RedReap Help

RedReap runs on your own computer. Everything it downloads is stored on your machine. There is no cloud storage and no account to create, other than an optional Reddit connection for your saved posts.

Opening the dashboard

When you launch RedReap it opens the dashboard in your browser. If it does not, open:

http://127.0.0.1:5000

The dashboard has five tabs:

• Users — reap individual Reddit profiles. This is the main feature.
• Post Tools — save or resurrect one specific Reddit post.
• Subreddits — reap or resurrect whole subreddits.
• Saved Posts — download your own saved posts.
• Settings — storage folders, naming, content sources, proxy.

The Help button in the dashboard opens this page. The search box next to it searches your whole library by post title, author, subreddit or tag.

Set your storage folders before the first reap. Everything else has sensible defaults.

Storage locations

Use Browse to pick a folder, then Save.

What to save

• Media only (default) — images, videos and audio.
• Media + text/link posts — also keeps text posts and link posts in the gallery.
• Posts only — archive mode: post records without media downloads.
• Save comments with saved posts and Resurrect comments with posts add comment threads where available.
• Single post destination — where Post Tools saves a single post: the author's folder when it exists, or a dedicated _posts folder.

Proxy

A proxy is recommended so your home connection is less likely to be rate-limited by Reddit. Reddit page and API requests go through the proxy. The actual media downloads from Reddit, RedGifs, Imgur and the archive services go direct, which keeps proxy bandwidth low. Use Test Proxy before you start.

NSFW content sources

Two optional sources can be switched on here. RedGifs handling is part of every user reap and is described in RedGifs.

• Erome — off by default. When on, user reaps discover Erome albums and an ER line appears in the Sources column.
• Soundgasm — off by default. When on, audio linked from a user's posts is downloaded during their reap.

Custom tags

Two optional Yes/No tags for the Users table. Name them anything (for example VIP or Paid). Named tags appear as columns and as filter buttons. Leave a label blank to hide that tag.

Display

Show Notes column adds a free-text note field to every row of the Users table.

File naming

Templates for user downloads, subreddit downloads, RedGifs files and gallery posts. See File naming.

Adding a user

1. Type a Reddit username in the Reddit username box.
2. Click Add & Reap. RedReap starts downloading that user's public post media straight away.
3. Watch progress in the status bar and the activity log at the bottom of the page.

You can also add a profile by its RedGifs username or Erome username from the same row of inputs.

What gets downloaded

• Images from Reddit's image hosts, including multi-image gallery posts (each image numbered).
• Videos from Reddit, with the separate audio track merged in so they play with sound.
• GIFs, converted to MP4 for size and compatibility.
• Imgur images and videos linked from posts.
• RedGifs videos are collected for review rather than downloaded immediately. See RedGifs.

The table

Reap options

• All — Reddit posts plus every enabled source. The default.
• Reddit — only media from Reddit posts.
• RedGifs / Erome / Soundgasm — only that source.
• Full reap — rescan the whole history instead of only new posts.
• Coverage check — compare what you have against what the profile shows without downloading.

Reaping a user you already have only fetches what is new. Files already on disk are never downloaded twice.

Auto-Reap

Switch Auto on for the users you want followed, and leave the Auto toggle in the toolbar on. While RedReap is open it checks those users every four hours. Reap Auto runs that check immediately. Users with Auto off are never touched by it.

Toolbar actions (apply to the checked rows)

• Import Folders — add existing user folders on disk to the dashboard.
• Resurrect — recover a deleted account's content from archives. Choose All, Images or Videos first. See Resurrecting.
• Titles — write each post's title into the MP4 file's metadata.
• Merge — combine two or more profiles that belong to the same person. See Merging.
• Delete — remove users from the dashboard. Files on disk are not touched.

The filter bar above the table narrows the list by your custom tags, account status, resurrected status, RedGifs activity, or a name search.

Click a user's file count, a subreddit's View Gallery, or the Saved Posts gallery to browse what you have without opening a file manager.

Sorting

• Newest / Oldest posted — by when it was posted to Reddit.
• Newest / Oldest downloaded — by when RedReap saved it.
• Longest / Shortest video and Name A-Z / Z-A. Subreddit and saved galleries also sort by score and author.

Filtering

• Content — All, Media, Text, Links, Comments.
• Media dropdown — All types, Images, Videos, Videos with sound, Videos without sound, Audio files.
• Favorites — only items you starred.
• Resurrected — only items a Resurrect run brought back (user and subreddit galleries).
• Search this gallery — title, filename, author, subreddit, text or tag.
• Clear resets every filter. Filters are remembered per gallery.

Per item

• Click the picture to open the viewer. Video volume, mute, loop and speed are remembered.
• Click the title to open the original Reddit post.
• Multi-image posts are grouped into one card with next and previous arrows.
• Star to favorite, add tags, or delete. Delete removes the item from every gallery it appears in and keeps it in the Trash for 30 days, where it can be restored.

Import Media

Scans the gallery's folder for files RedReap does not know about yet and adds them. Use it after copying files in by hand or after moving your library.

1. During a reap, RedReap notes every RedGifs video linked in the user's posts.
2. Those videos are collected for review, not downloaded yet, so you can look before committing to large downloads.
3. RedReap also finds the user's RedGifs profile and lists videos there that were never posted to Reddit.
4. Click the RG count in the Sources column to open the RedGifs panel.

The RedGifs panel

• Pending — found but not downloaded. Tick the ones you want and click Download Selected, or Select All. Clear Selected drops items you do not want from the list.
• Failed — downloads that did not complete. Retry Selected tries again; Clear Failed removes them from the list.
• Downloaded — what is on disk.

Refresh re-reads the RedGifs profile for new videos.

Profile name

RedReap discovers the RedGifs name automatically. If it picks the wrong one, double-click the name in the Sources column and type the right one; a name you set by hand is kept.

File names

RedGifs videos keep their original RedGifs name (for example WarmShallowAgouti.mp4) and the Reddit title is written into the file's metadata. That name is also how duplicates are recognised, so changing the RedGifs template in Settings can reduce duplicate detection for existing libraries.

When a Reddit account is deleted its posts vanish from Reddit. RedReap can bring much of that content back from archive services.

1. Tick one or more users in the Users tab. Deleted and suspended accounts are the usual candidates, but Resurrect also works on active accounts to reach posts older than Reddit's 1,000-post limit.
2. Choose All, Images or Videos.
3. Click Resurrect. It runs in the background; progress shows in the status bar and activity log.

How it works

• RedReap first looks for archived records of the user's posts, then for preserved copies of each file, then runs extra passes to match what the first passes missed.
• If a video you already have is silent and an archived copy with sound exists, the silent copy is replaced.
• Items that cannot be found anywhere are marked failed. Later Resurrect runs retry each failed item up to three more times, in case new archive copies have appeared, then stop trying.

For one specific post rather than a whole profile.

• Single Reddit Post — paste a post URL, shortlink or post ID and click Find Post. RedReap shows what the post contains (media, RedGifs, Erome, Soundgasm). Save Current Media downloads what the post links to now. Recover Missing Media runs a focused resurrect on just that post when the original is gone. Add Author & Reap adds the poster to your Users tab and reaps their whole profile.
• Where it lands depends on Single post destination in Settings: the author's folder when one exists, or a dedicated _posts folder.
• Saved Single Posts lists posts you have saved this way so you can reopen them.

1. Type the subreddit name without the r/.
2. Pick your filters: Sort (Top, Hot, New, Rising), Timeframe for Top, number of posts (Reddit itself stops at 1,000), minimum upvotes, media types, and whether to include NSFW posts.
3. Optionally add Include keywords (only posts whose title contains them, using Reddit search) and Exclude keywords.
4. Click Reap.

Reaped subreddits

Every subreddit you have reaped is listed below the form. Click a row for Reap New (same settings as last time), Reap with Filters (change settings first), and View Gallery.

In a subreddit gallery each card shows the title, score, author and date. The + Reap button next to an author adds them to your Users tab and starts reaping their profile.

When a subreddit is banned or made private, Reddit removes its content. RedReap can recover media for it from the archives.

1. Open Recover Deleted / Banned Subreddit in the Subreddits tab.
2. Enter the subreddit name.
3. Set how many posts to recover, or All Posts to keep going until the archives run out.
4. Choose sort order (Top by score is recommended), minimum upvotes, media filter and keywords.
5. Click Resurrect.

Downloads media from your own saved Reddit posts. This needs your Reddit login, which stays on your computer.

Connecting

RedReap uses your Reddit reddit_session cookie. No Reddit app registration is needed.

1. In a browser where you are logged in to Reddit, open Developer Tools (F12).
2. Go to Application → Cookies → reddit.com.
3. Copy the full value of the cookie named reddit_session.
4. Paste it into the Saved Posts tab and click Connect. The ? next to the box shows these steps again.

RedReap remembers the connection between launches. If it reports a disconnected state, paste a fresh cookie.

Downloading

Set the number of posts (Reddit's limit is 1,000), a minimum score and the media types you want, then click Download Saved.

Where files go

The same content gets posted to many subreddits under different titles. RedReap stops it from piling up.

• Known-source check — if RedReap already has a file from the same link, it reuses it.
• Exact-copy check — after a download, the file's fingerprint is compared with everything in your library, so byte-identical files are caught whatever they are called.
• Look-alike check — near-duplicate images (resized or re-encoded copies) are caught too. For videos this applies during Resurrect and RedGifs downloads.

One copy, many galleries

When the same file belongs in a user folder, a subreddit folder and Saved Posts, RedReap stores it once and shows it in every gallery it belongs to. The gallery header shows "items" and "files" separately when they differ.

Which copy is kept

When two files turn out to be the same content, RedReap keeps one, in this order of preference:

1. A video with sound over one without.
2. The original RedGifs name over a title-based name.
3. A plain name over one ending in (2), (3).
4. The larger file.
5. The shorter name.

A number such as (2) is added to a name only while a genuinely different file holds the plain name. If that other file is later removed as a duplicate, the number is dropped again.

People delete accounts and start new ones. If you have reaped both, merge them.

1. Tick two or more users in the Users tab and click Merge.
2. In the dialog, click the profile that should keep its name. That is the destination.
3. Click Merge into Selected.

• Files from the other profiles are copied into the destination, with duplicates removed.
• The source folders are renamed Merged-<name> and kept, not deleted.
• If a source file wins over a destination duplicate, the replaced destination file is kept in a _merge_backups folder.
• Recovery history from every merged name is kept, so later Resurrect runs search under all of them.
• An Account Merge.txt log is written to the destination.

Settings → File Naming. Templates use placeholders in braces.

Example: {author} - {title}{ext} gives photographer99 - Amazing sunset.jpg.

Optional Settings → NSFW Content Sources.

• During a reap RedReap finds Erome albums linked from the user's posts and their Erome profile.
• Albums are collected for review, like RedGifs. Click the ER count in the Sources column, tick albums, and download.
• To attach an Erome profile by hand, hover the ER line and double-click add profile, or double-click an existing name to change it.
• Add & Reap Erome at the top of the Users tab adds an Erome profile on its own.

Optional Settings → NSFW Content Sources.

• During a reap RedReap finds Soundgasm links in the user's posts and downloads the audio straight away. The files are small, so there is no review step.
• Audio is saved as .m4a in the user's folder and shows under Audio files in the gallery.

Getting the most content

• Reap first, then Resurrect. A reap gets the newest 1,000 posts Reddit will show. Resurrect reaches further back through the archives.
• Auto-Reap the people you follow so new posts are picked up while you are not looking.
• Keyword filters on a subreddit get you what you want without downloading everything.

Managing a large library

• Merge accounts you know belong to the same person.
• Use the library search in the header to find anything by post title, author, subreddit or tag.
• Use favorites and tags in the galleries, and the Resurrected filter to review what a recovery brought back.

When something goes wrong

• Reddit refuses requests or everything shows deleted. Reddit changes how it blocks automated access from time to time. Make sure you are on the latest RedReap version; updates carry the fix. A proxy also helps.
• Rate limited. RedReap backs off and retries by itself. If it keeps happening, wait a few minutes or use a proxy.
• Silent video. Reddit stores sound separately and sometimes the audio is no longer available. Resurrect replaces silent copies when a copy with sound can be found.
• Resurrect finds nothing. The account may have been too new or too small for the archives to have recorded it. Try again later.
• Saved posts will not connect. Paste a fresh reddit_session cookie from a browser tab where you are logged in right now.
• A gallery item will not play. The file is probably outside your current storage folders, for example after a move. Copy it in and run Import Media.

Still stuck? Email support@redreap.com with the version shown at the top of the dashboard and the relevant lines from the activity log.