Building an AI agent to scrape and interact with Reddit was our first major foray into autonomous outreach. The goal was simple: find high-intent users complaining about problems our clients solve, and draft personalized DMs.
The Architecture
We started with a Python backend using praw (Python Reddit API Wrapper) and hooked it up to OpenAI's GPT-4. The infrastructure was hosted on Vercel and Render.
The Mistakes
Our biggest mistake was underestimating Reddit's rate limits and anti-bot mechanisms. In the first week, our accounts were repeatedly shadowbanned because the agent was moving too fast and sending identical messages.
The Results
After implementing random delays, varying the prompt structures, and adding a human-in-the-loop review system, the conversion rate jumped to 14%. It taught us that AI automation needs to mimic human unpredictability to survive on social platforms.