redlens 0.2.0

Archive any Reddit user's public history into a local SQLite database you own, and analyze it

redlens

Archive and analyze public Reddit history, locally. Built on arctic-shift. Three tables (users, posts, comments), one derived analytic, one fetch function, one CLI. Your data stays in a local SQLite file you own.

The name: a lens on public discussion. Today redlens archives and examines users; tracking topics across public discussion is where it's headed.

Install

pip install -e ".[dev]"

Use

redlens sync KimJongFunk              # pull from arctic
redlens analytics KimJongFunk         # print rollup
redlens analytics KimJongFunk --json  # or as JSON
redlens explore                       # browse the DB in your browser

No setup needed — the schema is created (and migrated) automatically on first use.

No API keys are needed — arctic-shift is a free, open mirror. (Optional keys for fresh-data sync via Reddit's official API and for AI profile summaries are coming; the redlens setup wizard ships disabled until they do something.)

Data

Everything lands in one SQLite file, by default in your per-user data directory (~/.local/share/redlens/redlens.db on Linux, ~/Library/Application Support/redlens/redlens.db on macOS).

Point elsewhere with (in order of precedence):

redlens --db /path/to/other.db sync spez      # 1. the --db flag
export REDLENS_DB=/path/to/other.db           # 2. env var

or set it once in ~/.config/redlens/config.toml (3.):

[storage]
db = "/path/to/other.db"

Explore

Browse the database in your browser — tables and row counts, schema, sortable and searchable rows, and a read-only SQL console with preset analyses:

redlens explore                       # opens the default DB, pops a browser
redlens explore --port 9000 --no-browser

The DB is opened read-only, so nothing here can mutate it.

Layout

redlens/     models, db, config, arctic client, ingest, analytics,
                 explore (the DB browser), cli
tests/           pytest, in-memory sqlite, no network

Test

pytest