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Agent Skills hubReddit Research Skill
Find Reddit posts where your product belongs in the conversation — without sounding like a bot.
Direct answer
Reddit can be useful for founder distribution when you treat it as customer research first and promotion second. The goal is not to blast every thread that mentions your category. The goal is to find real conversations where people are already describing the problem your product solves, then decide whether a helpful founder reply belongs there.
This skill helps with the research loop: search relevant subreddits, inspect real threads, capture post context, and draft replies only after you choose which discussions are worth entering.
What it does
- Drives your local Chrome to search Google
site:reddit.comfor the subreddits and keywords you define - Visits each new thread on
old.reddit.comto pull post body and top comments - Lists every result in a table — no auto-ranking; you triage
- Drafts genuine replies with a founder disclosure when you pick specific posts
On first run, Claude auto-derives everything from your repo (README.md, CLAUDE.md, package.json, plus briefs in plans/ or docs/). You confirm once; future runs go straight to fetching.
When to use Reddit research
Use this workflow when you need:
| Founder job | What to look for |
|---|---|
| Customer discovery | Repeated complaints, workarounds, buying language, and objections. |
| Positioning | The exact words people use before they know a product category exists. |
| Distribution | Threads where a transparent, useful founder reply would add context. |
| Product scope | Requests that appear repeatedly across niche communities. |
Do not use it when your only plan is to drop a link. Reddit communities vary, moderators enforce local rules, and self-promotion without context is usually low-trust.
How to reply without sounding spammy
A useful founder reply usually follows this order:
- Answer the question directly.
- Mention a concrete tradeoff or caveat.
- Disclose your relationship if your product is relevant.
- Offer the link only when it helps the reader evaluate the answer.
- Leave the conversation better even if nobody clicks.
Bad replies sound like ads. Good replies sound like someone who understands the workflow because they have dealt with it.
Practical founder workflow
Start with a narrow market and five to ten phrases customers actually use. Run the skill, scan the table manually, and save only the threads where the problem is explicit. From there:
- pull repeated phrases into your landing page copy
- note objections for your FAQ
- identify subreddits where the problem appears naturally
- draft replies for a small number of relevant threads
- track which replies create conversations rather than clicks alone
Use the First 50 Customers Distribution Playbook when you are ready to turn the research into weekly outreach.
Requirements
- Claude Code (docs)
- Node.js 18+ (
node --version) - Chrome with remote debugging — launch with
--remote-debugging-port=9222, or enable it fromchrome://inspect/#remote-debugging
The fetcher paces requests like a human, so a run takes a few minutes. If a CAPTCHA appears, the script writes whatever it has and leaves the tab open — solve it in Chrome and re-run.
FAQ
Is Reddit good for startup marketing?
It can be, but only when your answer is useful inside the thread. Treat Reddit as a place to learn customer language, understand pain, and help in public before treating it as an acquisition channel.
Should I automate Reddit replies?
No. This skill is for research and drafting, not automatic posting. A founder should still choose the threads, read the context, check the subreddit rules, and edit every reply before posting.
What should I track?
Track the subreddit, problem phrase, thread URL, your reply, replies received, conversations started, and whether the language changes your product page or offer.
Sources checked
- Anthropic, Claude Code overview
- Anthropic, Claude Code skills
- Chrome Developers, Remote debugging
- Reddit, Content Policy
Members get the full resource
Unlock the complete walkthrough
- Full implementation notes, examples, checklists, and templates.
- Private Discord access for feedback, accountability, and support.
- Monthly Startup Club resource drops for solo founders building with AI.
- Downloadable Reddit Research Skill file.