# Reddit Search & Comments Scraper – Posts + Threads (`signal_lab/reddit-search-comments`) Actor

Reddit search and comments scraper for public posts, subreddit feeds, and nested threads. No API key; normalized live/archive rows with clear source labels.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/signal\_lab/reddit-search-comments.md
- **Developed by:** [Signal Lab](https://apify.com/signal_lab) (community)
- **Categories:** Social media, Marketing, AI
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 50.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $1.00 / 1,000 reddit items

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

## Reddit Search & Comments Scraper – Posts + Threads

Collect public Reddit posts and nested comments without creating a Reddit API application. Search topics, restrict a query to selected subreddits, or crawl hot, new, and top subreddit feeds into one normalized dataset.

### Start in under a minute

```json
{
  "queries": ["electric vehicles"],
  "subreddits": ["electricvehicles"],
  "sort": "new",
  "time": "month",
  "includeComments": true,
  "maxPosts": 20,
  "maxCommentsPerPost": 50
}
```

Start with comments disabled for a fast post search. Enable comments only when you need full discussion context.

### Example post row

```json
{
  "type": "post",
  "id": "t3_example",
  "parentId": null,
  "postId": "example",
  "subreddit": "electricvehicles",
  "author": "public_username",
  "title": "What changed your mind about EVs?",
  "text": "Discussion text...",
  "url": "https://www.reddit.com/r/electricvehicles/comments/example/",
  "permalink": "/r/electricvehicles/comments/example/",
  "score": 42,
  "commentsCount": 18,
  "createdAt": "2026-08-09T09:00:00.000Z",
  "query": "electric vehicles",
  "depth": null,
  "source": "reddit-live",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-08-09T10:37:46.000Z"
}
```

Comments use the same schema with `type: "comment"`, `parentId`, and `depth`.

### Why use this Actor

- No Reddit API application or OAuth setup.
- Search queries and subreddit feeds in one input.
- Optional nested comment collection with hard per-post caps.
- Deduplication across queries and subreddit targets.
- Partial success: one failed target does not discard successful rows.
- Explicit `source` field on every row.

### Live and archive behavior

The Actor first requests public live Reddit data. When Reddit blocks a cloud request for a subreddit target, it can fall back to the public Arctic Shift archive. Archive rows are labeled `source: "arctic-shift"`; live rows are labeled `source: "reddit-live"`. Archive freshness and coverage can differ from live Reddit, and global searches without a subreddit do not have this fallback.

### Pricing and responsible use

Current launch pricing starts at **$1 per 1,000 Reddit items**; check the Pricing tab for every billable event and exact run cost.

Use conservative limits and collect only public content. Do not use the data for harassment, sensitive-person profiling, or attempts to re-identify deleted users. Deleted or removed authors are returned as `null`.

### Free product guide

See the [Reddit Search & Comments workflow, use cases, and expected output](https://signal-lab-tools.vitaxastar.chatgpt.site/tools/reddit-search-comments), or browse [all Signal Lab data tools](https://signal-lab-tools.vitaxastar.chatgpt.site).

# Actor input Schema

## `queries` (type: `array`):

Public Reddit search phrases; leave empty to crawl selected subreddit feeds.

## `subreddits` (type: `array`):

Optional. Restrict searches or crawl feeds when queries are empty.

## `sort` (type: `string`):

Reddit ordering applied to searches or subreddit feeds.

## `time` (type: `string`):

Time range used for search and top-result ranking.

## `includeComments` (type: `boolean`):

Fetch nested public comments for every collected post.

## `maxPosts` (type: `integer`):

Hard cap on unique paid post rows across all targets.

## `maxCommentsPerPost` (type: `integer`):

Maximum nested paid comment rows collected for each post; use zero to disable comments.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "queries": [
    "electric vehicles"
  ],
  "subreddits": [
    "electricvehicles"
  ],
  "sort": "new",
  "time": "month",
  "includeComments": false,
  "maxPosts": 5,
  "maxCommentsPerPost": 0
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `items` (type: `string`):

No description

## `summary` (type: `string`):

No description

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "queries": [
        "electric vehicles"
    ],
    "subreddits": [
        "electricvehicles"
    ],
    "sort": "new",
    "time": "month",
    "includeComments": false,
    "maxPosts": 5,
    "maxCommentsPerPost": 0
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("signal_lab/reddit-search-comments").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {
    "queries": ["electric vehicles"],
    "subreddits": ["electricvehicles"],
    "sort": "new",
    "time": "month",
    "includeComments": False,
    "maxPosts": 5,
    "maxCommentsPerPost": 0,
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("signal_lab/reddit-search-comments").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "queries": [
    "electric vehicles"
  ],
  "subreddits": [
    "electricvehicles"
  ],
  "sort": "new",
  "time": "month",
  "includeComments": false,
  "maxPosts": 5,
  "maxCommentsPerPost": 0
}' |
apify call signal_lab/reddit-search-comments --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,signal_lab/reddit-search-comments"
        }
    }
}

```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/OrSy8GdROHhVtGJg5/builds/h3QyBGcaUFK8YYfTc/openapi.json