SKILL.md — Reddit Archive
Download and archive Reddit posts (images, GIFs, videos) from users or subreddits.
Auto-Installation
This script automatically checks for and installs its dependencies on first run:
- requests — Python HTTP library
- yt-dlp — video downloader
If missing, it will attempt to install them via pip install --user. You can also:
- Pre-install:
pip3 install requests yt-dlp - Override yt-dlp path:
export YTDLP_PATH=/your/custom/path/yt-dlp
When to Use
You want to archive content from Reddit — either from a specific user (u/username) or a subreddit (r/subname).
Usage
python3 ~/path/to/reddit_archive.py [options]
Options
| Flag | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
-u, --user | Reddit username (either this OR --subreddit required) | — |
-s, --subreddit | Subreddit name (either this OR --user required) | — |
-o, --output | Output directory | ~/temp/.reddit_<target> |
--sort | Sort order: hot, new, rising, top, controversial | hot |
--time | Time filter for top/controversial: hour, day, week, month, year, all | — |
--after | Start date (YYYY-MM-DD) | No filter |
--before | End date (YYYY-MM-DD) | No filter |
--limit | Max posts to fetch (0 = unlimited) | 0 |
--images | Download images (jpg, png, webp) | ✓ |
--gifs | Download GIFs/videos (gfycat, redgifs, imgur) | ✓ |
--skip-existing | Skip already-downloaded files | ✓ |
--workers | Parallel download workers | 4 |
Examples
# All posts from a user
python3 reddit_archive.py -u someuser
# Subreddit with date range
python3 reddit_archive.py -s orlando --after 2025-01-01 --before 2025-12-31
# Top 10 most upvoted posts of all time from a subreddit
python3 reddit_archive.py -s funny --sort top --time all --limit 10
# New posts only
python3 reddit_archive.py -s orlando --sort new
# GIFs only, specific user
python3 reddit_archive.py -u someguy --gifs
# Custom output dir
python3 reddit_archive.py -u someuser -o ~/Downloads/reddit_archive
Output
Downloads are saved to the output directory with the following structure:
output_directory/
├── Pictures/
│ ├── {target}_{post_id}.jpg
│ ├── {target}_{post_id}.png
│ └── ...
└── Videos/
├── {target}_{post_id}.mp4
└── ...
File Organization
The skill is organized as:
reddit-archive/
├── SKILL.md ← This file
└── scripts/
├── reddit_archive.py ← Main downloader script
└── requirements.txt ← Python dependencies
Rate Limiting
- Pauses 0.8s between Reddit API calls to avoid 403s
- Uses
requestswith proper User-Agent header - Run one instance at a time — parallel runs trigger rate limits
Technical Notes
- Uses Reddit's JSON API (
/user/{name}/submitted.jsonor/r/{name}/hot.json) - For galleries, extracts all images from
media_metadata - GIF/video downloads use
yt-dlp - Date filtering is done client-side after fetching (filters by Reddit's
created_utc)