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Reddit MCP Buddy MCP Server

Provides Reddit browsing, search, and user analytics via MCP for Claude Desktop and AI assistants.

Installation

Add the following to your MCP client configuration file.

Configuration

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "karanb192-reddit-buddy-mcp": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "reddit-mcp-buddy"
      ],
      "env": {
        "REDDIT_PASSWORD": "YOUR_PASSWORD",
        "REDDIT_USERNAME": "YOUR_USERNAME",
        "REDDIT_CLIENT_ID": "YOUR_CLIENT_ID",
        "REDDIT_BUDDY_HTTP": "true",
        "REDDIT_BUDDY_PORT": "3000",
        "REDDIT_USER_AGENT": "YOUR_USER_AGENT",
        "REDDIT_CLIENT_SECRET": "YOUR_CLIENT_SECRET",
        "REDDIT_BUDDY_NO_CACHE": "true"
      }
    }
  }
}

Reddit MCP Buddy is a dedicated MCP server that lets Claude Desktop and other AI assistants browse Reddit, search posts, and analyze user activity. It operates without requiring Reddit API keys for quick start, while offering configurable authentication to unlock higher request rates. You’ll get clean, real Reddit data tailored for AI assistants, with local processing and secure handling of credentials.

How to use

You can use Reddit MCP Buddy by running it locally and connecting your MCP client to the provided stdio interface. In Claude Desktop, enable the Reddit tools by adding the MCP server configuration via the NPM method or install the desktop extension for one-click access. The server exposes actions like browsing subreddits, searching posts, fetching full post details with comments, analyzing user activity, and explaining Reddit terms. Use these actions from your AI prompts to perform real-time Reddit queries and get concise, structured results that your assistant can incorporate into responses.

How to install

Prerequisites: You need Node.js (version 18.x or newer) and npm or yarn. You will run or install the MCP server locally and then connect your MCP client.

1) Install via npm using the NPM method shown in the quick start. 2) Configure your MCP client to point to the server as described in the NPM configuration snippet. 3) Start using the tools from your AI assistant. 4) If you prefer a direct local runtime, you can also run the MCP server via npx in stdio mode as described below.

Authentication and options

Reddit MCP Buddy supports three authentication levels to increase your request rate while keeping credentials secure. Anonymous mode requires no credentials and provides up to 10 requests per minute. App-only mode uses a Reddit app’s client ID and secret for up to 60 requests per minute. Authenticated mode uses a full user credential set for up to 100 requests per minute. You can enable credentials by creating a Reddit script app and configuring your MCP client to pass the credentials via environment variables.

To enable credentials in Claude Desktop, add the following environment variables in your Claude Desktop config for the Reddit MCP server: REDDIT_CLIENT_ID, REDDIT_CLIENT_SECRET, REDDIT_USERNAME, REDDIT_PASSWORD, and optionally REDDIT_USER_AGENT. You also set COMMENT: Passwords are kept in memory for token exchange and are not written to disk. Use a script-type app in Reddit for higher rate limits.

Configuration and notes

The server uses a three-tier rate limit system, with the following typical configurations: Anonymous 10 rpm (no credentials), App-only 60 rpm (Client ID + Secret), and Authenticated 100 rpm (all credentials). If you need to test or adjust rate limits locally, you can run built-in test commands in the development workflow. Cache is enabled by default and helps improve responsiveness; it is limited to 50 MB and can be disabled with an environment variable.

Examples of common tasks you can run

- Ask your AI to fetch hot posts from r/all to see what's trending. - Have your AI search for discussions about a topic across Reddit. - Retrieve comments from a specific post to analyze conversations. - Get basic user statistics like karma and activity history. - Ask for explanations of Reddit terms like karma or AMA.

Troubleshooting and tips

If you encounter rate limit issues, ensure you’re using the script app type for higher limits and that you’ve configured all required credentials. For connection issues, verify Reddit status and check your network/firewall settings. Use the http testing mode if you want to test with Postman or direct HTTP calls. If subreddits aren’t found, double-check the spelling and try broader namespaces like all or popular.

Security and privacy

All data retrieval uses Reddit’s official API and is processed locally on your machine. No data is sent to external services, and credentials are kept secure in memory or via environment variables in your MCP client configuration. The server’s read-only tools ensure no posts are created or altered on Reddit.

Development and testing

For development and testing, you can run rate-limit tests and development commands to verify that authentication modes behave as expected and that the caching layer operates correctly.

Available tools

browse_subreddit

Browse posts from a subreddit with sorting options including hot, new, top, rising, and controversial, with optional subreddit metadata.

search_reddit

Search across Reddit or specific subreddits with filters for subreddit, author, time, and flair and sort by relevance, hot, top, new, or comments.

get_post_details

Fetch a post by URL or ID and return the post with its full comment threads, with control over sorting and depth.

user_analysis

Analyze a Reddit user’s profile to return karma, posts, comments, and active subreddits.

reddit_explain

Provide explanations of Reddit terms such as karma, cake day, AMA, and ELI5.