Subreddit Pain Miner for Validation and Outreach

Production-ready Apify Actor that mines public Reddit JSON endpoints for customer pain signals. It is designed for validation research and respectful outreach preparation, not automated posting.

What It Does

• Searches public Reddit JSON endpoints for matching posts in selected subreddits.
• Fetches public comments JSON for matched posts.
• Deduplicates posts and comments.
• Scores each item for painIntensity, buyerFit, and recency.
• Emits structured records with quotes, vocabulary, urgency, validation questions, and a non-spammy reply draft.
• Supports deterministic mockItems input so tests and smoke runs do not depend on live Reddit.

Output Fields

Each output item includes:

• painQuote
• sourceUrl
• subreddit
• author when public
• suggestedValidationQuestion
• softReplyDraft
• competitorMentions
• urgency
• buyerVocabulary
• itemType
• createdAt
• painIntensity
• buyerFit
• recency

Input

Required production inputs:

• subreddits: array of subreddit names without r/
• queries: array of search terms

Optional tuning inputs:

• maxPosts
• maxCommentsPerPost
• timeWindowDays
• sort

Deterministic testing input:

• mockItems: optional array of fixture items. When present, the actor skips live Reddit requests entirely.

See examples/sample-input.json.

Local Run

Install:

$npm install

Run deterministic smoke path:

$npm run smoke

Run tests:

$npm test

Run the actor locally with the sample input file:

$node src/main.js --input examples/sample-input.json --output examples/generated-local-output.json

Run against live Reddit by removing mockItems from your input JSON and passing that file to src/main.js, or by using apify run.

Apify Run

Local Apify run:

$apify run

Typical Apify input:

{
  "subreddits": ["SaaS", "smallbusiness"],
  "queries": ["frustrated with", "looking for a tool"],
  "maxPosts": 10,
  "maxCommentsPerPost": 5,
  "timeWindowDays": 90,
  "sort": "relevance"
}

Anti-Spam Stance

• This actor does not post, comment, message, or automate outreach on Reddit.
• softReplyDraft is for human review only.
• The output is intended for research, validation interviews, and respectful manual follow-up.

Error Handling

• Uses only public Reddit JSON endpoints.
• Gracefully handles 403, 429, and network errors by logging warnings and continuing.
• Includes sourceUrl for every record so each finding can be reviewed manually.

Limitations

• Public Reddit JSON can rate-limit or block requests.
• Search quality depends on Reddit indexing and the chosen queries.
• Scores are heuristic and should be reviewed by a human before making business decisions.
• Deleted users and deleted comment bodies are omitted or normalized.

Files

• Actor config: .actor/actor.json
• Input schema: .actor/input_schema.json
• Runtime: src/main.js, src/lib.js
• Examples: examples/sample-input.json, examples/sample-output.json
• Tests: tests/smoke.test.mjs

Publish Commands

Do not publish automatically from this repository. When ready, use:

apify login
apify push

Then publish from the Apify Console after final review.