# ForumData API — Complete LLM & AI Agent Technical Reference (llms-full.txt)

> Real-Time Reddit Posts, Comments Tree, Subreddit Feeds & Brand Mention Monitoring JSON API.
> Base URL: `https://api.forumdataapi.com` | Main Website: `https://forumdataapi.com`
> Remote Streamable HTTP MCP: `https://api.forumdataapi.com/mcp` | Registry Manifest: `https://forumdataapi.com/server.json` | AI Skill: `https://forumdataapi.com/SKILL.md`
> OpenAPI 3.0 Spec: `https://forumdataapi.com/openapi.json` | Compact Summary: `https://forumdataapi.com/llms.txt`

## 1. Authentication & Core Architecture

- **Base URL**: `https://api.forumdataapi.com`
- **Authentication Header**: Pass either `x-api-key: rd_live_your_api_key` OR `Authorization: Bearer rd_live_your_api_key` on every request.
- **No Reddit OAuth / No Cookies / No Proxies**: Works directly from AWS, GCP, Azure, Hetzner, Vercel, and Cloudflare Workers without Reddit developer review or 100 QPM token ceilings.
- **Free Trial**: Every new account receives **12,000 Free Credits** immediately upon sign-up at `https://forumdataapi.com/signup`.
- **Zero Charge on Errors or Empty Search**: Any failed lookup, 404 resource, or empty search result (`items.length === 0`) costs **0 Credits**.

## 2. Pricing & Unified Credit System ($1 = 10,000 Credits)

| Data Type / Endpoint | Credits | Base Cost | Effective Cost with Bonus | Page Size |
| :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- |
| Subreddit Posts, Keyword Search, Popular, User Posts | 1 Credit / post (min 2) | $0.10 / 1,000 posts | $0.04–$0.06 / 1,000 posts | Up to 100 posts/call |
| Post Comment Tree & User Comments | 1 Credit / comment (min 2) | $0.10 / 1,000 comments | $0.04–$0.06 / 1,000 comments | Up to 200 comments/call |
| Subreddit Info, Post Detail, User Profile Lookup | 2 Credits / request | $0.20 / 1,000 lookups | $0.08–$0.12 / 1,000 lookups | 1 full entity object |

## 3. Complete Endpoint Reference & Code Samples

### Fetch Subreddit Posts Feed (hot / new / top / rising) (`GET /v1/subreddit/posts`)
- **Documentation URL**: https://forumdataapi.com/docs/subreddit-posts
- **Cost**: 2 Credits ($0.0002)
- **Description**: 
- **Parameters**:
  - `subreddit` (query, required):  
  - `sort` (query, optional):  
  - `time_filter` (query, optional):  
  - `limit` (query, optional):  
  - `cursor` (query, optional):  

```bash
curl "https://api.forumdataapi.com/v1/subreddit/posts?subreddit=" \
  -H "x-api-key: rd_live_your_api_key"
```

```python
import requests

res = requests.get(
    "https://api.forumdataapi.com/v1/subreddit/posts?subreddit=",
    headers={"x-api-key": "rd_live_your_api_key"},
    timeout=30,
)
print(res.json())
```

---

### Fetch Subreddit Metadata, Subscribers & Community Rules (`GET /v1/subreddit/info`)
- **Documentation URL**: https://forumdataapi.com/docs/subreddit-info
- **Cost**: 2 Credits ($0.0002)
- **Description**: 
- **Parameters**:
  - `subreddit` (query, required):  

```bash
curl "https://api.forumdataapi.com/v1/subreddit/info?subreddit=" \
  -H "x-api-key: rd_live_your_api_key"
```

```python
import requests

res = requests.get(
    "https://api.forumdataapi.com/v1/subreddit/info?subreddit=",
    headers={"x-api-key": "rd_live_your_api_key"},
    timeout=30,
)
print(res.json())
```

---

### Search Reddit Posts & Brand Mentions Globally or Within a Subreddit (`GET /v1/posts/search`)
- **Documentation URL**: https://forumdataapi.com/docs/posts-search
- **Cost**: 2 Credits ($0.0002)
- **Description**: 
- **Parameters**:
  - `query` (query, required):  
  - `subreddit` (query, optional):  
  - `sort` (query, optional):  
  - `time_filter` (query, optional):  
  - `limit` (query, optional):  
  - `cursor` (query, optional):  

```bash
curl "https://api.forumdataapi.com/v1/posts/search?query=" \
  -H "x-api-key: rd_live_your_api_key"
```

```python
import requests

res = requests.get(
    "https://api.forumdataapi.com/v1/posts/search?query=",
    headers={"x-api-key": "rd_live_your_api_key"},
    timeout=30,
)
print(res.json())
```

---

### Fetch Single Reddit Post Detail by ID or URL (`GET /v1/posts/detail`)
- **Documentation URL**: https://forumdataapi.com/docs/posts-detail
- **Cost**: 2 Credits ($0.0002)
- **Description**: 
- **Parameters**:
  - `post_id` (query, required):  

```bash
curl "https://api.forumdataapi.com/v1/posts/detail?post_id=" \
  -H "x-api-key: rd_live_your_api_key"
```

```python
import requests

res = requests.get(
    "https://api.forumdataapi.com/v1/posts/detail?post_id=",
    headers={"x-api-key": "rd_live_your_api_key"},
    timeout=30,
)
print(res.json())
```

---

### Fetch Post Comment Tree & Replies (`GET /v1/posts/comments`)
- **Documentation URL**: https://forumdataapi.com/docs/posts-comments
- **Cost**: 2 Credits ($0.0002)
- **Description**: 
- **Parameters**:
  - `post_id` (query, required):  
  - `sort` (query, optional):  
  - `limit` (query, optional):  
  - `cursor` (query, optional):  

```bash
curl "https://api.forumdataapi.com/v1/posts/comments?post_id=" \
  -H "x-api-key: rd_live_your_api_key"
```

```python
import requests

res = requests.get(
    "https://api.forumdataapi.com/v1/posts/comments?post_id=",
    headers={"x-api-key": "rd_live_your_api_key"},
    timeout=30,
)
print(res.json())
```

---

### Fetch Trending & Popular Reddit Posts (r/popular) (`GET /v1/posts/popular`)
- **Documentation URL**: https://forumdataapi.com/docs/posts-popular
- **Cost**: 2 Credits ($0.0002)
- **Description**: 
- **Parameters**:
  - `sort` (query, optional):  
  - `limit` (query, optional):  
  - `cursor` (query, optional):  

```bash
curl "https://api.forumdataapi.com/v1/posts/popular" \
  -H "x-api-key: rd_live_your_api_key"
```

```python
import requests

res = requests.get(
    "https://api.forumdataapi.com/v1/posts/popular",
    headers={"x-api-key": "rd_live_your_api_key"},
    timeout=30,
)
print(res.json())
```

---

### Fetch Reddit User Profile & Karma Breakdown (`GET /v1/users/profile`)
- **Documentation URL**: https://forumdataapi.com/docs/users-profile
- **Cost**: 2 Credits ($0.0002)
- **Description**: 
- **Parameters**:
  - `username` (query, required):  

```bash
curl "https://api.forumdataapi.com/v1/users/profile?username=" \
  -H "x-api-key: rd_live_your_api_key"
```

```python
import requests

res = requests.get(
    "https://api.forumdataapi.com/v1/users/profile?username=",
    headers={"x-api-key": "rd_live_your_api_key"},
    timeout=30,
)
print(res.json())
```

---

### Fetch Public Posts Submitted by a Reddit User (`GET /v1/users/posts`)
- **Documentation URL**: https://forumdataapi.com/docs/users-posts
- **Cost**: 2 Credits ($0.0002)
- **Description**: 
- **Parameters**:
  - `username` (query, required):  
  - `sort` (query, optional):  
  - `limit` (query, optional):  
  - `cursor` (query, optional):  

```bash
curl "https://api.forumdataapi.com/v1/users/posts?username=" \
  -H "x-api-key: rd_live_your_api_key"
```

```python
import requests

res = requests.get(
    "https://api.forumdataapi.com/v1/users/posts?username=",
    headers={"x-api-key": "rd_live_your_api_key"},
    timeout=30,
)
print(res.json())
```

---

### Fetch Public Comments Authored by a Reddit User (`GET /v1/users/comments`)
- **Documentation URL**: https://forumdataapi.com/docs/users-comments
- **Cost**: 2 Credits ($0.0002)
- **Description**: 
- **Parameters**:
  - `username` (query, required):  
  - `sort` (query, optional):  
  - `limit` (query, optional):  
  - `cursor` (query, optional):  

```bash
curl "https://api.forumdataapi.com/v1/users/comments?username=" \
  -H "x-api-key: rd_live_your_api_key"
```

```python
import requests

res = requests.get(
    "https://api.forumdataapi.com/v1/users/comments?username=",
    headers={"x-api-key": "rd_live_your_api_key"},
    timeout=30,
)
print(res.json())
```

---

### Gateway Health & Mirror Telemetry (`GET /v1/health`)
- **Documentation URL**: https://forumdataapi.com/docs/health
- **Cost**: 0 Credits (Free) ($0.00)
- **Description**: Zero-cost health probe returning real-time upstream pool status and total posts, comments, subreddits, and users cached in our local PostgreSQL 16 mirror.
- **Parameters**:
  - None

```bash
curl "https://api.forumdataapi.com/v1/health" \
  -H "x-api-key: rd_live_your_api_key"
```

```python
import requests

res = requests.get(
    "https://api.forumdataapi.com/v1/health",
    headers={"x-api-key": "rd_live_your_api_key"},
    timeout=30,
)
print(res.json())
```

## 4. Engineering Guides & Tutorials

### Reddit API Pricing (2026): Official $0.24/1K Calls vs PRAW 403s vs $0.10/1K Pay-As-You-Go
- **URL**: https://forumdataapi.com/guides/reddit-api-pricing
- **Summary**: 2026 Reddit API pricing breakdown: Official $0.24/1,000 calls & OAuth review vs PRAW AWS 403s vs ForumData API ($0.10/1K items, 12,000 free credits).
- **Key Takeaways**:
  - Official Reddit Commercial Data API bills $0.24 per 1,000 HTTP calls (including empty keyword search polls and recursive api/morechildren comment calls) and requires manual commercial OAuth approval that routinely stalls SaaS & AI/RAG launches.
  - Official Free OAuth is restricted to 100 QPM for non-commercial personal scripts, while running PRAW or raw reddit.com/.json from AWS, GCP, Azure, Vercel, or Hetzner triggers immediate HTTP 403 Blocked datacenter IP bans.
  - ForumData API issues an instant API key (rd_live_...) with 12,000 Free Credits ($1.20 instant + $2 Streak) and bills strictly per returned item: $0.10 / 1,000 posts or comments ($0.058/1K on Growth, $0.040/1K on Scale) and $0 on empty search results or errors.
  - Connect in 30 seconds via standard REST (x-api-key) or zero-code 1-Click Remote OAuth 2.1 MCP Connector (https://mcp.forumdataapi.com/v1/mcp) for Claude Web, ChatGPT Connectors, Claude Code, and Cursor.

### How to Use a Reddit API Without OAuth, App Review, or 100 QPM Limits
- **URL**: https://forumdataapi.com/guides/reddit-api-without-oauth
- **Summary**: Fetch live Reddit posts, keyword search, and 200-comment trees without OAuth client_id, app approval, or 403 IP blocks. $0.10/1K items with runnable code.
- **Key Takeaways**:
  - Appending .json to reddit.com URLs from cloud servers (AWS, GCP, Hetzner, Vercel) now triggers immediate HTTP 403 Blocked or 10 QPM IP throttling.
  - Official Reddit OAuth2 requires registering a developer app, waiting weeks for commercial approval, refreshing Bearer tokens every hour, and paying $0.24 per 1,000 HTTP calls.
  - ForumData API lets you query subreddit feeds, ?since= keyword search, and 200-comment trees immediately with a single x-api-key header — no Reddit account or cookies needed.
  - Pay strictly per returned item ($0.10 per 1,000 posts or comments, never expires) with 0 Credits deducted on empty search results or upstream errors.

### Fixing PRAW 403 Blocked / Forbidden Errors on AWS, GCP, Hetzner & Vercel
- **URL**: https://forumdataapi.com/guides/praw-403-blocked-on-aws
- **Summary**: Why prawcore.exceptions.ResponseException: received 403 HTTP response happens on AWS EC2/Lambda & Hetzner IPs, and how to fix it in 5 lines of Python.
- **Key Takeaways**:
  - Reddit's edge WAF blocks ASN ranges belonging to AWS (AS16509 / AS14618), Google Cloud (AS15169), Hetzner (AS24940), DigitalOcean, and Azure—even when you set a custom User-Agent.
  - Routing PRAW through commercial residential SOCKS5 proxies costs $8–$15 per GB because OAuth JSON responses + recursive replace_more() loops amplify payload volume.
  - Replacing praw.Reddit() with standard requests.get('https://api.forumdataapi.com/v1/...') eliminates AWS 403 errors permanently while cutting 200-comment tree latency from 12s to ~200ms.

### Unofficial Reddit API vs Official Reddit Data API: Complete 2026 Developer Guide
- **URL**: https://forumdataapi.com/guides/unofficial-reddit-api
- **Summary**: Compare the Official Reddit Data API and PRAW against ForumData API. Fetch subreddit feeds, nested comment trees, and brand mentions without OAuth limits.
- **Key Takeaways**:
  - The Official Reddit Data API requires commercial OAuth pre-approval, enforces a 100 QPM per-token limit, and charges $0.24 per 1,000 API calls regardless of how many items are returned.
  - Self-hosted PRAW scripts running on AWS, GCP, or Hetzner datacenter IPs frequently encounter HTTP 403 blocks or 429 rate-limit walls when expanding comment trees.
  - ForumData API provides 9 normalized REST endpoints (/v1/subreddit/posts, /v1/posts/search, /v1/posts/comments, /v1/subreddit/info, /v1/users/*) authenticated with a single x-api-key header.
  - Pricing is anchored at $1 = 10,000 Credits ($0.10 per 1,000 posts or comments, $0.20 per 1,000 entity lookups), with 0 Credits charged on failed or empty calls.

### How to Build Real-Time Reddit Brand Mention & Keyword Alerts in Python
- **URL**: https://forumdataapi.com/guides/reddit-brand-mention-monitoring-api
- **Summary**: Poll global Reddit keyword mentions with /v1/posts/search and incremental ?since= timestamps. Zero credits charged on empty polls.
- **Key Takeaways**:
  - GET /v1/posts/search supports global keyword queries (?query=...) as well as subreddit-scoped searches (?subreddit=saas) sorted by new, relevance, top, or comments.
  - Pass ?since=<unix_timestamp> to filter strictly for posts created after your last poll checkpoint.
  - Because ForumData API charges 0 Credits when a search returns 0 items, you can poll high-intent keywords every 60 seconds without wasting credits.

### Scraping Nested Reddit Comment Trees for LLM & RAG Pipelines
- **URL**: https://forumdataapi.com/guides/reddit-comment-tree-scraper-api
- **Summary**: Extract up to 200 nested Reddit comments per request with depth, parent_id, score, and author metadata at $0.10 per 1,000 comments.
- **Key Takeaways**:
  - GET /v1/posts/comments extracts up to 200 comments per call with depth (0, 1, 2...) and parent_id (t3_... or t1_...).
  - Supports sorting by top, best, new, controversial, or old, plus offset cursor pagination for mega-threads.
  - Costs 1 Credit per returned comment ($0.10 per 1,000 comments base rate, or $0.0575 per 1,000 on Pro).

### Building a Real-Time Reddit RAG & LLM Grounding Pipeline in Python
- **URL**: https://forumdataapi.com/guides/reddit-rag-llm-pipeline-python
- **Summary**: Ingest live Reddit threads and nested comment trees into OpenAI, Claude, or pgvector RAG pipelines using ForumData API at $0.10 per 1K items.
- **Key Takeaways**:
  - Chunking Reddit discussions by parent-child comment branch preserves conversational context far better than naive character splitting.
  - Filtering by score >= 5 and combining post selftext with top-voted replies eliminates low-signal noise before embedding.
  - Synchronous <250ms responses allow live tool-calling inside Claude MCP, LangGraph, and OpenAI Responses API.

### Automated B2B SaaS Lead Discovery on Reddit with Zero-Cost Empty Polls
- **URL**: https://forumdataapi.com/guides/reddit-b2b-lead-generation-automation
- **Summary**: Monitor high-intent buying signals across r/SaaS, r/devops, and r/startups every 5 minutes using ?since= incremental polling and Slack webhooks.
- **Key Takeaways**:
  - Combine high-intent buyer phrases ('alternative to', 'migrating from', 'recommend a tool for') with ?sort=new&since=<last_seen_utc>.
  - Empty search polls (0 matching posts) deduct 0 Credits on ForumData API, making 5-minute cron monitoring virtually free.
  - Enrich leads automatically with GET /v1/subreddit/info to check community self-promotion rules before replying.

## 5. Competitor Benchmarks & Migration Guides

- **Migrate from Apify Reddit Scraper (<1s Sync REST)**: https://forumdataapi.com/from-apify — 1:1 Actor Input JSON (`queries`, `subreddits`, `postIdsOrUrls`, `timeFilter`, `maxItemsPerTarget`) -> `GET /v1/posts/search`, `GET /v1/subreddit/posts`, `GET /v1/posts/comments` parameter mapping, Python/Node replacement snippets, and 40%–60% lower unit cost ($0 on empty `?since=` polls).

### ForumData API vs Official Reddit Data API (reddit.com/dev/api)
- **URL**: https://forumdataapi.com/compare/official-api
- **Headline**: $0.10 vs $0.24 / call per 1,000 posts or comments.
- **Summary**: Since Reddit's 2023–2026 API policy overhaul, the Official Reddit Data API requires commercial pre-approval, enforces a strict 100 QPM per-OAuth-token limit, and restricts commercial AI/LLM indexing. ForumData API gives you instant REST access to all public subreddits, nested comment trees, and keyword search at $0.10 per 1,000 items.

### ForumData API vs PRAW (Python Reddit API Wrapper) (praw.readthedocs.io)
- **URL**: https://forumdataapi.com/compare/praw
- **Headline**: ~180ms vs 403 / 429 on Cloud IPs from AWS, GCP, Hetzner & Vercel.
- **Summary**: Running PRAW from AWS, GCP, Azure, or Hetzner cloud IPs frequently triggers HTTP 403 blocks or 100 QPM OAuth throttling—especially when expanding MoreComments trees. ForumData API routes all requests through residential pools and L1 Redis cache so your Python workers never get blocked.

### ForumData API vs Apify Reddit Scrapers (apify.com)
- **URL**: https://forumdataapi.com/compare/apify-scrapers
- **Headline**: $0.10 vs $1.50+ per 1,000 Reddit posts.
- **Summary**: Container-based scraping platforms spin up a Docker actor per job, adding 20–60 seconds of cold-start latency and charging platform compute markups. ForumData API is an always-hot REST gateway with L1 Redis caching that responds in ~180ms at 90% lower cost.

### ForumData API vs Pushshift Reddit API (api.pushshift.io)
- **URL**: https://forumdataapi.com/compare/pushshift
- **Headline**: $0.10 vs Restricted per 1,000 Reddit posts or comments.
- **Summary**: Since Pushshift locked public endpoints behind moderator-only Reddit OAuth approval, thousands of social listening, B2B lead monitoring, and LLM/RAG pipelines broke. ForumData API is the live 2026 Pushshift alternative: instant REST access to subreddit feeds, global ?since= keyword search, and 200-comment trees with 0 Credits charged on empty polls.

### ForumData API vs Snoowrap (Node.js OAuth) (github.com/not-an-aardvark/snoowrap)
- **URL**: https://forumdataapi.com/compare/snoowrap
- **Headline**: $0.10 vs Unmaintained per 1,000 Reddit posts or comments.
- **Summary**: Snoowrap has not received major updates in years, relies on Node-only dependencies incompatible with Edge runtimes, and hits Reddit OAuth 403/429 blocks on Vercel, AWS Lambda, and Cloudflare Workers. ForumData API works natively with standard fetch() in every JavaScript runtime.

## 6. Frequently Asked Questions

### How does the Unified Credit System work?

$1 equals 10,000 Credits (1 Credit = $0.0001). Every endpoint deducts credits based on the records returned, with a minimum floor of 2 Credits ($0.0002) per non-empty call: 1 Credit per post ($0.10 / 1,000 posts), 1 Credit per comment ($0.10 / 1,000 comments), and 2 Credits ($0.20 / 1,000 calls) for single subreddit metadata, post detail, or user profile lookups.

### Do I need a Reddit OAuth client ID, app approval, or residential proxies?

No. Unlike the Official Reddit Data API—which requires commercial OAuth review, strict 100 QPM per-token caps, and $0.24 per 1,000 API calls—ForumData API handles all upstream proxy rotation, session management, and multi-provider failover at the gateway layer. You simply make standard HTTPS GET requests with your x-api-key: rd_live_... header.

### How does /v1/posts/comments return nested Reddit comment trees?

GET /v1/posts/comments returns up to 200 comments per call with explicit depth (0 for top-level comments, 1+ for nested replies), parent_id (t3_... for root comments or t1_... for replies), author, score, is_submitter, and created_utc. You can reconstruct the full hierarchical thread in 5 lines of Python or feed the flattened array directly into an LLM / RAG vector index.

### Am I charged when a request fails, returns 404, or returns 0 results?

Never. We strictly enforce Charge-Before-Return & Zero-Charge on Error/Empty: only HTTP 200 responses with non-empty data deduct credits. Upstream errors, non-existent subreddits/posts (HTTP 404), rate-limited requests (HTTP 429), and empty search results cost 0 Credits.

### Should I choose a Monthly Plan or Pay-As-You-Go (One-Time Top-Up)?

Both credit your account with the exact same bonus credit packages (Starter 250,000 Credits, Pro 1,200,000 Credits, Business 5,000,000 Credits). Pay-As-You-Go top-ups have no recurring billing and your purchased credit balance never expires. Monthly subscriptions save up to 24% more for continuous subreddit and brand monitoring workloads.

### What are the concurrency, pagination, and RPM rate limits?

Free Trial accounts include 12,000 Credits at 60 RPM with full access to all 9 endpoints and deep cursor pagination. Paid accounts lift concurrency and scale from 120 RPM (Starter) and 600 RPM (Pro) up to 600 RPM (Business).

### What payment methods are accepted?

You can top up or subscribe instantly with 0%-fee Cryptocurrency via NOWPayments (USDT or USDC on Solana, Tron, Polygon, Arbitrum, BNB Smart Chain, and Ethereum, plus BTC, ETH, and SOL) with an automatic +5% bonus credit reward.

### Can I use ForumData API inside Claude Desktop, Cursor, or LangChain?

Yes. Configure our MCP Server in Claude Desktop, Cursor, or Windsurf using your rd_live_... API key to give AI agents real-time subreddit feed inspection, keyword brand mention search, and comment tree sentiment analysis tools.

### How does ForumData API compare to PRAW and the Official Reddit API?

PRAW requires an approved Reddit OAuth application, enforces strict rate limits per OAuth token, and blocks commercial AI/LLM scraping under Reddit's Data API terms. ForumData API provides a drop-in REST JSON gateway with up to 600 RPM, L1 Redis caching, and a local PostgreSQL 16 mirror at $0.10 per 1,000 posts or comments.

### Is ForumData API affiliated with Reddit, Inc.?

No. ForumData API is an independent developer infrastructure provider for publicly available web data and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Reddit, Inc.

### How much does it cost to fetch 100,000 Reddit posts or comments?

At 1 Credit per post or comment ($0.10 / 1,000 items, up to 100 posts or 200 comments per call), 100,000 items cost $10.00 base PAYG (or $5.75 effective on the Pro plan and $3.98 effective on the Business plan) — up to 80% lower than legacy scraping platforms.

### What is your refund policy?

Payments made within the last 14 days can be refunded up to the unused purchased balance on your account. Promotional signup credits have no cash value.