🎯 Reddit Pain Point Discovery Tool

Discover software product ideas by mining Reddit for user pain points. AI-powered analysis with Google Gemini.

Why This Tool?

Finding product ideas shouldn't be guesswork. Every day, thousands of people describe their frustrations on Reddit — "I wish there was...", "Why isn't there a tool for...", "I'd pay for something that...". These are validated pain points from real users.

This tool automates the discovery process:

• Scrapes targeted subreddits for posts expressing frustration or unmet needs
• Uses AI to extract structured insights (pain point, audience, market size, solutions)
• Ranks opportunities by a composite score so you can focus on the best ones
• Presents everything in a clean, filterable dashboard

Stop building products nobody wants. Start with real pain.

How It Works

1. Scrapes posts and comments from 12+ target subreddits (r/SaaS, r/startups, r/Entrepreneur, etc.)
2. Filters for pain-point language ("I wish", "frustrated", "need a tool", etc.)
3. Analyzes each match with Google Gemini to extract structured insights
4. Ranks opportunities by a composite score (engagement × severity × market potential)
5. Displays everything in a clean, filterable dashboard

Features

• 🔍 Smart Scraping — Targets 12+ subreddits with pain-point keyword matching
• 🌐 No Auth Scraping — Public API mode, no Reddit credentials needed
• 🤖 AI Analysis — Claude or Gemini extracts pain points, audiences, solutions, market estimates
• 📊 Opportunity Scoring — Composite score based on engagement, severity, and market size
• 🏷️ Auto-Categorization — Productivity, Dev Tools, Business, Marketing, etc.
• 🔥 Trending View — See what's hot right now
• 🔎 Search & Filter — By subreddit, category, score, keywords
• 📥 Export — CSV and JSON export
• 🚀 One-Click Scrape — Trigger scrapes from the dashboard UI
• 🎮 Demo Mode — Try the dashboard with sample data, no API keys needed
• ⏰ Scheduled scraping (cron jobs)
• 📧 Email/Slack alerts for high-score opportunities
• 📈 Trend detection over time
• 🌐 Multi-platform support (Hacker News, Twitter/X, Indie Hackers)
• 🏷️ Custom keyword lists
• 📊 Analytics dashboard with charts

Quick Start

Try It Instantly (Demo Mode)

No API keys needed — explore the dashboard with sample data:

git clone https://github.com/lefttree/reddit-pain-points.git
cd reddit-pain-points

# Backend
cd backend
python -m venv venv && source venv/bin/activate
pip install -r requirements.txt
python cli.py demo    # Load 10 sample pain points
python cli.py serve & # Start API on :8000
cd ..

# Frontend
cd frontend
npm install
npm run dev           # Start UI on :5173

Open http://localhost:5173 and explore!

Quick Start with Real Data (No Reddit Account Needed)

Only need an LLM API key — scrape Reddit without credentials:

git clone https://github.com/lefttree/reddit-pain-points.git
cd reddit-pain-points
cp .env.example .env
# Add your LLM key to .env (either one):
#   ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-...   (Claude, recommended)
#   GOOGLE_API_KEY=AIza...          (Gemini)

cd backend
python -m venv venv && source venv/bin/activate
pip install -r requirements.txt

python cli.py scrape --public           # Scrape Reddit (no auth needed!)
python cli.py analyze                   # Analyze with AI
python cli.py serve &                   # Start API
cd ../frontend && npm install && npm run dev  # Start UI

Full Setup (With Reddit API + LLM)

1. Prerequisites

• Python 3.11+
• Node.js 18+
• LLM API key — one of:
  • Anthropic/Claude API key (recommended)
  • Google Gemini API key
• Optional: Reddit API credentials (create app here) — for higher rate limits

2. Install & Configure

git clone https://github.com/lefttree/reddit-pain-points.git
cd reddit-pain-points

# Copy and fill in your credentials
cp .env.example .env
# Edit .env — at minimum set one LLM key

# Install backend
cd backend
python -m venv venv && source venv/bin/activate
pip install -r requirements.txt
cd ..

# Install frontend
cd frontend
npm install
cd ..

3. Run the Scraper

cd backend

# Scrape Reddit + analyze with AI (full pipeline)
python cli.py run --public              # Public API (no Reddit credentials)
python cli.py run                       # With Reddit API credentials

# Or run steps separately:
python cli.py scrape --public           # Scrape via public API
python cli.py scrape                    # Scrape via Reddit API (needs credentials)
python cli.py analyze                   # Analyze unanalyzed posts with LLM
python cli.py scrape -s "SaaS,startups" # Specific subreddits
python cli.py stats                     # View database stats

4. Start the Dashboard

# Option A: Quick start (both services)
./run.sh

# Option B: Manual
cd backend && python cli.py serve &    # API on :8000
cd frontend && npm run dev &           # UI on :5173

Open http://localhost:5173 to browse discovered pain points.

Example Output

Here's what an analyzed pain point looks like:

🎯 Pain Point: "No simple tool to aggregate feature requests from multiple
   channels (email, Slack, support, social) for small teams"

📊 Opportunity Score: 82/100
🔥 Severity: 4/5
👥 Audience: Small SaaS founders and product managers
📈 Market Size: Large

💡 Product Ideas:
   1. Lightweight feature request aggregator with email/Slack/Twitter integrations
   2. AI-powered request deduplication and ranking tool
   3. Simple voting board with multi-channel intake automation

🔍 Existing Solutions: Canny, Productboard, Nolt, Fider
📌 Source: r/SaaS · ⬆ 187 · 💬 43 comments

Project Structure

reddit-pain-points/
├── backend/
│   ├── api.py           # FastAPI REST API
│   ├── scraper.py       # Reddit scraper (PRAW)
│   ├── analyzer.py      # Gemini LLM analyzer
│   ├── database.py      # SQLite management
│   ├── config.py        # Configuration
│   ├── cli.py           # CLI interface
│   ├── demo_data.py     # Sample data for demo mode
│   └── requirements.txt
├── frontend/
│   ├── src/
│   │   ├── App.jsx      # Main React app
│   │   ├── main.jsx     # Entry point
│   │   └── index.css    # Tailwind styles
│   ├── package.json
│   └── vite.config.js
├── data/                # SQLite database (auto-created)
├── docs/
│   └── DESIGN.md        # Architecture & design doc
├── .env.example         # Template for credentials
├── run.sh               # Quick start script
└── README.md

API Endpoints

Method	Endpoint	Description
GET	/api/pain-points	List pain points (filterable, paginated)
GET	/api/pain-points/:id	Single pain point detail
GET	/api/stats	Dashboard statistics
GET	/api/trending	Trending pain points
GET	/api/categories	Categories with counts
GET	/api/subreddits	Subreddits with counts
GET	/api/export?format=csv	Export data
POST	/api/scrape	Trigger scrape run
GET	/api/scrape/status	Scraper status

Auto-generated docs at http://localhost:8000/docs (Swagger UI).

Configuration

All config via .env:

# LLM API Key (at least one required for analysis)
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-...            # Claude (recommended)
GOOGLE_API_KEY=AIza...                  # Gemini
LLM_PROVIDER=auto                       # "auto" (default), "claude", or "gemini"

# Reddit API (optional — use --public flag to skip)
REDDIT_CLIENT_ID=your_client_id
REDDIT_CLIENT_SECRET=your_client_secret

# Optional
SUBREDDITS=SaaS,startups,Entrepreneur  # Override target subreddits
SCRAPE_LIMIT=50                         # Posts per subreddit per feed
DATABASE_PATH=data/painpoints.db        # Database location

Reddit App Setup

1. Go to https://www.reddit.com/prefs/apps
2. Click "create another app..."
3. Choose "script" type
4. Set redirect URI to http://localhost:8080
5. Copy the client ID (under app name) and secret

Default Subreddits

The scraper targets these 12 subreddits by default:

Subreddit	Focus
r/SaaS	SaaS product discussions
r/startups	Startup challenges & needs
r/Entrepreneur	Business pain points
r/smallbusiness	Small business struggles
r/webdev	Web development frustrations
r/programming	Developer tooling gaps
r/productivity	Workflow & productivity issues
r/selfhosted	Self-hosting needs & gaps
r/sideproject	Side project builders' needs
r/indiehackers	Indie maker challenges
r/digitalnomad	Remote work pain points
r/nocode	No-code/low-code limitations

Override via .env: SUBREDDITS=SaaS,startups,yourSubreddit

💡 Suggest new subreddits! Open an issue or PR to add subreddits you think are valuable.

Pain Point Keywords

The scraper searches for posts containing these 31 keywords/phrases:

Category	Keywords
Wishes	"i wish", "wish there was", "why isn't there", "doesn't exist"
Frustration	"frustrated", "annoying", "so annoying", "drives me crazy", "hate when", "sucks", "terrible", "worst part"
Seeking	"looking for", "need a tool", "anyone know of", "is there a", "recommend a", "help me find", "what do you use for", "looking for something", "can't find"
Alternatives	"alternative to", "tired of"
Validation	"would pay for", "shut up and take my money", "deal breaker"
Feedback	"pain point", "struggle with", "feature request", "broken", "waste of time"

💡 Suggest new keywords! If you know domain-specific phrases that signal pain points, open an issue or PR.

Analysis Categories

Discovered pain points are auto-categorized into:

Productivity · Developer Tools · Business · Communication · Finance · Health · Education · Marketing · Design · Data & Analytics · Automation · Other

Roadmap

• Scheduled Scraping — Cron-based scraping with configurable intervals
• Alerts — Email/Slack notifications when high-scoring opportunities are found
• Multi-Platform — Extend to Hacker News, Twitter/X, Indie Hackers, Product Hunt
• Trend Detection — Track pain points over time, detect emerging trends
• Custom Keywords — User-defined keyword lists for domain-specific discovery
• Team Features — Bookmarks, notes, and collaboration on opportunities
• Analytics Dashboard — Charts and visualizations for scraping history

Tech Stack

• Backend: Python, FastAPI, PRAW (optional), SQLite
• Frontend: React 19, Vite, Tailwind CSS
• Analysis: Claude (Anthropic) or Gemini (Google) — auto-detected

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! See CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.

License

MIT — see LICENSE for details.