Flair Timer Comment Bot

This is a Reddit bot that monitors a subreddit for posts with a specific link flair. When a post keeps that flair for a set number of hours, the bot:

1. Saves the submission
2. Optionally locks the post
3. Leaves a configurable comment
4. Can distinguish and/or sticky its own comment

This is useful in communities where flairing a post starts a timer (for example, "Waiting for OP"). After the timer expires, the bot comments as a reminder.

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Features

• Configurable subreddit, flair text, and scan interval
• Tracks posts in config/posts.json so it survives restarts
• Optional post locking and moderator comment stickiness
• Can run as a Python script or in Docker

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Configuration

Configuration is set in a Python file. Edit config/config.py or provide another config.py on your PYTHONPATH. The shim at the repository root will find it.

Required settings:

username = ""          # Reddit account used by the bot
password = ""          # account password
client_id = ""         # API credentials from https://www.reddit.com/prefs/apps
client_secret = ""     #
user_agent = "Flair Timer Comment Bot"

subreddit = ""         # e.g. "INEEEEDIT" or "All"
flair_text = "Waiting for OP"  # flair text to watch for (case sensitive)

comment_message = ""   # text to post when the timer expires

Optional settings (defaults shown):

interval = 30            # seconds between subreddit scans
hours = 48               # how long the flair must remain on a post
searchlimit = 600        # how many recent posts to examine (max 1000)
lock_post = False        # lock the submission after commenting?
distinguish_sticky = False  # distinguish and/or sticky the bot's comment?

The bot keeps a simple JSON file at config/posts.json. This directory must be writeable.

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Manual Installation & Usage

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/slfhstd/FlairTimerComment.git
   cd FlairTimerComment
   

2. Create or edit configuration: Populate config/config.py as shown above.

3. Install dependencies: Make sure Python 3.8+ is installed, then run:

   pip install praw
   

4. Start the bot:

   python flairtimercomment.py
   

   The script will authenticate and begin looping. Logs are printed to stdout.

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Running with Docker

Build and run locally

1. Build the image:

   docker build -t flairtimercomment .
   

2. Create a local configuration directory:

   mkdir -p /some/path/flairtimercomment/config
   cp config/config.py /some/path/flairtimercomment/config/
   

3. Run the container:

   docker run -d --name flairtimer --restart unless-stopped \
       -v /some/path/flairtimercomment/config:/app/config \
       flairtimercomment
   

   The volume mount ensures your config.py and posts.json persist outside the container.

Pull a prebuilt image

An image is published to GitHub Container Registry (example tag ghcr.io/slfhstd/flairtimercomment:latest). Use that instead of building locally:

docker pull ghcr.io/slfhstd/flairtimercomment:latest
docker run -d --name flairtimer ... (same volume flags as above) ghcr.io/slfhstd/flairtimercomment:latest

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Docker Compose

A sample docker-compose.yml is provided:

services:
  app:
    image: ghcr.io/slfhstd/flairtimercomment:latest
    container_name: FlairTimerBot
    restart: unless-stopped
    volumes:
      - /docker/data/flairtimercomment:/app/config

Adjust the volumes path to point at a directory on the host containing your config.py.

Start the stack with:

docker compose up -d

or, if you are using the old binary name:

docker-compose up -d

The configuration and state files are persisted under the mounted directory.

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Notes & Tips

• Run the bot as a dedicated Reddit account with appropriate moderator permissions if you intend to lock posts.
• searchlimit may be raised if the subreddit is busy and posts with the target flair frequently appear deep in the new queue.
• Logs are simple print statements; consider redirecting stdout to a file or use a process supervisor in production.

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