Reddit Meme Scraper

🎭 Your Personal Meme Delivery Service

A Python application that scrapes memes from Reddit and sends them via Telegram. This tool automatically collects memes from specified subreddits and forwards them to your Telegram channel or chat.

Features

• Scrapes memes from multiple subreddits
• Sends memes via Telegram bot
• Configurable scheduling
• Automatic duplicate detection
• Logging system for monitoring
• E-ink display support (Raspberry Pi)
• Cross-platform support (Windows, Linux, Raspberry Pi)

Prerequisites

• Python 3.8 or higher
• pip (Python package manager)
• Reddit API credentials
• Telegram Bot Token

Quick Installation

🚀 Universal Installer (Recommended)

Linux/Raspberry Pi:

git clone https://github.com/yourusername/reddit_meme_scraper.git
cd reddit_meme_scraper
chmod +x install.sh
./install.sh

Windows:

git clone https://github.com/yourusername/reddit_meme_scraper.git
cd reddit_meme_scraper
install.bat

The installer will:

• ✅ Detect your platform automatically
• ✅ Install dependencies (venv for Linux, system-wide for Raspberry Pi)
• ✅ Set up display support (Raspberry Pi only)
• ✅ Run interactive setup for API credentials

---

Manual Installation

Windows

1. Clone and Run Installer

   git clone https://github.com/yourusername/reddit_meme_scraper.git
   cd reddit_meme_scraper
   install.bat

Raspberry Pi

🍓 Raspberry Pi uses system-wide installation (no venv) for simplicity:

1. Clone and Install

   git clone https://github.com/yourusername/reddit_meme_scraper.git
   cd reddit_meme_scraper
   chmod +x install.sh
   ./install.sh

2. Enable as Service

   sudo cp reddit-meme-scraper.service /etc/systemd/system/
   sudo sed -i "s|/home/pi/|$HOME/|g" /etc/systemd/system/reddit-meme-scraper.service
   sudo sed -i "s|User=pi|User=$USER|g" /etc/systemd/system/reddit-meme-scraper.service
   sudo systemctl enable reddit-meme-scraper
   sudo systemctl start reddit-meme-scraper

Ubuntu/Linux

1. Install with Virtual Environment

   git clone https://github.com/yourusername/reddit_meme_scraper.git
   cd reddit_meme_scraper
   chmod +x install.sh
   ./install.sh

---

Migrating Existing Installation

If you have an existing venv-based installation on Raspberry Pi:

cd reddit_meme_scraper
chmod +x migrate_to_system.sh
./migrate_to_system.sh

This will migrate your installation to system-wide for better performance and reliability.

Configuration

1. Reddit API Setup

   • Go to Reddit Apps
   • Click "Create App" or "Create Another App"
   • Fill in the required information
   • Note down the client ID and client secret

2. Telegram Bot Setup

   • Message @BotFather on Telegram
   • Create a new bot using /newbot
   • Note down the bot token
   • Get your chat ID by messaging @userinfobot

3. Configure config.json

   {
     "subreddits": ["memes", "dankmemes"],
     "schedule": {
       "interval_hours": 1
     },
     "telegram": {
       "max_memes_per_batch": 5
     }
   }

Usage

Windows

1. Run the Application

   .\venv\Scripts\python main.py

2. Run as Windows Service (Optional)

   • Install NSSM (Non-Sucking Service Manager)
   • Create a service:

   nssm install RedditMemeScraper "C:\path\to\venv\Scripts\python.exe" "C:\path\to\main.py"
   nssm start RedditMemeScraper

Fedora/Ubuntu

1. Run the Application

   source venv/bin/activate
   python3 main.py

2. Run as Systemd Service (Recommended)

   sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/reddit-meme-scraper.service

   Add the following content:

   [Unit]
   Description=Reddit Meme Scraper Service
   After=network.target
   
   [Service]
   Type=simple
   User=<your-username>
   WorkingDirectory=/path/to/reddit_meme_scraper
   Environment=PATH=/path/to/reddit_meme_scraper/venv/bin
   ExecStart=/path/to/reddit_meme_scraper/venv/bin/python main.py
   Restart=always
   RestartSec=10
   
   [Install]
   WantedBy=multi-user.target

   Enable and start the service:

   sudo systemctl enable reddit-meme-scraper
   sudo systemctl start reddit-meme-scraper

Monitoring

Webhook Notifications

The scraper supports webhook notifications for monitoring via Slack, Discord, or generic webhooks.

1. Configure in config.json:

   {
     "monitoring": {
       "enabled": true,
       "webhook": {
         "enabled": true,
         "url": "https://hooks.slack.com/services/YOUR/WEBHOOK/URL",
         "type": "slack"
       }
     }
   }

2. Supported webhook types:

   • slack - Slack incoming webhooks
   • discord - Discord webhooks
   • generic - Custom webhook format

3. Notifications sent:

   • Startup/shutdown events
   • Daily statistics reports
   • Error alerts
   • Successful meme batches

E-ink Display Support (Raspberry Pi)

Perfect for your Raspberry Pi Zero W with e-ink display! The scraper can show real-time stats on supported e-ink displays.

1. Setup e-ink display (Raspberry Pi only):

   chmod +x setup_display.sh
   ./setup_display.sh

2. Enable in config.json:

   {
     "display": {
       "enabled": true,
       "type": "epd2in13_V3"
     }
   }

3. Supported displays:

   • epd2in13_V3 - 2.13" V3 display (most common for pwnagotchi)
   • epd2in7 - 2.7" display

4. Display shows:

   • Total memes scraped/sent/failed
   • Last run time
   • System uptime
   • Current status (OK/ERROR)
   • Real-time updates every 5 minutes

Note: The application works perfectly without display support. Display libraries are optional and will be gracefully skipped if not available.

Advanced Configuration

Full config.json example:

{
    "reddit": {
        "subreddits": ["memes", "dankmemes", "wholesomememes"],
        "sort_by": "hot",
        "limit": 10,
        "min_score": 100
    },
    "schedule": {
        "interval_hours": 1
    },
    "filters": {
        "image_only": true,
        "exclude_nsfw": false,
        "max_title_length": 200
    },
    "telegram": {
        "enabled": true
    },
    "monitoring": {
        "enabled": true,
        "webhook": {
            "enabled": true,
            "url": "https://hooks.slack.com/services/YOUR/WEBHOOK/URL",
            "type": "slack"
        }
    },
    "display": {
        "enabled": true,
        "type": "epd2in13_V3"
    }
}

Raspberry Pi Service Management

Basic Service Commands

# Start the service
sudo systemctl start reddit-meme-scraper

# Stop the service
sudo systemctl stop reddit-meme-scraper

# Restart the service
sudo systemctl restart reddit-meme-scraper

# Check service status
sudo systemctl status reddit-meme-scraper

# Enable service to start on boot
sudo systemctl enable reddit-meme-scraper

# Disable service from starting on boot
sudo systemctl disable reddit-meme-scraper

Logging Commands:

# View live logs (follow mode)
journalctl -u reddit-meme-scraper -f

# View last 100 lines of logs
journalctl -u reddit-meme-scraper -n 100

# View logs since last boot
journalctl -u reddit-meme-scraper -b

# View logs from a specific time
journalctl -u reddit-meme-scraper --since "2024-05-28 20:00:00"

# View error logs only
journalctl -u reddit-meme-scraper -p err

Service Configuration

# Edit service configuration
sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/reddit-meme-scraper.service

# Reload systemd after configuration changes
sudo systemctl daemon-reload

# Verify service configuration
sudo systemctl cat reddit-meme-scraper

Troubleshooting Commands

# Check if service is enabled
sudo systemctl is-enabled reddit-meme-scraper

# Check service dependencies
sudo systemctl list-dependencies reddit-meme-scraper

# Check service resource usage
sudo systemctl status reddit-meme-scraper -l

# View detailed service information
sudo systemctl show reddit-meme-scraper

Monitoring (Traditional)

Windows

• Check the logs in the project directory
• If running as a service, check Event Viewer

Fedora/Ubuntu

• View service status:

  sudo systemctl status reddit-meme-scraper

• View logs:

  journalctl -u reddit-meme-scraper -f

Troubleshooting

1. Application Not Starting

   • Check if Python is installed correctly
   • Verify all dependencies are installed
   • Check the .env file for correct credentials

2. No Memes Being Sent

   • Verify Reddit API credentials
   • Check Telegram bot token and chat ID
   • Ensure the bot is added to the target chat/channel

3. Service Not Starting

   • Check service status and logs
   • Verify file paths in service configuration
   • Ensure correct permissions

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.