Deep Research: Reddit to AI
Reconstructed example — this project shipped before the workflow existed; these docs show what following the workflow produces.
Research run without web search — factual claims are labeled "Unverified — model knowledge". Verify the important ones before committing.
Project name
Reddit to AI — a Chrome extension that turns any Reddit thread into a ready-to-send AI prompt in one click.
Core concept
What it is: A browser extension that lives on top of Reddit. Open a thread, click the extension, and it collects the post and comments, builds a clean prompt from a preset (Summarization, Debate Analysis, Sentiment Analysis, ELI5, Key Takeaways), shows you a preview, and pastes it into your favorite AI chat.
The problem: Getting a Reddit thread into ChatGPT or Gemini today means copy-pasting comment by comment, losing the reply structure, hitting context limits on big threads with no warning, and retyping the same "please summarize this" instructions every single time.
Why now: AI chats have become everyday tools and their context windows are big enough to swallow whole threads — but handing the thread over is still manual grunt work. The bottleneck moved from "can the AI read it?" to "how do I get it in there cleanly?"
Target users
- Heavy Reddit readers who open a 500-comment thread and want the TL;DR before diving in.
- Researchers and analysts studying sentiment, debates, or community reaction to an event.
- AI power users who already bounce between Gemini, ChatGPT, and Claude and want the same context in all of them.
Pain points: manual copy-paste is slow; threads are noisy (bots, jokes, downvoted junk); big threads silently overflow the AI's input box; your analysis instructions have to be retyped every time.
Technical decisions (if any)
- Chrome extension (Manifest V3), plain JavaScript — no app to install, lives right on the Reddit page where the user already is. (Unverified — model knowledge: Manifest V3 is the extension format Chrome currently requires.)
- No backend, no accounts — everything runs and stays in the browser. This is both a privacy feature and a $0/month cost decision.
- chrome.storage for settings — the standard built-in place extensions keep user preferences.
- Detailed architecture (where scraping runs, how the prompt travels between tabs) is left for the Tech Design step.
Competitor insights
| Solution | What it does | Where it falls short | Our opening |
|---|---|---|---|
| Manual copy-paste | Free, works everywhere | Tedious, loses thread structure, no filtering | Automate the whole grab-and-format step |
| "Summarize this page" extensions | One-click summary of any webpage | Treat Reddit like a flat article — no comment threading, no prompt control, often send data to their servers | Reddit-aware scraping + you see and edit the exact prompt; local-only |
| Web-based Reddit summarizers | Paste a URL, get a summary | Extra tab, no customization, strict size limits | Works where the user already is — on the thread itself |
| Reddit's built-in AI features | Q&A and summaries inside Reddit | Answers stay locked in Reddit; no choice of AI, no prompt presets (Unverified — model knowledge) | Bring threads to whichever AI you trust, with your own prompt |
What users love in existing tools: one-click simplicity, not leaving the page. What they hate: black-box summaries they can't steer, tools that break when Reddit changes its layout, and not knowing where their data goes. Gaps to exploit: nobody else offers a preview-and-edit step plus a visible "how much of the AI's context will this eat?" meter.
Budget/timeline
- Tools: VS Code (free), an AI coding assistant (free tier to start; ~$20/month if a paid plan becomes necessary — check current pricing), ESLint (free). $0 required to build.
- Publishing: Chrome Web Store developer account, ~$5 one-time (Unverified — model knowledge).
- Running costs: $0/month — no server, no database, no API keys.
- Timeline: 4 weeks of evenings & weekends to a store-ready MVP. Riskiest part: auto-pasting into each AI site's chat box — budget extra testing time there.
Handoff Context
- Stage: research
- App name: Reddit to AI
- User level: A
- Target platform: web (Chrome extension)
- Budget: Free tools only (+ ~$5 one-time Chrome Web Store fee)
- Timeline: 4 weeks (evenings & weekends)
- Source files: research-reddit-to-ai.md