I want to crawl reddit for a certain keywords and then push to slack alert if any post is found for the same. Any idea how to go about this? I tried PRAW, but it feels too much work 💀

chatgpt suggestion: If you prefer to avoid using PRAW, you can set up the automation using a combination of other tools and services. Here’s a step-by-step guide: ### 1. Use Pushshift API for Reddit - Pushshift API: Pushshift is a free API that provides access to historical Reddit data, including comments and submissions. It’s a good alternative to PRAW for searching Reddit. - Fetch Data: You can use Pushshift to search for keywords across Reddit posts and comments. Example of a Pushshift API call:

bash
   <https://api.pushshift.io/reddit/search/submission/?q=your_keyword&size=10>

### 2. Set Up a Slack Webhook - Incoming Webhooks: Slack allows you to create incoming webhooks, which are a simple way to send messages to a Slack channel. - Create a Webhook URL: Set up an incoming webhook in Slack by going to your Slack workspace’s App management page and creating a new app. Once set up, you’ll get a Webhook URL. ### 3. Write a Python Script - Fetch Data from Pushshift: Use Python’s

requests

library to fetch data from Pushshift. - Send Data to Slack: Use the Webhook URL to send the message to your Slack channel. Example Python script:

python
   import requests

   # Pushshift API URL
   pushshift_url = "<https://api.pushshift.io/reddit/search/submission/?q={}&size=10>"

   # Slack Webhook URL
   slack_webhook_url = "<https://hooks.slack.com/services/YOUR/WEBHOOK/URL>"
   slack_channel = "#your_channel"

   # Keywords to search for
   keywords = ['keyword1', 'keyword2']

   def search_reddit_and_notify():
       for keyword in keywords:
           response = requests.get(pushshift_url.format(keyword))
           data = response.json()
           for submission in data['data']:
               message = f"Keyword '{keyword}' found: {submission['title']} - {submission['full_link']}"
               send_to_slack(message)

   def send_to_slack(message):
       payload = {"channel": slack_channel, "text": message}
       <http://requests.post|requests.post>(slack_webhook_url, json=payload)

   # Schedule the script to run periodically
   import schedule
   import time

   schedule.every(10).<http://minutes.do|minutes.do>(search_reddit_and_notify)

   while True:
       schedule.run_pending()
       time.sleep(1)

### 4. Deploy the Script - Run Locally: Test the script on your local machine. - Deploy on a Server: Use a VPS, cloud function (like AWS Lambda), or any other service that can run Python scripts at regular intervals. ### 5. Monitor and Maintain - Logging: Implement basic logging to capture errors or issues. - Scalability: If you need to scale, consider running the script in parallel or optimizing the search frequency. ### Tools Summary: - Pushshift API: For retrieving Reddit data without using PRAW. - Slack Webhook: For sending notifications to Slack. - Python + Requests Library: For making HTTP requests to Pushshift and Slack. - Scheduler: To run the script periodically. This setup allows you to monitor Reddit for specific keywords and receive notifications in Slack without relying on PRAW.

F5bot will do the job

Here you go - https://brand24.com/reddit-monitoring-tool/

I've used a tool called Syften in the past for this

We used feedcomber that provides hosted bot that runs the script