti-automation control, the run ends. A human publishes by hand.

This is the doctrine, not a limitation of it. A challenge is Reddit stating that it wants a human for this action. Tuning an agent to look human enough to get past it is a Content Policy violation, it puts the account you are trying to protect at risk of permanent suspension, and it breaks on the next Reddit update. Stopping costs one post; being caught evading costs the account. This skill therefore does not describe how to satisfy, score against, solve, or route around any CAPTCHA, bot-detection or anti-automation control. If a control fires — most often on top-level post creation — follow the table below: the run ends and a human publishes.

Situation	Action
CAPTCHA / challenge page mid-flow	Exit 2 → status: blocked → send the drafted title+body to the alert channel → human publishes
BAD_CAPTCHA in result.json.errors	Same. Do not retry.
Gate fires on every post for a week	Posting from this account is not viable unattended. Move to human-published drafts.

The skill does not ship a posting script. If you wrap the submit call in one, have it exit with these codes so the recap below can be filled mechanically — result.json here is Reddit's POST response as your wrapper saved it.

Code	Meaning	Recap action
0	Published, URL on stdout	status: ok, log post URL
1	Fatal error (UI ref missing, empty body)	status: error, attach screenshot
2	Challenge or CAPTCHA visible	status: blocked, draft to alert channel for manual publish
3	Session / login KO	status: blocked, alert user to re-login

Recovery & blockers

Issue	Cause	Fix
status: stopped	Chrome not running	Report "relaunch Chrome on port <BROWSER_PORT>". STOP.
name: null from /api/me.json	Session expired	Report login expired. STOP.
HTTP 429	Rate limited	Stop the run, report, wait for the next scheduled run.
HTTP 403 on POST	modhash expired	Re-fetch from /api/me.json once, retry once. Still 403 → report and STOP.
RATELIMIT, DOMAIN_BANNED, SUBREDDIT_NOEXIST, USER_BLOCKED in result.json.errors	Sub- or account-level refusal	Translate in the recap, no retry, freeze the sub if sub-level.
Comment invisible in profile after 5 min	Possible shadowban	Flag for human check (open profile in incognito). Track per-sub upvote ratios — community-level shadowbans don't fire this signal.
Post removed by automod < 30 min after publish	Sub rules or filter	Auto-freeze the sub 7 days. Append to reddit-learnings.md.
evaluate returns null, no error	Page not on reddit.com	Navigate first, retry once.
UI refs return null on labels that worked	Reddit shipped a UI change or the account language changed the labels	Re-snapshot, update the label map, re-test on r/test before re-enabling the cron.
Click on Publish does nothing / hits the wrong target	The Publish button's UI ref changes when it flips disabled → enabled once the fields are filled	Re-snapshot after filling the body, click the fresh ref. Never reuse a ref captured before the form was complete.
Posting cron killed mid-flow	60-120 s default job timeout	Raise the per-job timeout well above the default — a UI publish flow plus verification takes minutes.
Account suspended	—	Stop everything. No automatic appeal. Human review only. Log the last action taken.

Mandatory recap

Alert channel (only if alerts.webhook is set — this message leaves your machine):

text

[Job name] — [status: ok|partial|blocked|skipped]
Public actions: [list short OR "no post/reply"]
Links: [URLs of new comments/posts]
Karma: link_karma=X comment_karma=Y total=Z
Blockers: [text OR "—"]
Next action: [1 line]

Filled instance:

text

reply-pass-evening — status: partial
Public actions: 1 reply in r/conseiljuridique
Links: https://reddit.com/r/conseiljuridique/comments/1a2b3c/_/kx9f2p1
Karma: link_karma=42 comment_karma=319 total=361
Blockers: informative-post skipped — CAPTCHA at publish, draft sent for manual posting
Next action: human publishes the draft; re-check sub freeze Thursday

Append the same block to <WORKSPACE_DIR>/memory/reddit-recaps.md with a ## YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM TZ — <job-id> heading, plus Phase and subs touched. If nothing happened, say so: no post/reply/subscribe performed, reason.

Memory files

File	Purpose	Cadence
reddit-recaps.md	Per-run log (mandatory append)	Every run
reddit-post-log.md	Posts: sub, URL, date, score	Each post run
reddit-reply-log.md	Replies: thread URL, comment URL, sub, date, removed?	Each reply pass
reddit-karma-log.md	Daily karma snapshot + phase	Daily
reddit-subs-state.md	Per-sub freeze, flair, karma req, mod messages	After any sub-touching action
reddit-ideas.md	Content backlog	Weekly
reddit-learnings.md	What got upvoted / removed	Weekly + ad hoc

All plain markdown under <WORKSPACE_DIR>/memory/. Nothing else is written; nothing is uploaded unless a webhook is set.

Identity guardrails

• Neutral username, no brand in the handle. Bio: one generic line, no firm name, no contact info.
• If anyone asks whether the account is automated or an AI, answer honestly and hand the thread to a human. No ambiguous replies, no denial.
• Never give expert-grade advice in DMs — reply once with a neutral pointer to <BRAND_DOMAIN>/contact (the only place a brand URL is allowed: a DM the user started, never a public reply or post) and stop.
• Never share private case details, never promise an outcome, never solicit payment via Reddit.
• Never silently fake a successful action — verify via API or UI, or report the blockage.

Better silence than spam. Better a blockage report than a fake success.

First-run checklist

• Placeholders filled; alerts.webhook set only if you accept the egress described above.
• Reddit account has a neutral username and a generic bio.
• Browser profile logged in; /api/me.json returns a non-null name.
• <WORKSPACE_DIR>/memory/ exists with the 7 files.
• Read the rules of every sub in <TARGET_SUBS>. Some ban automation outright — drop those.
• Phase A confirmed (total_karma < 100) → only karma-builder + ops crons enabled.
• ≥ 2 weeks of organic activity before any brand-mentioning cron, even at karma ≥ 100.
• A human is on call to publish drafts when a challenge blocks a post.

Scope

This skill ONLY: drives one logged-in Reddit profile you own; qualifies threads before replying; enforces karma phases and hard quotas; posts and replies within Reddit and subreddit rules; writes markdown logs under <WORKSPACE_DIR>/memory/; sends an opt-in recap webhook; stops and reports on any blocker.

This skill NEVER: solves, scores against, or works around a CAPTCHA, challenge, or bot-detection control; tunes timing or behavior to avoid being identified as automated; denies or obscures automation when asked; creates or operates multiple accounts to amplify one voice; votes, brigades, or bypasses a subreddit ban, mod removal, or rate limit; posts brand links; DMs unsolicited; publishes without the account owner's authority; or claims success it did not verify.