Argus

Reddit Keyword Monitoring Tool

Argus is a monitoring tool that watches Reddit for specific mentions and sends email notifications with the results. Named after the many-eyed giant of Greek mythology, it vigilantly searches through both posts and comments within a specified timeframe.

Setup

1. Clone the repository and navigate to the project directory

2. Run the setup script:

chmod +x setup.sh
./setup.sh

This will:

• Create a virtual environment
• Install required packages

3. Edit the .env file with your credentials:

nano .env  # or use your preferred editor

Required credentials:

• Reddit API credentials:
  • REDDIT_CLIENT_ID
  • REDDIT_CLIENT_SECRET
  • REDDIT_USER_AGENT
  • REDDIT_USERNAME
• Email configuration:
  • SMTP_SERVER
  • SMTP_PORT
  • SENDER_EMAIL
  • SENDER_PASSWORD
  • RECIPIENT_EMAIL

4. Configure search parameters in config.json:

{
  "subreddit_name": "your_subreddit",
  "search_phrases": ["phrase 1", "phrase 2", "phrase 3"]
}

5. Make the bash scripts executable:

   chmod +x run_daily_search.sh chmod +x run_weekly_search.sh chmod +x cleanup.sh

Usage

Running Daily Searches

To search for mentions from today only:

./run_daily_search.sh

Running Weekly Searches

To search for mentions from the past 7 days:

./run_weekly_search.sh

Custom Timeframe

You can also run the Python script directly with a custom number of days:

python daily_search.py --days 3  # Search past 3 days

Output

Argus generates two types of output:

1. JSON Files:

   • daily_reddit_results.json - Results from daily searches
   • weekly_reddit_results.json - Results from weekly searches

2. Email Notifications:

   • Sent to the configured recipient email
   • Contains links to found posts and comments
   • Includes dates for each result

Logging

Argus maintains log files:

• daily_search.log - For daily search operations
• weekly_search.log - For weekly search operations

Automated Running

To run Argus automatically, you can set up cron jobs:

# Open crontab editor
crontab -e

# Add these lines (adjust paths as needed):
# Run daily search at 9 AM every day
0 9 * * * /path/to/argus/run_daily_search.sh

# Run weekly search at 10 AM every Monday
0 10 * * 1 /path/to/argus/run_weekly_search.sh

Features

• Filters out locked, removed, or deleted posts
• Checks parent posts of comments to ensure they're still accessible
• Includes timestamps and dates in results
• Configurable search timeframe
• Email notifications with formatted results
• Comprehensive logging
• Environment variable support for sensitive information

Requirements

• Python 3.6+
• PRAW (Python Reddit API Wrapper)
• python-dotenv
• Access to SMTP server for sending emails
• Reddit API credentials