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An alternative private front-end to Reddit, with its origins inLibreddit.

10-second pitch: Redlib is a private front-end likeInvidious but for Reddit. Browse the coldest takes ofr/unpopularopinion without beingtracked.

• 🚀 Fast: written in Rust for blazing-fast speeds and memory safety
• ☁️ Light: no JavaScript, no ads, no tracking, no bloat
• 🕵 Private: all requests are proxied through the server, including media
• 🔒 Secure: strongContent Security Policy prevents browser requests to Reddit

1. Redlib
2. Instances
3. About
   • Built with
   • How is it different from other Reddit front ends?
     • Teddit
     • Libreddit
4. Comparison
   • Speed
   • Privacy
     • Reddit
     • Redlib
       • Server
5. Deployment

   • Docker

     • Docker Compose
     • Docker CLI

   • Podman

     • Quadlets

   • Binary

     • Running as a systemd service

   • Building from source

   • Replit/Heroku/Glitch

   • launchd (macOS)

6. Configuration
   • Instance settings
   • Default user settings

An up-to-date table of instances is available inMarkdown andmachine-readable JSON.

Both files are part of theredlib-instances repository. To contribute yourself-hosted instance to the list, see theredlib-instances README.

For information on instance uptime, see theUptime Robot status page.

Redlib hopes to provide an easier way to browse Reddit, without the ads, trackers, and bloat. Redlib was inspired by other alternative front-ends to popular services such asInvidious for YouTube,Nitter for Twitter, andBibliogram for Instagram.

Redlib currently implements most of Reddit's (signed-out) functionalities but still lacksa few features.

• Rust - Programming language
• Hyper - HTTP server and client
• Rinja - Templating engine
• Rustls - TLS library

Teddit is another awesome open source project designed to provide an alternative frontend to Reddit. There is no connection between the two, and you're welcome to use whichever one you favor. Competition fosters innovation and Teddit's release has motivated me to build Redlib into an even more polished product.

If you are looking to compare, the biggest differences I have noticed are:

• Redlib is themed around Reddit's redesign whereas Teddit appears to stick much closer to Reddit's old design. This may suit some users better as design is always subjective.
• Redlib is written inRust for speed and memory safety. It usesHyper, a speedy and lightweight HTTP server/client implementation.

While originating as a fork of Libreddit, the name "Redlib" was adopted to avoid legal issues, as Reddit only allows the use of their name if structured as "XYZ For Reddit".

Several technical improvements have also been made, including:

• OAuth token spoofing: To circumvent rate limits imposed by Reddit, OAuth token spoofing is used to mimick the most common iOS and Android clients. While spoofing both iOS and Android clients was explored, only the Android client was chosen due to content restrictions when using an anonymous iOS client.
• Token refreshing: The authentication token is refreshed every 24 hours, emulating the behavior of the official Android app.
• HTTP header mimicking: Efforts are made to send along as many of the official app's headers as possible to reduce the likelihood of Reddit's crackdown on Redlib's requests.

This section outlines how Redlib compares to Reddit in terms of speed and privacy.

Last tested on January 12, 2024.

Results from Google PageSpeed Insights (Redlib Report,Reddit Report).

Logging: According to Reddit'sprivacy policy, they "may [automatically] log information" including:

• IP address
• User-agent string
• Browser type
• Operating system
• Referral URLs
• Device information (e.g., device IDs)
• Device settings
• Pages visited
• Links clicked
• The requested URL
• Search terms

Location: The same privacy policy goes on to describe that location data may be collected through the use of:

• GPS (consensual)
• Bluetooth (consensual)
• Content associated with a location (consensual)
• Your IP Address

Cookies: Reddit'scookie notice documents the array of cookies used by Reddit including/regarding:

• Authentication
• Functionality
• Analytics and Performance
• Advertising
• Third-Party Cookies
• Third-Party Site

For transparency, I hope to describe all the ways Redlib handles user privacy.

• Logging: In production (when running the binary, hosting with docker, or using the official instances), Redlib logs nothing. When debugging (running from source without--release), Redlib logs post IDs fetched to aid with troubleshooting.

• Cookies: Redlib uses optional cookies to store any configured settings in the settings menu. These are not cross-site cookies and the cookies hold no personal data.

This section covers multiple ways of deploying Redlib. UsingDocker is recommended for production.

For configuration options, see theConfiguration section.

Docker lets you run containerized applications. Containers are loosely isolated environments that are lightweight and contain everything needed to run the application, so there's no need to rely on what's installed on the host.

Container images for Redlib are available atquay.io, with support foramd64,arm64, andarmv7 platforms.

Copycompose.yaml and modify any relevant values (for example, the ports Redlib should listen on).

Start Redlib in detached mode (running in the background):

docker compose up -d

Stream logs from the Redlib container:

docker logs -f redlib

Deploy Redlib:

docker pull quay.io/redlib/redlib:latestdocker run -d --name redlib -p 8080:8080 quay.io/redlib/redlib:latest

Deploy using a different port on the host (in this case, port 80):

docker pull quay.io/redlib/redlib:latestdocker run -d --name redlib -p 80:8080 quay.io/redlib/redlib:latest

If you're using a reverse proxy in front of Redlib, prefix the port numbers with127.0.0.1 so that Redlib only listens on the host portlocally. For example, if the host port for Redlib is8080, specify127.0.0.1:8080:8080.

Stream logs from the Redlib container:

docker logs -f redlib

Podman lets you run containerized applications in a rootless fashion. Containers are loosely isolated environments that are lightweight and contain everything needed to run the application, so there's no need to rely on what's installed on the host.

Container images for Redlib are available atquay.io, with support foramd64,arm64, andarmv7 platforms.

Copy theredlib.container and.env.example files to.config/containers/systemd/ and modify any relevant values (for example, the ports Redlib should listen on, renaming the .env file and editing its values, etc.).

To start Redlib either reboot or follow the instructions below:

Notify systemd of the new files

systemctl --user daemon-reload

Start the newly generated service file

systemctl --user start redlib.service

You can check the status of your container by using the following command:

systemctl --user status redlib.service

If you're on Linux, you can grab a binary fromthe newest release from GitHub.

Download the binary usingWget:

wget https://github.com/redlib-org/redlib/releases/download/v0.31.0/redlib

Make the binary executable and change its ownership toroot:

sudo chmod +x redlib&& sudo chown root:root redlib

Copy the binary to/usr/bin:

sudo cp ./redlib /usr/bin/redlib

Deploy Redlib to0.0.0.0:8080:

redlib

proxy_http_version1.1;

You can use the systemd service available incontrib/redlib.service(install it on/etc/systemd/system/redlib.service).

That service can be optionally configured in terms of environment variables bycreating a file in/etc/redlib.conf. Use thecontrib/redlib.conf as atemplate. You can also add theREDLIB_DEFAULT__{X} settings explainedabove.

When "Proxying using NGINX" where the proxy is on the same machine, you shouldguarantee nginx waits for this service to start. Edit/etc/systemd/system/redlib.service.d/reverse-proxy.conf:

[Unit]Before=nginx.service

To deploy Redlib with changes not yet included in the latest release, you can build the application from source.

git clone https://github.com/redlib-org/redlib&&cd redlibcargo run

If you are on macOS, you can use thelaunchd service available incontrib/redlib.plist.

Install it withcp contrib/redlib.plist ~/Library/LaunchAgents/.

Load and start it withlaunchctl load ~/Library/LaunchAgents/redlib.plist.

You can configure Redlib further using environment variables. For example:

REDLIB_DEFAULT_SHOW_NSFW=on redlib

REDLIB_DEFAULT_WIDE=on REDLIB_DEFAULT_THEME=dark redlib -r

You can also configure Redlib with a configuration file namedredlib.toml. For example:

REDLIB_DEFAULT_WIDE ="on"REDLIB_DEFAULT_USE_HLS ="on"

docker run -d --name redlib -p 8080:8080 --env-file .env quay.io/redlib/redlib:latest

Redlib supports the following command line flags:

• -4,--ipv4-only: Listen on IPv4 only.
• -6,--ipv6-only: Listen on IPv6 only.
• -r,--redirect-https: Redirect all HTTP requests to HTTPS (no longer functional).
• -a,--address <ADDRESS>: Sets address to listen on. Default is[::].
• -p,--port <PORT>: Port to listen on. Default is8080.
• -H,--hsts <EXPIRE_TIME>: HSTS header to tell browsers that this site should only be accessed over HTTPS. Default is604800.

Assign a default value for each instance-specific setting by passing environment variables to Redlib in the formatREDLIB_{X}. Replace{X} with the setting name (see list below) in capital letters.

Assign a default value for each user-modifiable setting by passing environment variables to Redlib in the formatREDLIB_DEFAULT_{Y}. Replace{Y} with the setting name (see list below) in capital letters.