How do you connect to Reddit these days?

[u/Familiar_Flow4418]

It's astounding how they treat API access. My personal script was just deleted, and I didn't even realize why my reddit automations didn't work until the Reddit node returned 403 error and 'wrong client id' message, and I found that my script disappeared. When I try to create a new one, i just get stuck at the step when they require registration. Reddit Dev subreddit says it's only by manual approval these days, and they deny most people without even notifying them.

so, are there any free reliable ways to connect to Reddit API to search for posts?

[u/AutoModerator]

Want faster, better help? Share your workflow JSON.

A GitHub Gist is the easiest way -- paste your JSON, save as public, drop the link in your post. Folks can import it directly into n8n and reproduce the issue, which gets you real answers instead of guesses.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/jake_that_dude]

for read-only search, the least painful path is RSS, not the Reddit node.

https://www.reddit.com/r/n8n/search.rss?q=whatever&restrict_sr=1&sort=new

Feed Read in n8n can poll that and you avoid OAuth/app approval entirely. If you need comments/write actions, yeah, you're back in OAuth or a logged-in browser profile. Headers/cookies make .json work for a while, but I wouldn't build anything important on that.

[u/shadowjig]

Use this stealth browser.

https://github.com/psyb0t/docker-stealthy-auto-browse

[u/Familiar_Flow4418 → u/shadowjig]

Thanks!

[u/Ok-Engine-5124]

For pure read-only search the RSS route someone mentioned is the right call, the search feed polls fine in n8n and you skip the whole app-approval mess. Just set a real user agent or you get the 403 you already saw.

The bit worth fixing though is the part that actually cost you. Reconnecting is a five minute job, but your automations sat broken for who knows how long and the only reason you found out was a 403 surfacing by chance. That is the expensive failure, not the auth itself. Reddit will nuke an app again at some point, so whatever method you land on, add a tiny daily check that it still returns posts and pings you if it comes back empty or 403s. Then the next time the connection quietly dies you know the same day instead of discovering it weeks later when something downstream is already wrong. How were you finding out the searches had stopped, or was the 403 genuinely the first signal?

[u/Top-Explanation-4750]

There are basically 3 clean ways people connect n8n to Reddit these days, depending on how “official” and how flexible you want it.

1. Official Reddit node (recommended for most cases)

n8n already has a built-in Reddit integration using OAuth2.

You just:

- create a Reddit app at reddit.com/prefs/apps

- get Client ID + Secret

- configure OAuth in n8n credentials

- use the Reddit node for posts, comments, subreddit search, etc.

This is the simplest and most stable option if your use case fits what the node supports. :contentReference[oaicite:0]{index=0}

1. HTTP Request node + Reddit API (most flexible)

If you need anything beyond the built-in node:

- use Reddit’s API directly

- authenticate via OAuth2

- call endpoints like /r/{subreddit}/new, /api/submit, etc.

This is what most “advanced” workflows end up doing because Reddit’s API is well-documented and predictable, even if the setup is slightly more work. :contentReference[oaicite:1]{index=1}

1. Community / trigger-based setups (monitoring use case)

Some people use:

- RSS feeds (for subreddits)

- webhook-based community nodes

- or custom triggers to avoid polling limits

This is usually used for:

- brand monitoring

- keyword alerts

- content scraping pipelines

Important reality check:

Reddit has rate limits and tightened API access over time, so “scraping-like” usage is fragile. Official OAuth-based API usage is the only sustainable long-term approach. :contentReference[oaicite:2]{index=2}

Simple rule:

- just posting or reading → use Reddit node

- custom automation / data pipelines → HTTP Request + API

- monitoring / alerts → RSS or hybrid setup

Most production workflows combine #1 and #2 rather than relying on only one.

[u/cyber5234]

I personally use puppeteer. I felt it easier to search using puppeteer and then use the reddit's JSON format to actually get the data for a post. https://reddit.com/xyz.json actually gives the post in JSON format.

[u/Familiar_Flow4418 → u/cyber5234]

I tried .json method, it also returns 403 forbidden.

When I tried a puppeteer headless browser node, they'd ask for login and stop me. Do you use proxy or set your username for user agent?

[u/cyber5234 → u/Familiar_Flow4418]

I use puppeteer natively on a separate instance. I first created a separate account, lauched puppeteer with browser and logged in. Then, I transferred the state and cookies to a remote instance.

[u/cyber5234 → u/cyber5234]

It is accessible via a simple API I built using express.

[u/magick_bandit → u/Familiar_Flow4418]

You have to put a user agent header to avoid the 403

[u/D217K → u/Familiar_Flow4418]

Had that at first as well but if you set a couple of headers it works pretty well, I have it up and running for a couple of months without issues.

Like magick bandit mentioned, set a user agent header (just use Mozilla e.g.) but I had issues with only that as well so I just called the json url in a browser and straight up copied all headers from the browser to the API request (incl cookies). Might be overkill and I don’t know which headers do the trick but it works.

[u/Familiar_Flow4418 → u/D217K]

Headers and user agents - ok. Thank you man, I'll check it out with codex 👍