https://github.com/codybontecou/post-to-reddit-with-typescript
Day 2 of #100DaysOfCode. Simple Typescript + NodeJS script to post a link to Reddit
https://github.com/codybontecou/post-to-reddit-with-typescript
Last synced: 3 months ago
JSON representation
Day 2 of #100DaysOfCode. Simple Typescript + NodeJS script to post a link to Reddit
- Host: GitHub
- URL: https://github.com/codybontecou/post-to-reddit-with-typescript
- Owner: CodyBontecou
- Created: 2021-07-19T07:20:40.000Z (almost 4 years ago)
- Default Branch: main
- Last Pushed: 2021-07-19T17:08:15.000Z (almost 4 years ago)
- Last Synced: 2024-12-29T10:33:46.617Z (5 months ago)
- Language: TypeScript
- Size: 13.7 KB
- Stars: 0
- Watchers: 2
- Forks: 0
- Open Issues: 0
-
Metadata Files:
- Readme: README.md
Awesome Lists containing this project
README
# Create Reddit Posts with NodeJS and Typescript
> This post is for **day 2** of my [#100DaysOfCode](https://twitter.com/hashtag/100DaysOfCode?src=hashtag_click). In this post I'll be discussing how to programmatically post to Reddit using NodeJS and Typescript.
## Getting Authenticated
Getting an authentication token for Reddit is complicated.
If you have a **business** and plan on this token generating income, follow [this form](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSezNdDNK1-P8mspSbmtC2r86Ee9ZRbC66u929cG2GX0T9UMyw/viewform).
For **personal** use, navigate to your Reddit [apps](https://www.reddit.com/prefs/apps) and scroll to the bottom of the page. You should see a grey button that says "create another app...". Click the button and fill out the form. Successfully submitting this form should generate
## Laying the Foundations of Your App
[Github Repo](https://github.com/CodyBontecou/post-to-reddit-with-typescript) to follow along
_Make sure you have [NodeJS](https://nodejs.org/en/) installed_
_I prefer [yarn](https://yarnpkg.com/), but you can use npm instead if you prefer_
Copy this `package.json` file and run `yarn install` to install the dependencies.
```json
{
"name": "reddit-post",
"version": "1.0.0",
"main": "index.js",
"license": "MIT",
"scripts": {
"dev": "ts-node index.ts"
},
"devDependencies": {
"ts-node": "^10.1.0",
"typescript": "^4.3.5"
},
"dependencies": {
"dotenv": "^10.0.0",
"snoowrap": "^1.23.0"
}
}
```
### Packages explained:
- [ts-node](https://github.com/TypeStrong/ts-node) is a handy tool for executing Typescript files without having to first compile to Javascript.
- [Typescript](https://www.typescriptlang.org/) superset of Javascript. I'm simply using it to try to become more comfortable with it in day-to-day projects.
- [dotenv](https://github.com/motdotla/dotenv#readme) to safely manage .env variables and your auth tokens.
- [snoowrap](https://github.com/not-an-aardvark/snoowrap) provides a simple interface to access every reddit API endpoint.
### Create a .env file
.env files are used as a best practice to keep secret keys (such as our authentication tokens) off of GitHub. Make sure to have a `.gitignore` file and add `.env` to it.
The `.env` file should look like this:
```js
username = ''
password = ''
clientId = 'CLIENT_ID'
clientSecret = 'CLIENT SECRET'
```
Just make sure you replace the `<>` text with the tokens Twitter provided you.
**Make sure you do not commit your .env file to Github or any other version control systems.** These tokens are very important, and should not be shared with anyone!
## Performing the POST request
1. Create an index.ts file in your project root
2. Import the packages you installed earlier
```js
const snoowrap = require('snoowrap')
require('dotenv').config()
```
3. Create config object to organize your Reddit configuration variables
```js
const config = {
username: process.env.username,
password: process.env.password,
clientId: process.env.clientId,
clientSecret: process.env.clientSecret,
}
```
4. Create a function that sends out a POST request to [Reddit's endpoint](https://www.reddit.com/dev/api#POST_api_submit) `/api/submit` with the title, link, and subreddit parameters.
```js
function postLink(title: string, link: string, subreddit: string) {
const r = new snoowrap({
userAgent: 'Whatever',
clientId: config.clientId,
clientSecret: config.clientSecret,
username: config.username,
password: config.password,
})
r.getSubreddit(subreddit).submitLink({
title: title,
url: link,
sendReplies: true,
})
}
```
#### Explained:
```js
const r = new snoowrap({
userAgent: 'Whatever',
clientId: config.clientId,
clientSecret: config.clientSecret,
username: config.username,
password: config.password,
})
```
This snippet of code is creating a new `snoowrap` instance that connects to the Reddit service.
```js
r.getSubreddit(subreddit).submitLink({
title: title,
url: link,
sendReplies: true,
})
```
`getSubreddit`: Generates a `Subreddit` object. You can read more about this object [here](https://not-an-aardvark.github.io/snoowrap/Subreddit.html).
`submitLink`: Creates a new link submission on this subreddit with the title provided, url of the link, and any other options that the snoowrap api allows, such as the `sendReplies` option that allows replies to the post to send replies to the authenticated user's inbox.
5. Make the request
Now add
```js
postLink(
'Post to Reddit with NodeJS and Typescript',
'https://codybontecou.com/post-to-reddit-with-nodejs-and-typescript.html',
'webdev'
)
```
with the parameters you want to use at the bottom of `index.ts`.
Once you are ready, type `yarn dev` into your projects terminal. If all is good, you should be able to see your post is now on Reddit!
## Bonus
Make this more dynamic by iterating over multiple subreddits within an array:
```js
const url =
'https://codybontecou.com/post-to-reddit-with-nodejs-and-typescript.html'
const title = 'Post to Reddit using its API'
const subreddits = ['webdev', 'learnjavascript', 'typescript', 'programming']
subreddits.forEach(subreddit => postLink(title, url, subreddit))
```
---
I hope this article was helpful, let me know if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions on Twitter [@codybontecou](https://twitter.com/CodyBontecou)