Rankhog
Finds Reddit threads that rank in Google and AI answers, drafts the reply, and posts it through your own browser
The code here is the easy half, and it is worth building. A script that watches subreddits, keeps the threads already ranking in Google, and drafts a reply against the sub's rules is a one-sitting build that will genuinely find you the conversations worth joining. The gap is what happens next. No agent writes you a Reddit account with a year of comment history in the subs you care about, and Reddit's spam enforcement is aimed exactly at accounts that show up new and start mentioning a product. A shadowban is silent: your comments look live to you and are invisible to everyone else, so you learn about it weeks later. Build the finder, then spend the weeks yourself, or pay someone to have already spent them.
Build verification: not recorded. How we judge buildability
What you give up
- account age, karma, and comment history in the subs that matter
- the warm-up: weeks of ordinary participation before you can mention a product
- posting through a real browser session rather than the API, which is what keeps accounts unflagged
- per-subreddit rule knowledge and pacing judgment
- shared accounts across a team, and the managed service
Why people still pay
Because the failure mode is invisible and expensive. Getting a product mentioned on Reddit needs an account people and moderators already trust, and building one is weeks of participation before the first mention. People pay to skip the warm-up, to have posting happen through a real browser session instead of an API that gets flagged, and to have someone else carry the ban risk.
Your build guide
The stack, security requirements, and agent rules for a focused replacement.
Before you start
- Runtime and tools: Node, TypeScript, better-sqlite3 and a local review page with authorized community/search adapters.
- Before starting: A reviewed keyword/community list, current authorized API access or user imports, and dated search-result evidence.
Use these project rules and optional skill references alongside the prompt. Review each skill before adding it to your agent; the AGENTS.md export includes the same guidance.
Project rule — domain: Store SearchSnapshot, ThreadSnapshot, RuleNote and ReplyDraft; the claimed search position belongs to a specific query/date/provider and each recommendation cites thread evidence.
Project rule — scope and recovery: Do not auto-post, vote, log into accounts or promise durable Google rankings. Search visibility is a dated observation, and community rules override a marketing opportunity.
Project rule — acceptance: A relevant thread is locked or prohibits promotion; keep it as research evidence but remove its reply from the actionable queue.
Project rule — delivery: document real setup commands and permissions; do not claim a build, accuracy level, performance result or security certification that has not been demonstrated.
Recommended skill: sharp-edges — review configuration and API defaults against the app-specific invariants and recovery boundaries above; this is not a security certification. Follow the maintainer's installation instructions and match its requirements to the chosen runtime.
Recommended skill: copywriting — write clear, evidence-grounded draft copy or notifications without invented claims; sending/publishing remains separately approved. Follow the maintainer's installation instructions and match its requirements to the chosen runtime.
Implementation plan
Phase 1
Pin the working slice and create its example input: Review permitted community threads that appear in a supplied search-result set, assess relevance and draft a helpful rules-aware response for manual posting. Confirm setup: A reviewed keyword/community list, current authorized API access or user imports, and dated search-result evidence.
Phase 2
Implement persistence and write-time invariants before decorating the UI: Store SearchSnapshot, ThreadSnapshot, RuleNote and ReplyDraft; the claimed search position belongs to a specific query/date/provider and each recommendation cites thread evidence.
Phase 3
Connect the working view to real saved state. Preserve source hashes, page/section anchors and exact quotations. OCR and optional generated summaries are derived views, never replacements for originals; label missing text and unsupported claims.
Phase 4
Expose the app-specific limits and recovery path in context: Do not auto-post, vote, log into accounts or promise durable Google rankings. Search visibility is a dated observation, and community rules override a marketing opportunity.
Phase 5
Walk through this concrete acceptance case and preserve its exported evidence: A relevant thread is locked or prohibits promotion; keep it as research evidence but remove its reply from the actionable queue. Finish the README and backup/restore instructions; report unfinished capabilities explicitly.
Build the following focused alternative to Rankhog. This is a deliberately limited personal or small-team substitute, not parity with the paid service. WORKING SLICE Review permitted community threads that appear in a supplied search-result set, assess relevance and draft a helpful rules-aware response for manual posting. SETUP AND ARCHITECTURE Use Node, TypeScript, better-sqlite3 and a local review page with authorized community/search adapters. Prerequisites: A reviewed keyword/community list, current authorized API access or user imports, and dated search-result evidence. Before integrating anything, record actual versions and permissions, plus model files or provider limits only where used, in the README; make unavailable dependencies visible rather than simulating success. DOMAIN MODEL AND INVARIANTS Store SearchSnapshot, ThreadSnapshot, RuleNote and ReplyDraft; the claimed search position belongs to a specific query/date/provider and each recommendation cites thread evidence. IMPLEMENTATION CONTRACT Preserve source hashes, page/section anchors and exact quotations. OCR and optional generated summaries are derived views, never replacements for originals; label missing text and unsupported claims. Provide an input/setup view, the main work view, and a review/export view appropriate to this workflow. Preserve the last saved state if a job or save fails. Include empty, loading, permission-denied, partial and retryable-error states. Log identifiers and error categories without secret values or unnecessary private content. APP-SPECIFIC BOUNDARY AND RECOVERY Do not auto-post, vote, log into accounts or promise durable Google rankings. Search visibility is a dated observation, and community rules override a marketing opportunity. ACCEPTANCE SCENARIO A relevant thread is locked or prohibits promotion; keep it as research evidence but remove its reply from the actionable queue. Also reopen the app after an interrupted operation, confirm the saved record/export remains inspectable, and document the recovery action. These are implementation acceptance requirements, not a claim that this guide has been tested. DELIVERY Deliver a runnable repository with migrations or project-format versioning, a non-sensitive example, environment/permission setup, the exact manual acceptance steps, and a backup/export-and-restore walkthrough. Implement the working slice before optional integrations; list any deferred paid-product capabilities honestly. Do not add capabilities outside the working slice just to resemble the original product. PROJECT RULES FOR AGENTS.md Keep the domain invariants above executable at the write boundary. Propose scope changes before adding providers or permissions. Never fabricate source evidence, publish results, identity matches or successful delivery. Preserve user originals and require an explicit confirmation for destructive changes or external publication.
$ open in your agent (prompt prefilled, you press enter), copy the prompt or copy or download AGENTS.md
prompt copied. want to know what dies next week?
new verdicts + top votes, weekly. free. one-click out.
Rankhog pricing
| plan | monthly | annual (per mo) | what you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| standard | $99/workspace | — | 1 product; monitoring, strategy, and warm-up; 1 Reddit account warm-up; unlimited teammates.The public page also labels this as a discount from a $200 reference price, without a dated end point. |
| managed reddit growth | $1000/workspace | — | Managed service starting at $1,000/month; exact posting, outreach, and reporting deliverables are custom.Starting price. |
free tierno free tier (3-day card-required trial only)
billingmonthly only; no public annual plan
hidden costsEach additional product requires another $99/month Standard subscription.
pricing sources checked 2026-08-14 · pricing source ↗
Questions about Rankhog
Can you build your own Rankhog with AI?
Partly. The code here is the easy half, and it is worth building. A script that watches subreddits, keeps the threads already ranking in Google, and drafts a reply against the sub's rules is a one-sitting build that will genuinely find you the conversations worth joining. The gap is what happens next. No agent writes you a Reddit account with a year of comment history in the subs you care about, and Reddit's spam enforcement is aimed exactly at accounts that show up new and start mentioning a product. A shadowban is silent: your comments look live to you and are invisible to everyone else, so you learn about it weeks later. Build the finder, then spend the weeks yourself, or pay someone to have already spent them.
What does the Rankhog build prompt cover?
The prompt starts with this scope: Review permitted community threads that appear in a supplied search-result set, assess relevance and draft a helpful rules-aware response for manual posting. Full-product capabilities excluded from the comparison include: account age, karma, and comment history in the subs that matter; the warm-up: weeks of ordinary participation before you can mention a product; posting through a real browser session rather than the API, which is what keeps accounts unflagged. Follow the implementation plan and its prerequisites before expanding the build.
How do I use the prompt, AGENTS.md and agent skills?
Start with the Rankhog prerequisites and stack, then copy the prompt into your coding agent. Save the project rules as AGENTS.md in the project root. Linked skills are optional packages or source instructions for specific tasks; review their current contents and install only those matching the chosen stack. A skill does not supply API credentials or verify the finished app.
How long will this Rankhog project take?
The catalogue estimate is one sitting for the limited scope. Setup, integration approvals, debugging, deployment and ongoing maintenance can add time. This is an estimate, not a delivery guarantee.
What would I give up by replacing Rankhog?
account age, karma, and comment history in the subs that matter; the warm-up: weeks of ordinary participation before you can mention a product; posting through a real browser session rather than the API, which is what keeps accounts unflagged; per-subreddit rule knowledge and pacing judgment; shared accounts across a team, and the managed service. Because the failure mode is invisible and expensive. Getting a product mentioned on Reddit needs an account people and moderators already trust, and building one is weeks of participation before the first mention. People pay to skip the warm-up, to have posting happen through a real browser session instead of an API that gets flagged, and to have someone else carry the ban risk.
What price is this guide comparing against?
The recorded Standard plan is $99/mo (monthly per product), checked 2026-07-30. Check the linked pricing source before buying. Building your own also has hosting, API and maintenance costs; the recorded amount is not a guaranteed saving.
What can I use instead of building Rankhog?
The prior-art section lists redsignal as starting points. Review their current scope, license and maintenance before adopting one.