Reddit Search Actor Documentation

Overview

The Reddit Search Actor allows you to search Reddit and retrieve various types of content including posts, communities, media, and user profiles. This tool is perfect for market research, trend analysis, content discovery, or monitoring specific topics across Reddit.

Quick Start

Basic Search

To search for posts about "wallstreetbets":

{
  "query": "wallstreetbets"
}

That's it! The actor will return the top 25 most relevant posts from all of Reddit.

Input Parameters

Required Parameters

• query (string) - What you want to search for
  • Example: "artificial intelligence", "crypto news", "gaming"

Optional Parameters

Search Type (type)

Choose what kind of content to search for:

• "posts" (default) - Regular Reddit posts
• "communities" - Subreddits/communities
• "media" - Posts containing images or videos
• "people" - Reddit user profiles
• "all" - Returns all types in a single response

Example:

{
  "query": "javascript",
  "type": "communities"
}

Subreddit Filter (subredditUrl)

Limit your search to a specific subreddit by providing its URL:

• Example: "https://www.reddit.com/r/wallstreet"
• Leave empty to search all of Reddit

Time Filter (time)

Filter results by time period:

• "all" (default) - All time
• "hour" - Past hour
• "day" - Past 24 hours
• "week" - Past week
• "month" - Past month
• "year" - Past year

Example - Get today's trending posts:

{
  "query": "technology",
  "time": "day",
  "sortBy": "top"
}

Sort Order (sortBy)

Choose how to sort results:

• "relevance" (default) - Most relevant to your query
• "hot" - Currently trending
• "new" - Most recent first
• "top" - Highest voted
• "rising" - Gaining popularity
• "controversial" - Most debated

Pagination (limit and page)

• limit (1-100, default: 25) - Number of results per page
• page (1-50, default: 1) - Which page of results to fetch

Example - Get 50 results from page 2:

{
  "query": "stocks",
  "limit": 50,
  "page": 2
}

Usage Examples

Example 1: Find Popular Gaming Communities

{
  "query": "gaming",
  "type": "communities",
  "sortBy": "relevance"
}

Example 2: Get This Week's Top Posts About AI

{
  "query": "artificial intelligence",
  "type": "posts",
  "time": "week",
  "sortBy": "top",
  "limit": 50
}

Example 3: Search for Media in a Specific Subreddit

{
  "query": "memes",
  "type": "media",
  "subredditUrl": "https://www.reddit.com/r/funny",
  "time": "day"
}

Example 4: Get All Content Types at Once

{
  "query": "cryptocurrency",
  "type": "all",
  "time": "week"
}

Example 5: Find Users Discussing a Topic

{
  "query": "data science",
  "type": "people"
}

Response Format

Response Structure

All responses follow this structure:

{
  "success": true,
  "message": "Success",
  "data": {
    // Response data here
  },
  "error": null
}

Response Data by Type

Posts Response (type: "posts")

{
  "success": true,
  "message": "Success",
  "data": {
    "query": "wallstreetbets",
    "subreddit": "wallstreet",
    "page": 1,
    "limit": 25,
    "sort": "relevance",
    "time": "all",
    "type": "posts",
    "count": 25,
    "after": "t3_1g5hecm",
    "results": [
      {
        "id": "1nf54jp",
        "title": "Overheard two bankers discussing unannounced M&A deal at Starbucks...",
        "author": "deletedusssr",
        "subreddit": "wallstreet",
        "score": 954,
        "upvoteRatio": 0.92,
        "numComments": 493,
        "created": "2025-09-12T14:43:51.000Z",
        "url": "https://www.reddit.com/r/wallstreet/comments/1nf54jp/...",
        "permalink": "https://reddit.com/r/wallstreet/comments/1nf54jp/...",
        "isVideo": false,
        "isSelf": true,
        "selftext": "Just overheard the most insane conversation...",
        "thumbnail": "self",
        "domain": "self.wallstreet",
        "gilded": 0,
        "locked": false,
        "spoiler": false,
        "nsfw": false
      }
    ]
  },
  "error": null
}

Post Object Fields:

• id - Unique post identifier
• title - Post title
• author - Username who posted it
• subreddit - Which subreddit it's from
• score - Upvotes minus downvotes
• upvoteRatio - Percentage of upvotes (0.0 to 1.0)
• numComments - Number of comments
• created - ISO timestamp when posted
• url - Link to content (image, article, video, etc.)
• permalink - Link to the Reddit discussion page
• isVideo - Whether the post contains a video
• isSelf - Whether it's a text post
• selftext - Text content of the post (for text posts)
• thumbnail - Thumbnail image URL
• domain - Source domain of the link
• gilded - Number of Reddit awards
• locked - Whether comments are locked
• spoiler - Whether marked as spoiler
• nsfw - Whether marked as NSFW

Communities Response (type: "communities")

{
  "success": true,
  "message": "Success",
  "data": {
    "query": "wallstreetbets",
    "subreddit": "all",
    "page": 1,
    "limit": 25,
    "sort": "relevance",
    "time": "all",
    "type": "communities",
    "count": 25,
    "after": "t5_3v3ihg",
    "results": [
      {
        "name": "wallstreetbets",
        "title": "wallstreetbets",
        "description": "Like 4chan found a Bloomberg Terminal.",
        "subscribers": 19706992,
        "icon": "https://a.thumbs.redditmedia.com/w-gbSE-QjkUuNjq2yPpekzEtN4CXRiL4tTO_XfloH80.png",
        "url": "https://reddit.com/r/wallstreetbets/"
      },
      {
        "name": "wallstreetbetsGER",
        "title": "wallstreetbetsGER",
        "description": "Alles rund um die Themen Aktien, Derivate & co!",
        "subscribers": 227665,
        "icon": "",
        "url": "https://reddit.com/r/wallstreetbetsGER/"
      }
    ]
  },
  "error": null
}

Community Object Fields:

• name - Subreddit name (without r/ prefix)
• title - Display title
• description - Community description
• subscribers - Number of members
• icon - Community icon/logo URL
• url - Direct link to the subreddit

Media Response (type: "media")

{
  "success": true,
  "message": "Success",
  "data": {
    "query": "wallstreetbets",
    "subreddit": "all",
    "page": 1,
    "limit": 25,
    "sort": "relevance",
    "time": "all",
    "type": "media",
    "count": 25,
    "after": "t3_lhal3x",
    "results": [
      {
        "id": "1pw6ctr",
        "title": "WallStreetBets stock picks for 2026",
        "author": "GoodFortune67",
        "subreddit": "TheRaceTo10Million",
        "score": 1150,
        "upvoteRatio": 0.99,
        "numComments": 157,
        "created": "2025-12-26T15:05:13.000Z",
        "url": "https://i.redd.it/i5gbl4p1dk9g1.png",
        "permalink": "https://reddit.com/r/TheRaceTo10Million/comments/1pw6ctr/...",
        "isVideo": false,
        "isSelf": false,
        "selftext": "Last year, WSB ran a "one stock pick for 2025" thread...",
        "thumbnail": "https://b.thumbs.redditmedia.com/K48pof4NSP8B5HQezGuwwMa-ClXVHrZ4gU0S1Z7WMWI.jpg",
        "domain": "i.redd.it",
        "gilded": 0,
        "locked": false,
        "spoiler": false,
        "nsfw": false,
        "mediaType": "image"
      }
    ]
  },
  "error": null
}

Media Object Fields:

• All fields from Post Object, plus:
• mediaType - Type of media: "image" or "video"

People Response (type: "people")

{
  "success": true,
  "message": "Success",
  "data": {
    "query": "wallstreetbets",
    "subreddit": "all",
    "page": 1,
    "limit": 25,
    "sort": "relevance",
    "time": "all",
    "type": "people",
    "count": 21,
    "after": null,
    "results": [
      {
        "username": "wallstreetbets",
        "karma": 942,
        "icon": "https://www.redditstatic.com/avatars/defaults/v2/avatar_default_7.png",
        "url": "https://reddit.com/user/wallstreetbets"
      },
      {
        "username": "WallstreetbetsElite",
        "karma": 1,
        "icon": "https://www.redditstatic.com/avatars/defaults/v2/avatar_default_2.png",
        "url": "https://reddit.com/user/WallstreetbetsElite"
      }
    ]
  },
  "error": null
}

User Object Fields:

• username - Reddit username
• karma - Total karma points
• icon - Profile picture URL
• url - Link to user's profile

All Types Response (type: "all")

{
  "success": true,
  "message": "Success",
  "data": {
    "query": "wallstreetbets",
    "subreddit": "all",
    "page": 1,
    "limit": 25,
    "sort": "relevance",
    "time": "all",
    "type": "all",
    "results": {
      "posts": {
        "query": "wallstreetbets",
        "subreddit": "all",
        "page": 1,
        "limit": 25,
        "sort": "relevance",
        "time": "all",
        "type": "posts",
        "count": 25,
        "after": "t3_lhal3x",
        "results": [
          // Array of post objects (see Posts Response)
        ]
      },
      "communities": {
        "query": "wallstreetbets",
        "subreddit": "all",
        "page": 1,
        "limit": 25,
        "sort": "relevance",
        "time": "all",
        "type": "communities",
        "count": 25,
        "after": "t5_3v3ihg",
        "results": [
          // Array of community objects (see Communities Response)
        ]
      },
      "media": {
        "query": "wallstreetbets",
        "subreddit": "all",
        "page": 1,
        "limit": 25,
        "sort": "relevance",
        "time": "all",
        "type": "media",
        "count": 25,
        "after": "t3_lhal3x",
        "results": [
          // Array of media objects (see Media Response)
        ]
      },
      "people": {
        "query": "wallstreetbets",
        "subreddit": "all",
        "page": 1,
        "limit": 25,
        "sort": "relevance",
        "time": "all",
        "type": "people",
        "count": 21,
        "after": null,
        "results": [
          // Array of user objects (see People Response)
        ]
      }
    }
  },
  "error": null
}

Response Metadata Fields

Present in all response types:

• query - Your search term
• subreddit - Which subreddit was searched (or "all")
• page - Current page number
• limit - Number of results per page
• sort - Sort method used
• time - Time filter applied
• type - Type of search performed
• count - Number of results returned in this response
• after - Pagination token (for internal use)

Tips for Best Results

1. Be specific with queries - "tesla stock analysis" works better than just "tesla"
2. Use time filters for trending topics - Set time: "day" or time: "week" for current events
3. Combine filters - Search specific subreddits with time filters for focused results
4. Start small - Use default limit: 25 first, then increase if needed
5. Type "all" for exploration - Use type: "all" to discover communities, users, and posts in one search

Common Use Cases

• Market Research: Track brand mentions and sentiment
• Content Discovery: Find trending topics and discussions
• Community Analysis: Identify relevant subreddits and active users
• Trend Monitoring: Track topics over time using time filters
• Competitor Analysis: Monitor discussions about competitors or products

Rate Limits & Best Practices

• Results are cached for 2 min. to improve performance
• Stick to reasonable pagination limits (page 1-10 for most use cases)
• Use specific subreddit searches when possible to reduce load
• Combine with time filters to narrow results effectively

Support

For issues, questions, or feature requests, please refer to the Apify platform documentation or:

1. Create an issue and share your resource
2. Send us private message
3. Contact us via Telegram: @pintoflow