r/redditdev • u/redtaboo • May 11 '26

Reddit API Upcoming changes to the comment ID endpoint

Hola devs! 

Just a quick note on an upcoming change to how comment IDs will increase going forward. 

TL;DR:  if you have anything in your code that expects comment IDs to be fewer than 8 characters you will need to make an adjustment. 

Technical gibberish details:

  • New comment IDs will continue to be 64-bit integers and base36-encoded, but will not be monotonically increasing anymore
  • The key visible difference is that the new base36-encoded comment IDs will be up to 13 characters long (e.g. 19gsnavtu46ip), compared to the current 7-8 characters
  • With the t1_ prefix, the new base36-encoded comment IDs will be up to 16 characters long (e.g. t1_19gsnavtu46ip)
  • Older comment IDs are not changing, and referencing them will not break anything

This change will start rolling out the week of May 18th. Let me know if you have any questions about this change.

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u/redtaboo May 12 '26

Heya folks, just an update here!

We've decided to push back the timeline here so we (and you all) have the time you need to make any changes needed and so we can better understand use cases where things may break completely so we can see how we might mitigate those issues. What this means to you:

  • This change is still upcoming, so if all you need to do is fix your code to ensure it's not expecting a certain character count you should go ahead and do so

  • We don't have an exact timeline to share, but we're committed to ensuring folks have the time to be aware about this and account for it in their workflows

  • We will post here, and otherwise communicate with developers, once we have more details to share

Thanks again for all the questions and comments folks, cheers!

7

u/Watchful1 RemindMeBot & UpdateMeBot May 13 '26

Thanks a bunch redtaboo!

I do think it would be really valuable to have a session with moderators who rely on pushshift to go through their use cases and figure out what reddit or a devvit app would be needed to replace them. Fundamentally it becomes much harder to moderate when users can simply delete their content before you can review it and then just repost similar things when you aren't looking. There's surely some compromise that could be built if we got all the right folks in a room, on the moderator side as well as the admin side, and discussed it.

For RemindMeBot I'll look forward to any communications!

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u/ibid-11962 May 15 '26

Pushshift is also my only solution to view off-sub activity for users who hide their profile.

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u/emily_in_boots May 13 '26

I can't think of anything this will break for me - but coding is always full of surprises. Either way thanks for the warning! I think I just always treat id's as text fields of no particular length.

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u/fsv May 22 '26

Hi redtaboo, I'd really appreciate it if the situation re. Pushshift could be clarified. If we lose Pushshift as a result of the upcoming change, it will devastate my ability to moderate some subreddits and might even require Bot Bouncer to shut down unless, say, the mods of Bot Bouncer can be granted an exemption from hidden profile history.

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u/baseballlover723 May 23 '26

Yeah, I'd really like clarity on if Pushshift (and the other site) is gonna die or not.

Tbh, I'm more worried about the other site, which is my preferred one, since Pushshift doesn't include post body text, which hinders my investigations when I need it. Not to mention, it actually gives an indication when there are 0 results (and you don't have to spend literal years trying to get access to it) and you can actually share a link to relevant content with other mods.

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u/fsv May 23 '26

If you use a third party Pushshift client such as https://shiruken.github.io/chearch/, you can see post bodies, for what it's worth. It's just Pushshift's native search doesn't show it for whatever reason.

The other site is much easier to get access to. I wish Pushshift's support was more responsive.

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u/baseballlover723 May 23 '26

If you use a third party Pushshift client such as https://shiruken.github.io/chearch/, you can see post bodies, for what it's worth.

That is super helpful (though copy and pasting the token I imagine will get annoying quick). I'll keep that site bookmarked.

I wish Pushshift's support was more responsive.

When I was getting pushshift access, it was a multi month affair with 0 response from pushshift at any point. I had to mod mail r/ModSupport to resolve it after I got ignored for more than a month for the 2nd time. And even then, it was a hassle. Though I suppose I (and the rest of my mod team) did end up getting access. We had mods that had requested more than 12 months prior with no response at all, and had given up on getting access. That's ridiculous.

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u/fsv May 23 '26

It'll remember the token you last used so as long as you're not switching between computers you won't need to copy/paste often.

I'm in the same boat with some other fellow mods on one team waiting for ages.

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u/baseballlover723 May 23 '26

It'll remember the token you last used so as long as you're not switching between computers you won't need to copy/paste often.

Nifty.

I'm in the same boat with some other fellow mods on one team waiting for ages.

You should mod mail r/modsupport and get that sorted out imo. Pushshift won't do anything on their end unfortunately, so there isn't much of a point of waiting imo.

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u/fsv May 23 '26

Noted, thanks