Redlib

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

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10-second pitch: Redlib is a private front-end like Invidious but for Reddit. Browse the coldest takes of r/unpopularopinion without being tracked.

• 🚀 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: strong Content Security Policy prevents browser requests to Reddit

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Table of Contents

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

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Instances

[!TIP] 🔗 Want to automatically redirect Reddit links to Redlib? Use LibRedirect or Privacy Redirect!

An up-to-date table of instances is available in Markdown and machine-readable JSON.

Both files are part of the redlib-instances repository. To contribute your self-hosted instance to the list, see the redlib-instances README.

For information on instance uptime, see the Uptime Robot status page.

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About

[!NOTE] Find Redlib on 💬 Matrix, 🐋 Quay.io, :octocat: GitHub, and 🦊 GitLab.

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 as Invidious for YouTube, Nitter for Twitter, and Bibliogram for Instagram.

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

Built with

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

How is it different from other Reddit front ends?

Teddit

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 in Rust for speed and memory safety. It uses Hyper, a speedy and lightweight HTTP server/client implementation.

Libreddit

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.

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Comparison

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

Speed

Last tested on January 12, 2024.

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

| Performance metric | Redlib | Reddit | | ------------------- | -------- | --------- | | Speed Index | 0.6s | 1.9s | | Performance Score | 100% | 64% | | Time to Interactive | 2.8s | 12.4s |

Privacy

Reddit

Logging: According to Reddit's privacy 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's cookie notice documents the array of cookies used by Reddit including/regarding:

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

Redlib

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

Server

• 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.

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Deployment

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

For configuration options, see the Configuration section.

Docker

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 at quay.io, with support for amd64, arm64, and armv7 platforms.

Docker Compose

[!IMPORTANT] These instructions assume the Compose plugin has already been installed. If not, follow these instructions on the Docker Docs for how to do so.

Copy compose.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

Docker CLI

Deploy Redlib:

docker pull quay.io/redlib/redlib:latest
docker 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:latest
docker 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 with 127.0.0.1 so that Redlib only listens on the host port locally. For example, if the host port for Redlib is 8080, specify 127.0.0.1:8080:8080.

Stream logs from the Redlib container:

docker logs -f redlib

Podman

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 at quay.io, with support for amd64, arm64, and armv7 platforms.

Quadlets

[!IMPORTANT] These instructions assume that you are on a systemd based distro with podman. If not, follow these instructions on podman's website for how to do so. It also assumes you have used loginctl enable-linger <username> to enable th