rdt-cli-reddit-terminal.md

title	rdt-cli — Reddit in Your Terminal (Reverse-Engineered API)
domain	ops
subdomain	scraping
tags	rdt-cli reddit scraping cli anti-detection
source	github.com/public-clis/rdt-cli
status	published
confidence	0.85
created	2026-07-01
verified_date
domain_expert

Problem

Reddit's official API closed self-service registration in 2025-11. Anonymous .json endpoints are blocked (403). Need a way to access Reddit programmatically.

Root Cause

Reddit aggressively blocks automated access:

• Anonymous .json endpoints return 403
• Official API requires manual approval for new apps
• PRAW (Python Reddit API Wrapper) only works with existing credentials

Solution

rdt-cli

A CLI that uses Reddit's reverse-engineered API with browser fingerprint impersonation.

# Install
pipx install rdt-cli

# Login (extracts browser cookies)
rdt login

# Browse
rdt sub python --sort hot
rdt search "MCP agent" --sort top --time year
rdt read t3_abc123

# Export
rdt search "query" --json -o results.json
rdt search "query" --yaml

Anti-Detection Features

• Chrome 133 fingerprint consistency
• sec-ch-ua header alignment
• Gaussian jitter on requests
• Exponential backoff on rate limits

Agent-Friendly Output

# Compact output (fewer tokens)
rdt search "query" --compact

# Structured output
rdt search "query" --yaml
rdt search "query" --json

# Non-TTY defaults to YAML automatically

Status Check

rdt status --json
# Returns: authenticated, cookie_count, capabilities

Verification

1. pipx install rdt-cli succeeds
2. rdt status returns valid JSON
3. After rdt login, rdt search "test" returns results
4. --compact output is significantly shorter

Notes

• Requires login (browser cookies) — no anonymous access
• v0.4.1 on PyPI, v0.4.2 on Git (use git source for latest)
• For network-blocked regions: needs proxy (HTTPS_PROXY env var)
• Agent-Reach installs this automatically for Reddit support
• Source: github.com/public-clis/rdt-cli (445 stars)