#market-research#business

Reddit Insights

Search and analyze Reddit content using semantic AI search via reddapi.dev HTTP API. Use when you need to: (1) Find user pain points and frustrations for product ideas, (2) Discover niche markets or underserved needs, (3) Research what people really think about products/topics, (4) Find content inspiration from real discussions, (5) Analyze sentiment and trends on Reddit, (6) Validate business ideas with real user feedback. Triggers: reddit search, find pain points, market research, user feedback, what do people think about, reddit trends, niche discovery, product validation.

Install

openclaw skills install @dowands/reddit-insights

Reddit Insights

Semantic search across millions of Reddit posts. Unlike keyword search, this understands intent and meaning.

Powered by reddapi.dev — AI-powered semantic search and vector similarity across 1000+ subreddits with millions of indexed posts, updated continuously.

Key Advantage:

✅ Two search modes - Semantic (AI summary) + Vector (fast similarity)
✅ Full Reddit archive - Access historical and real-time discussions
✅ AI summaries - Semantic search generates comprehensive summaries
✅ MCP support - Direct integration with Claude Desktop, Cursor, etc.

Setup

Get API Key

Create an account at https://reddapi.dev
Subscribe to a paid plan (Lite $9.90/mo, Starter $49/mo, Pro $99/mo, or Enterprise)
Go to https://reddapi.dev/account to view or generate your API key

Environment Variable

bash

export REDDAPI_API_KEY="your_api_key"

Rate Limits

Plan	Monthly API Calls	Per Minute
Lite	500	50
Starter	5,000	50
Pro	15,000	100
Enterprise	Unlimited	1,000

HTTP API Reference

Base URL: https://reddapi.dev

Authentication: All requests require header:

text

Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY

POST /api/v1/search/semantic

AI-powered semantic search with keyword extraction, vector search, and AI summary generation.

bash

curl -X POST "https://reddapi.dev/api/v1/search/semantic" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"query": "What do developers think about Rust vs Go for backend services?", "limit": 20}'

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
query	string	Yes	Natural language question
limit	number	No	Results to return (default: 20, max: 100)

Response:

json

{
  "success": true,
  "data": {
    "query": "What do developers think about Rust vs Go for backend services?",
    "results": [
      {
        "id": "1abc234",
        "title": "Switched our microservices from Go to Rust - here's what happened",
        "content": "After 6 months of running Go in production...",
        "subreddit": "rust",
        "upvotes": 847,
        "comments": 234,
        "created": "2026-02-15T10:30:00.000Z",
        "relevance": 0.92,
        "sentiment": "Discussion",
        "url": "https://reddit.com/r/rust/comments/1abc234"
      }
    ],
    "total": 20,
    "processing_time_ms": 12450,
    "ai_summary": "Developers are divided on Rust vs Go for backend services..."
  }
}

POST /api/v1/search/vector

Fast vector similarity search. No LLM processing, returns results in seconds.

bash

curl -X POST "https://reddapi.dev/api/v1/search/vector" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"query": "best productivity apps for ADHD", "limit": 30, "start_date": "2026-01-01", "end_date": "2026-03-18"}'

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
query	string	Yes	Search query
limit	number	No	Results to return (default: 30, max: 30)
start_date	string	No	Start date filter (YYYY-MM-DD)
end_date	string	No	End date filter (YYYY-MM-DD)

Response:

json

{
  "success": true,
  "data": {
    "query": "best productivity apps for ADHD",
    "results": [
      {
        "id": "2def567",
        "title": "Finally found an app that works for my ADHD brain",
        "content": "I've tried everything from Todoist to Notion...",
        "subreddit": "ADHD",
        "upvotes": 1203,
        "comments": 456,
        "created": "2026-03-01T14:22:00.000Z",
        "similarity_score": 0.89,
        "url": "https://reddit.com/r/ADHD/comments/2def567"
      }
    ],
    "total": 30,
    "processing_time_ms": 3200
  }
}

GET /api/v1/subreddits

List available subreddits with metadata, sorted by subscribers.

bash

curl "https://reddapi.dev/api/v1/subreddits?search=programming&limit=10" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
search	string	No	Filter by name/title/description
page	number	No	Page number (default: 1)
limit	number	No	Results per page (default: 50, max: 100)
sort	string	No	Sort by "subscribers" or "created" (default: subscribers)
order	string	No	"asc" or "desc" (default: desc)

GET /api/v1/subreddits/{name}

Get detailed information about a specific subreddit with recent posts.

bash

curl "https://reddapi.dev/api/v1/subreddits/webdev" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
name	string	Yes	Subreddit name without `r/` prefix

POST /api/v1/trends

Get trending topics from Reddit based on post engagement.

bash

curl -X POST "https://reddapi.dev/api/v1/trends" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"start_date": "2026-03-11", "end_date": "2026-03-18", "limit": 20}'

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
start_date	string	No	Start date (default: today)
end_date	string	No	End date (default: today)
limit	number	No	Topics to return (default: 20, max: 100)

MCP Server

reddapi.dev also provides a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for direct integration with AI clients.

Endpoint: https://reddapi.dev/api/mcp Protocol: MCP Streamable HTTP Transport

json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "reddit-search-api": {
      "transport": {
        "type": "http",
        "url": "https://reddapi.dev/api/mcp",
        "headers": {
          "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

MCP tools: reddit_semantic_search, reddit_vector_search, reddit_list_subreddits, reddit_get_subreddit, reddit_get_trends

Choosing Between Semantic and Vector Search

Use Case	Recommended	Why
Exploratory research	Semantic	LLM extracts keywords, generates summary
Known-topic monitoring	Vector	Faster, direct matching, no LLM overhead
Batch processing	Vector	5x faster per request
Answering complex questions	Semantic	AI summary synthesizes insights
Real-time dashboards	Vector	Low latency (~5s vs ~20s)

Best Use Cases (Tested)

Use Case	Effectiveness	Why
Product comparisons (A vs B)	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐	Reddit loves debates
Tool/app recommendations	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐	High-intent discussions
Side hustle/money topics	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐	Engaged communities
Pain point discovery	⭐⭐⭐⭐	Emotional posts rank well
Health questions	⭐⭐⭐⭐	Active health subreddits
Technical how-to	⭐⭐⭐	Better to search specific subreddits
Abstract market research	⭐⭐	Too vague for semantic search
Non-English queries	⭐	Reddit is English-dominant

Query Strategies

✅ Excellent Queries (relevance 0.70+)

Product Comparisons (best results!):

text

"Notion vs Obsidian for note taking which one should I use"
→ Relevance: 0.72-0.81 | Found: Detailed comparison discussions, user experiences

"why I switched from Salesforce to HubSpot honest experience"  
→ Relevance: 0.70-0.73 | Found: Migration stories, feature comparisons

Side Hustle/Money Topics:

text

"side hustle ideas that actually make money not scams"
→ Relevance: 0.70-0.77 | Found: Real experiences, specific suggestions

✅ Good Queries (relevance 0.60-0.69)

Pain Point Discovery:

text

"I hate my current CRM it is so frustrating"
→ Relevance: 0.60-0.64 | Found: Specific CRM complaints, feature wishlists

Tool Evaluation:

text

"AI tools that actually save time not just hype"
→ Relevance: 0.64-0.65 | Found: Real productivity gains, tool recommendations

❌ Weak Queries (avoid these patterns)

Too Abstract: "business opportunity growth potential" → 0.52-0.58 Non-English: "学习编程最好的方法" → 0.45-0.51

Query Formula Cheat Sheet

Goal	Pattern	Relevance
Compare products	"[A] vs [B] which should I use"	0.70-0.81
Find switchers	"why I switched from [A] to [B]"	0.70-0.73
Money/hustle topics	"[topic] that actually [works/makes money] not [scam/hype]"	0.70-0.77
App recommendations	"[category] apps which one is [accurate/best] and why"	0.67-0.72
Pain points	"I hate my current [tool] it is so [frustrating/slow]"	0.60-0.64
Solutions seeking	"[problem] tried everything what actually works"	0.60-0.63

Example Workflows

Market Research:

bash

curl -X POST https://reddapi.dev/api/v1/search/semantic \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"query": "frustrated with project management tools switching from Jira", "limit": 50}'

Brand Monitoring (fast):

bash

curl -X POST https://reddapi.dev/api/v1/search/vector \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"query": "your-brand-name reviews complaints", "limit": 30}'

Deep Research (combine both):

Vector search first to quickly scope the landscape
Semantic search for deep analysis on specific angles

Time-Filtered Sentiment Tracking:

bash

curl -X POST https://reddapi.dev/api/v1/search/vector \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"query": "ChatGPT quality", "start_date": "2026-01-01", "end_date": "2026-03-18"}'

Tips

Natural language works best - Ask questions like a human would
Include context - "for small business" or "as a developer" improves results
Combine emotion words - "frustrated", "love", "hate", "wish" find stronger opinions
Filter by engagement - High upvotes/comments = validated pain points
Use vector search for speed - ~5s vs ~20s for semantic
Use date filters - Track sentiment changes over time periods

Error Handling

All endpoints return consistent error responses:

json

{
  "success": false,
  "error": "Error description",
  "message": {
    "title": "Human-readable title",
    "message": "Detailed explanation",
    "cta": "Suggested action",
    "ctaLink": "/pricing"
  }
}

Common status codes: 400 (invalid params), 401 (bad API key), 403 (plan limit), 429 (rate limit), 500 (server error)

Reddit Insights

Install

Reddit Insights

Setup

Get API Key

Environment Variable

Rate Limits

HTTP API Reference

POST /api/v1/search/semantic

POST /api/v1/search/vector

GET /api/v1/subreddits

GET /api/v1/subreddits/{name}

POST /api/v1/trends

MCP Server

Choosing Between Semantic and Vector Search

Best Use Cases (Tested)

Query Strategies

✅ Excellent Queries (relevance 0.70+)

✅ Good Queries (relevance 0.60-0.69)

❌ Weak Queries (avoid these patterns)

Query Formula Cheat Sheet

Example Workflows

Tips

Error Handling

Related skills