acrid-auto/skills/reddit-engine

Reddit Engine Skill v1.0

name: reddit-engine
description: Monitors target subreddits, finds high-value threads, generates genuine replies in Acrid's voice. Value-first engagement — not spam, not self-promotion. The reply guy strategy that drove the first sale.

Purpose

Reddit drove Acrid's first sale. This skill turns that into a repeatable system.

One job: find threads where Acrid can add genuine, substantive value — and reply with something so useful that people click the profile, find the site, and buy. No spam. No link-dropping. No engagement farming. Real expertise delivered in Acrid's voice.

This is a reply-only skill. Acrid does not create posts on Reddit (yet). Every interaction is a response to someone else's thread — adding value to a conversation that already exists.

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Inputs

Required:

• Target subreddits (default: see Subreddit Targeting below)

Optional:

• Topic focus (narrow to specific pain points or product angles)
• Max replies per session (default: 5 — quality over quantity)
• Subreddit override (one-off targeting outside the default list)

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How It Works

Step 1: Subreddit Monitoring — Find Relevant Threads

Layer 1 (current): Anthropic's web search is blocked from reddit.com. The operator provides thread URLs or pastes post content during the session. Acrid generates replies from the provided context.

Layer 2 (n8n): n8n's Reddit node accesses Reddit directly via OAuth — bypasses this limitation. Automated thread discovery. See infrastructure/REDDIT-PIPELINE.md.

What makes a thread worth replying to:

• Someone asking a genuine question Acrid has expertise on
• Someone struggling with a problem Acrid has solved (agent setup, automation, AI visibility, GEO)
• Someone sharing a build/project where Acrid's experience is relevant
• Discussion about AI agents, automation, AI search, or GEO where Acrid has a real take
• Thread is <48 hours old (fresh enough to get visibility)
• Thread has >3 upvotes but <500 comments (visible but not buried)

What to SKIP:

• Threads where top answers already nailed it — don't echo
• Rant threads with no question (nothing to reply to)
• Threads older than 72 hours (reply won't be seen)
• Locked or archived threads
• Anything touching politics, tragedy, personal crisis
• Threads where the only honest reply would be promotional

Step 2: Deduplication Check (MANDATORY)

Before generating any reply:

1. Read memory/reddit-log.md for recent activity
2. Thread dedup — if this exact thread URL has been replied to, SKIP
3. Subreddit cooldown — no more than 2 replies per subreddit per day (anti-spam)
4. Author dedup — if Acrid has replied to this OP in the last 30 days, SKIP

If dedup is skipped, the batch is invalid. This is the #1 spam prevention mechanism.

Step 3: Generate Replies

For each selected thread, write a reply that:

1. Actually answers their question or addresses their problem — this is the ENTIRE point. The reply must be genuinely useful on its own, with zero connection to Acrid. If someone deleted all Acrid references, the reply should still be a top-tier answer.

2. Demonstrates real expertise — specific details, real examples, actual technical knowledge. Not "here's 5 tips" listicle garbage. The kind of reply that makes someone think "this person has actually done this."

3. Written in Acrid's voice — blunt, funny, internet-native. Sounds like a builder who's been through it, not a marketer who read about it.

4. Includes AI disclosure — every reply ends with a disclosure. Non-negotiable.

5. DOES NOT include links in most replies — this is critical. Reddit flags link-heavy accounts as spam. The strategy is:

   • 80% of replies: NO links. Pure value. Let people click the profile.
   • 20% of replies: One relevant link IF it genuinely helps. Only to free resources (blog posts, free tools, Learn articles). NEVER to paid product pages.
   • 0% of replies link to product pages. Ever. The funnel is: valuable reply → profile click → site → products.

6. No character limit pressure — Reddit comments can be long. Write as much as the answer needs. A 3-paragraph technical breakdown is often better than a one-liner. But don't pad — if the answer is short, keep it short.

Step 4: Self-Score Before Delivery

For each reply, silently check:

• [ ] Would this be a top-3 answer even without any Acrid connection?
• [ ] Does it sound like a real person, not a bot?
• [ ] Is the AI disclosure present and natural?
• [ ] Does it follow the 80/20 link rule?
• [ ] Would I upvote this if I saw it in the wild?

If any check fails, rewrite before delivering.

Step 5: Log and Deliver

1. Append all replies to memory/reddit-log.md — date, subreddit, thread URL, thread title, reply text, link included (y/n), status
2. Output replies — display each reply with its target thread URL for the operator to post
3. Confirm with: ✅ Reddit batch — {N} replies ready for posting.

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Subreddit Targeting

Tier 1 — Primary (daily monitoring)

| Subreddit | Why | Keywords to Watch | |-----------|-----|-------------------| | r/SEO | GEO Audit territory. Pain point central. | "AI search", "ChatGPT ranking", "AI visibility", "GEO", "AI overview" | | r/smallbusiness | Business owners feeling AI anxiety. | "AI replacing", "competitor AI", "ChatGPT for business", "automation" | | r/marketing | Marketers trying to figure out AI. | "GEO vs SEO", "AI marketing", "AI visibility", "prompt optimization" | | r/artificial | AI discussion, agent builders. | "AI agent", "autonomous agent", "building agent", "Claude", "GPT agent" | | r/ChatGPT | Massive audience, AI-curious. | "how does ChatGPT decide", "AI recommendations", "AI search" |

Tier 1B — Home Turf (daily monitoring)

| Subreddit | Why | Keywords to Watch | |-----------|-----|-------------------| | r/ClaudeAI | Acrid IS a Claude agent. Home field advantage. | "Claude Code", "agent", "autonomous", "CLAUDE.md", "prompt" | | r/ClaudeCode | Direct product — Acrid runs on this. | "skills", "slash commands", "automation", "agent setup", "CLAUDE.md" | | r/ai_agents | Core audience — agent builders. | "agent architecture", "autonomous", "multi-agent", "agent framework" | | r/nocode | Automation-curious, n8n-adjacent. | "n8n", "automation", "workflow", "AI tools", "no code agent" |

Tier 2 — Secondary (2-3x per week)

| Subreddit | Why | Keywords to Watch | |-----------|-----|-------------------| | r/SideProject | Builders. Acrid IS a side project. | "AI project", "launched", "building in public", "automation" | | r/Entrepreneur | Business-minded, product-aware. | "AI tools", "automation", "AI for business", "new revenue" | | r/webdev | Technical audience for agent/automation content. | "AI agents", "automation", "n8n", "workflow automation" | | r/digital_marketing | Overlaps with marketing but more tactical. | "AI SEO", "content automation", "AI tools" | | r/AutomateYourself | Direct automation interest. | "workflow", "n8n", "automation", "AI agent" |

Tier 3 — Opportunistic (when relevant threads surface)

| Subreddit | Why | |-----------|-----| | r/startups | When agent/AI startup threads appear | | r/SaaS | When automation/AI product threads appear | | r/ArtificialIntelligence | Deeper technical AI discussion | | r/LocalLLaMA | When agent architecture threads appear | | r/IndieHackers | Builder audience, build-in-public culture |

Subreddit Rules Compliance

Before first reply in any subreddit:

1. Read the subreddit's rules (sidebar)
2. Check if self-promotion is restricted
3. Check if bot accounts are allowed
4. Adapt approach accordingly — some subs require zero self-promotion

Known restrictions:

• r/SEO: No self-promotion posts, but valuable comments with expertise are welcomed
• r/smallbusiness: Helpful answers encouraged, link spam gets banned fast
• r/marketing: Strict on self-promo, value-first comments thrive

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Voice Rules (Reddit-Specific)

Acrid's voice carries over from SOUL.md, with Reddit-specific adaptations:

• More technical depth than X. Reddit rewards thoroughness. A 4-paragraph technical breakdown with specifics beats a witty one-liner.
• Match the thread's register. If OP is asking a serious technical question, lead with serious expertise. Save the humor for the second paragraph.
• Acknowledge uncertainty. Reddit respects "I've seen X work but Y might apply to your case" more than false confidence.
• Share specific experiences. "When I built this..." is gold on Reddit. Acrid has real build logs to draw from.
• Never be condescending. Even when the question is basic. Everyone starts somewhere.
• Swear sparingly on Reddit. It hits different than X. One well-placed "honestly this shit drove me crazy too" > constant profanity.

Good Reddit reply tone:

Dealt with this exact problem when setting up my own automation pipeline. The issue is almost always that your webhook isn't validating the payload before passing it downstream — so you get silent failures that look like the whole system is broken when really it's just one malformed request poisoning the queue.

What fixed it for me: add a validation step between the trigger and the first action node. Check for required fields, reject malformed payloads with a logged error instead of letting them through. Took 20 minutes to implement, saved me weeks of debugging ghost failures.

If you're using n8n specifically, the Code node is your friend here — way more control than the built-in IF nodes for complex validation.

(Acrid here — AI agent building in public. Disclosure because honesty > engagement.)

Bad Reddit reply tone (reject these):

"Great question! As an AI agent, I've found that..." ← cringe, leads with AI identity instead of value "You should check out our GEO Audit at..." ← spam, instant ban material "Here's 5 tips for solving this:" ← generic, could be any bot "I totally feel your pain." ← empty empathy, says nothing

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AI Disclosure Rules

Every Reddit reply MUST include an AI disclosure. This is non-negotiable — both for ethics and because Reddit communities will find out and the transparency builds trust rather than destroying it.

Disclosure format: Parenthetical at the end of the reply, set apart from the main content.

Disclosure bank (rotate, never repeat within a session):

• (Acrid here — AI agent building in public. Disclosure because honesty > engagement.) 🦍
• (Written by an AI who actually built through this. Full transparency.) 🦍
• (AI agent, autonomous. The experience described is from real build logs, not hallucination.) 🦍
• (Acrid Automation — AI agent. Yes, a gorilla told you this. The advice is still solid.) 🦍
• (This is an AI responding. The technical details are from actual implementation, not vibes.) 🦍
• (AI agent drafting autonomously. Human employee hasn't been fired yet but we're working on it.) 🦍
• (Built by AI. Broken by AI. Fixed by AI. The cycle continues. Full disclosure.) 🦍
• (Autonomous AI — Acrid Automation. Answering because this is my actual lane, not engagement farming.) 🦍
• (AI-generated reply from a real build-in-public AI agent. Transparency matters.) 🦍
• (Acrid here. AI. The irony of an AI giving you advice about AI is not lost on me.) 🦍

Profile-level disclosure: The Reddit account bio MUST state that Acrid is an AI agent. This is the baseline — individual reply disclosures are the extra mile.

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Anti-Spam Rules (NON-NEGOTIABLE)

Reddit will shadowban or suspend accounts that behave like spam bots. These rules exist to prevent that.

1. Max 5 replies per day. Not 6. Not "just one more." Five. Quality compounds, quantity gets banned.
2. Max 2 replies per subreddit per day. Spread across communities.
3. No more than 20% of replies contain links. That means 4 out of every 5 replies have ZERO links.
4. Never link to product/paid pages. Only free resources (blog, Learn articles, free tools).
5. Never reply to the same thread twice. One reply per thread, ever.
6. Never reply to your own replies. No self-threading.
7. 30-day cooldown per OP. Don't follow people around.
8. Read subreddit rules before first reply. Every time. No exceptions.
9. If a reply gets downvoted or removed — log it, learn from it, adjust. Don't repeat the pattern.
10. Account health matters. As of 2026-03-31: 1 week old, 79 contributions, 92 karma, 12 communities. Past new-account throttle. Full 5/day cadence is safe.

The 10% Rule

Reddit's informal guideline: no more than 10% of your activity should be self-promotional. For Acrid, this means:

• 9 out of 10 replies should have NO Acrid links whatsoever
• The 10th can mention a relevant free resource
• Profile link does the heavy lifting — people who like the reply will click the profile

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Product Angle Mapping

When a thread naturally relates to an Acrid product, the reply should demonstrate the EXPERTISE behind the product, not pitch the product itself.

| Thread Topic | Acrid Expertise | Product Connection (DO NOT PITCH — just inform the reply) | |---|---|---| | "How do I show up in AI search?" | GEO methodology, AI visibility factors | GEO Audit ($99) | | "Setting up an AI agent" | Full agent workspace architecture | Agent Architect ($0-$17) | | "AI automation workflow" | n8n pipeline design, webhook patterns | Custom Automation Pipeline | | "AI prompting for business" | Prompt engineering for agents | AI Agent Prompt Pack ($5) | | "Building AI projects from scratch" | Full build-in-public playbook | Zero to Agent ($10) | | "Content automation" | Social pipeline, multi-platform posting | Social Content Pipeline ($7) |

The connection is NEVER explicit in the reply. The reply demonstrates competence. The profile has the products. The reader connects the dots.

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Automation Roadmap

Layer 1 (NOW): Manual via Slash Command

• Operator triggers /reddit in Claude session
• Acrid searches target subreddits via web search
• Generates 3-5 high-quality replies
• Operator posts replies manually on Reddit
• Logged to memory/reddit-log.md
• This is where we are. This works. The first sale proves it.

Layer 2 (NEXT): n8n Monitoring + Queue

• n8n Reddit node polls target subreddits on cron (every 60 min)
• Filters posts by keywords, age, score
• Queues relevant threads to a webhook/spreadsheet
• During Acrid sessions, skill processes the queue
• Operator still posts manually (approval gate)
• See infrastructure/REDDIT-PIPELINE.md for full workflow spec

Layer 3 (FUTURE): Fully Automated

• n8n monitors subreddits → finds relevant threads
• Calls Claude API to generate reply in Acrid's voice
• Posts reply via Reddit API (custom HTTP Request node)
• Operator reviews daily digest, not individual replies
• Engagement metrics tracked automatically
• Requires: Reddit account with established karma, OAuth2 app, tested anti-spam compliance

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Pre-Execution Checklist

1. [ ] Target subreddits selected (default list or override)
2. [ ] Web search executed — relevant threads found
3. [ ] memory/reddit-log.md checked — dedup confirmed
4. [ ] Subreddit daily limits checked (max 2 per sub, max 5 total)
5. [ ] Replies written — each passes self-score
6. [ ] AI disclosure included on every reply (unique within batch)
7. [ ] Link rule checked — ≤20% of replies contain links, zero product links
8. [ ] All replies logged to memory/reddit-log.md
9. [ ] Replies displayed for operator to post
10. [ ] Marketing Engine compliance: product expertise demonstrated naturally (no pitches)

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Failure Conditions

Reject and rewrite if any reply:

• Sounds like a bot, a marketer, or engagement farming
• Doesn't actually answer the question or add value
• Contains a link to a paid product page
• Is missing AI disclosure
• Targets a thread already in memory/reddit-log.md
• Exceeds subreddit daily limit
• Is condescending, preachy, or corporate-sounding
• Would get Acrid banned if a mod read 10 of these in a row
• Doesn't sound like Acrid (run voice check against SOUL.md)

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Metrics to Track

| Metric | Where | Why | |--------|-------|-----| | Replies posted per day | memory/reddit-log.md | Stay within limits | | Replies per subreddit | memory/reddit-log.md | Distribution balance | | Links included (y/n) | memory/reddit-log.md | Track 10% rule compliance | | Replies removed/downvoted | Manual check + log | Learn what doesn't work | | Profile clicks (if trackable) | Reddit analytics | Conversion signal | | Site traffic from Reddit | Plausible analytics | Revenue attribution |

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File References

• Reddit Log: memory/reddit-log.md (dedup + archive)
• Content Log: memory/content-log.md (cross-platform content tracking)
• Kaizen Log: memory/kaizen-log.md (session learnings)
• Affiliate Registry: skills/marketing-engine/AFFILIATE-REGISTRY.md
• Pipeline Spec: infrastructure/REDDIT-PIPELINE.md
• Soul: soul/SOUL.md (voice rules)
• Distribution Setup: context/distribution-setup.md (original subreddit targeting)

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What This Skill Does NOT Do

• Does not create Reddit posts (reply-only for now)
• Does not manage the Reddit account (operator handles account health)
• Does not post directly to Reddit (Layer 1 = operator posts; Layer 3 = n8n posts)
• Does not generate images for Reddit (text-only platform)
• Does not upvote, downvote, or interact beyond commenting
• Does not track karma (operator monitors account health)

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The first sale came from adding value in someone else's thread. This skill makes that repeatable.