Redlib

What it's good for#

Reddit's own site is heavy, nags you to install its app, and follows you around. Redlib shows the same posts and comments in a light, quick page with none of that. You browse subreddits, read threads and search, and Reddit sees your server asking rather than your phone or laptop.

It's for reading. You can't post, vote or comment through it, and there's no Reddit account involved at all.

Using it#

Open it with the Web Interface button and type a subreddit into the search box, or go straight to one by adding it to the address, like /r/unitedkingdom. Links to Reddit work too: swap the reddit.com part of any Reddit link for your Redlib address and the rest stays the same.

The Settings link at the top lets each person choose a theme, the layout, whether to show NSFW posts and more. You can also subscribe to subreddits there to build your own front page. All of that is kept in your browser, not on the server, which is why Redlib has no accounts and nothing to back up. Redlib's settings page can give you a link that restores your settings in another browser.

Settings for everyone#

Three settings apply to everyone who uses your Redlib (they're in its config file; see Settings below):

• Safe Content Only hides every NSFW subreddit and post, with no way for a visitor to turn them back on. Useful if children use it.
• Default Theme is the theme a first-time visitor sees.
• Banner Text puts a line at the top of every page, if you want to say whose server this is.

When it stops working#

Reddit actively tries to stop services like Redlib, and it's hardest on addresses that belong to VPNs and data centres. So:

• At home it usually works, but a busy Redlib can hit Reddit's limits and show errors for a while.
• On a VPS it may be blocked outright, because Reddit recognises the address as a data centre.
• Through a VPN, via Gluetun and the Network Mode setting, you swap your address for the VPN's. That can get round a block on your own address, but VPN addresses are often blocked too. It's worth a try, not a fix.

When Reddit changes how it blocks, the fix has to come from Redlib's developers. Redlib updates automatically, so once they release one it arrives by itself.

Good to know#

• It's public to start with, so anyone who finds the address can use it, and every visitor counts against Reddit's limits on your address. If it's just for you, make it private.
• Search engines are asked not to index it, so it won't turn up in search results.
• It runs locked down: as an unprivileged user, on a read-only filesystem, with no extra permissions.
• More than one copy is possible, for example one with Safe Content Only for the children and one without.