Reddit Scrutinizer

Simulate Reddit reactions to your codebase before you post. Uses Claude to generate realistic community feedback in the voice of any subreddit.

How it works

1. Scan — walks your project, detects languages/stack, reads key files into a project dossier
2. Discover — builds a file index, scans for risk patterns (eval, innerHTML, TODO/FIXME, etc.)
3. Plan — 🤖 AI picks the most interesting code regions to read based on the dossier and risk signals
4. Synthesize — 🤖 AI reads those code snippets and produces an evidence pack (strengths, risks, comment ammo)
5. Post — 🤖 AI generates a realistic Reddit submission as if you posted your project
6. Agenda — 🤖 AI analyzes critique themes the community would focus on, grounded in the evidence
7. Comments — 🤖 AI generates a threaded comment tree with votes, flairs, awards, and OP replies
8. Output — assigns scores/timestamps, writes structured JSON, and optionally opens a browser UI

flowchart TD
    codebase[Your Codebase] --> scan[1. Scan — languages, stack, readme, license]
    scan --> discover[2. Discover — file index + risk pattern scan]
    discover --> plan["3. Plan 🤖 — AI picks ≤12 code regions to read"]
    plan --> synthesize["4. Synthesize 🤖 — strengths, risks, comment ammo"]
    synthesize --> vibe
    vibe{{Vibe Pack — tone, archetypes, pet topics}} --> post["5. Post 🤖 — title, body, author, flair"]
    vibe --> agenda
    vibe --> comments
    post --> agenda["6. Agenda 🤖 — 8–15 critique themes with stances"]
    agenda --> comments["7. Comments 🤖 — threaded tree with OP replies"]
    comments --> output[8. Output — scores, timestamps, JSON + browser UI]

Prerequisites

• An Anthropic API key

Install

# Install globally (bun runtime is bundled automatically)
npm install -g reddit-scrutinizer

# Or run directly without installing
npx reddit-scrutinizer ./my-project --subreddit rust

# If you have bun installed, you can also use:
bun add -g reddit-scrutinizer
bunx reddit-scrutinizer ./my-project --subreddit rust

Usage

# Set your API key
export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-...

# Scan a project and simulate r/rust feedback
reddit-scrutinizer ./my-project --subreddit rust

# Snarky r/programming with 60 comments, auto-open browser
reddit-scrutinizer ./my-project --subreddit programming --comments 60 --style snarky --open

# Reproducible run with a fixed seed
reddit-scrutinizer ./my-project --subreddit typescript --seed 42

# Use a different theme
reddit-scrutinizer ./my-project --subreddit programming --theme hackernews --open
reddit-scrutinizer ./my-project --subreddit programming --theme producthunt --open
reddit-scrutinizer ./my-project --subreddit programming --theme twitter --open
reddit-scrutinizer ./my-project --subreddit programming --theme bluesky --open
reddit-scrutinizer ./my-project --subreddit programming --theme qdb --open

# View a previous result
reddit-scrutinizer serve ./reddit-scrutiny.json --open

# View with a different theme
reddit-scrutinizer serve ./reddit-scrutiny.json --theme hackernews --open

Options

| Flag | Default | Description | | -------------------- | -------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | --api-key <key> | — | Anthropic API key (overrides ANTHROPIC_API_KEY env var) | | --subreddit <name> | programming | Target subreddit voice | | --comments <n> | 40 | Number of comments to generate | | --max-depth <n> | 4 | Max reply nesting depth | | --max-replies <n> | 3 | Number of OP replies | | --style <mode> | balanced | balanced, snarky, supportive, hostile | | --theme <name> | reddit | UI theme: reddit, hackernews, producthunt, twitter, bluesky, qdb | | --model <name> | claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929 | Anthropic model | | --out <file> | ./reddit-scrutiny.json | Output file path | | --open | false | Auto-open browser | | --port <n> | 3000 | UI server port | | --no-ui | — | Skip web UI | | --temperature <n> | 0.8 | Generation temperature | | --seed <n> | — | Random seed for reproducibility | | --max-tokens <n> | auto-scaled (up to 64000) | Max output tokens per API call. Auto-scales based on comment count | | --batch-size <n> | 50 | Comments per batch. Large comment counts are split into batches |

Available subreddits

Each subreddit has its own vibe pack defining tone, pet topics, taboos, commenter archetypes, and typical replies.

cpp · csharp · devops · experienceddevs · gamedev · golang · haskell · java · javascript · kotlin · linux · lisp · localllama · machinelearning · php · programming · python · reactjs · rust · selfhosted · typescript · webdev

Serve command

View results from a previous run without re-generating:

reddit-scrutinizer serve ./reddit-scrutiny.json --port 3000 --open
reddit-scrutinizer serve ./reddit-scrutiny.json --theme producthunt --open
reddit-scrutinizer serve ./reddit-scrutiny.json --theme twitter --open
reddit-scrutinizer serve ./reddit-scrutiny.json --theme qdb --open

The serve command accepts --port, --open, and --theme.