Archive users and topics
sync pulls a user's full public post and comment history; track follows subreddits and topic networks over time. Re-runs are incremental.
A local lens on public Reddit history — archive users and topics, analyze them, own the data
Archive public Reddit history. Analyze it locally. Own the data.
RedLens pulls public Reddit discussions into a single SQLite file on your machine — no API keys, no Reddit account, no cloud. Sync users, track topics, and open analysis dashboards with one command.
1 fileeverything you archive lives in a single SQLite database on your machine
0 keysno Reddit API keys or accounts — public data via the arctic-shift mirror
2 depsruntime dependencies (platformdirs, sqlmodel) — nothing heavyweight
What it does
Everything lands in one SQLite file you control
Dashboards without a server
serve opens a live local dashboard; page and report emit standalone HTML files you can keep or share.
Coordinated-network analysis
leads, brands, and seeding surface accounts that post in lockstep — matrix views and brand metrics for investigating coordinated behavior.
Export and pseudonymize
export emits JSON, CSV, or JSONL for your own tooling; reports can pseudonymize usernames before you share findings.
Three commands
From pip install to a live dashboard
01
Install
02
Sync
03
Analyze
Common questions
Do I need a Reddit account or API key?
No. RedLens reads public data through arctic-shift, a free Reddit mirror. There is nothing to register and no rate-limit dance.
Where does the data live?
In one SQLite file on your machine. Nothing is uploaded anywhere; delete the file and the archive is gone.
Is this only for researchers?
It's built for researchers and analysts studying public discussion patterns, but anyone investigating a topic, a community, or coordinated posting can use it.
Can I use an LLM with it?
Optionally. summarize adds LLM-powered summaries and sentiment if you provide a key — the core workflow never requires one.
Insights
From the blog
Public Discussion Analysis
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Evidence Based Reviews
Is Reddit Cutting Off Google Search? Not Yet
Reddit may end Google’s $60M AI deal, but that alone would not block Search. Publisher traffic losses show why local archives matter either way.
Point RedLens at a username or a topic
MIT-licensed, Python 3.11+, two runtime dependencies. Install it, sync an account or subreddit, and open the dashboard.
Get RedLens on GitHub