How do you use the Reddit API in Node.js?

The full Node.js example

Global fetch, one request, parsed JSON. No snoowrap, no OAuth client, no refresh loop.

const url =
  "https://api.redditapis.com/api/reddit/posts?subreddit=programming&sort=new&limit=25";

const res = await fetch(url, {
  headers: { Authorization: "Bearer YOUR_TOKEN" },
});
if (!res.ok) throw new Error(`HTTP ${res.status}`);

const data = await res.json();
const posts = data.posts;
console.log(`Got ${posts.length} posts`);
console.log(posts[0]);

Why you can skip snoowrap

snoowrap wraps the official Reddit OAuth API, so it carries the app registration, scopes, and token refresh that OAuth requires. Redditapis replaces all of that with a single bearer token, so global fetch is enough. See the auth details on how to authenticate the Reddit API and the Python version on how to use the Reddit API in Python.

Paging past the first page

One call returns 25 posts by default and 100 at most. To go further, read after from the response and send it straight back as a query parameter on the next request. When after comes back null the listing is exhausted, and that is the signal to stop rather than a page count you pick in advance.

let cursor = null;
const all = [];

while (true) {
  const params = new URLSearchParams({
    subreddit: "programming",
    sort: "new",
    limit: "100",
  });
  if (cursor) params.set("after", cursor);

  const res = await fetch(
    `https://api.redditapis.com/api/reddit/posts?${params}`,
    { headers: { Authorization: "Bearer YOUR_TOKEN" } },
  );
  if (!res.ok) throw new Error(`HTTP ${res.status}`);

  const page = await res.json();
  all.push(...page.posts);

  cursor = page.after;
  if (!cursor) break;          // listing exhausted, stop
}

console.log(`Collected ${all.length} posts`);

Pass the cursor back exactly as you received it. It is an opaque string that also carries how deep into the listing you have walked, so a hand-built value from a Reddit fullname loses that and gives you a worse answer about where you are. Each request in the loop is billed the same $0.002, so ten pages of 100 posts is two cents.

What to do when a call fails

The example throws on any non-2xx, which is the right default for a script and the wrong one for a job you leave running. Some failures clear on their own and some never will, so a blanket retry is how a script burns an afternoon getting nowhere.

Split those two groups in your catch block and the loop above survives a bad night upstream without hammering an endpoint that is never going to answer. Full details of what each call costs are on how much the Reddit API costs.

Frequently asked