Connect your Reddit session to RDK Pro

RDK Pro's enhanced tools (real upvote scores, full comment threads, deep account diagnostics) read the same pages your browser sees when you're logged into Reddit. To make that work, RDK needs a bridge to your Chrome browser. This takes about 2 minutes.

Before you start

Step 1

Install the Tap Chrome Extension

The extension lets RDK read pages from your Chrome browser with your login session intact. It only activates when RDK requests data — it doesn't run in the background, doesn't track browsing, and doesn't modify any pages.

Install from Chrome Web Store

Alternative: download tap-extension.zip from GitHub Releases, unzip, then load unpacked via chrome://extensions → Developer mode → Load unpacked.

Step 2

Start the bridge

The bridge connects your Chrome extension to the RDK tools running in your terminal. Open a terminal and run:

$ tap bridge start

Keep this running in the background. The bridge listens on localhost:9333 (extension) and localhost:9334 (tools). No data leaves your machine.

First time only

If your terminal says tap: command not found, the npm-bundled binary isn't on your PATH. Run npx tap bridge start instead, or add the npm global bin directory to your PATH.

Step 3

Verify the connection

In a new terminal tab, run:

$ rdk status

You should see:

Reddit Demand Kit v0.3.0 Tier: Pro ★ Data: enhanced (scores + comments)

If Data says RSS (content only) even though Tier is Pro, the bridge isn't running or the extension isn't installed. Go back to Step 1.

Quick smoke test

Ask your agent: "Run reddit_profile with no arguments and tell me what account is logged in."

If it returns your Reddit username and karma, the bridge is working. If it says not logged in or errors, make sure you're logged into Reddit in Chrome and the bridge is running.

Done

You're set

From now on, every RDK Pro tool automatically uses your Chrome's Reddit session. The bridge must be running when you use Pro tools — if you restart your machine, run tap bridge start again.

What's unlocked:

# Real upvote scores + full comments $ rdk compile market-scan --subreddit SaaS # Deep account diagnostic (reads removed_by_category) Ask: "Run reddit_account_health_deep and tell me if Reddit is silently killing my posts." # Pre-flight with enriched sub-intel Ask: "Before I post to r/startups, run a pre-flight check."

Troubleshooting

"tap: command not found"

The tap binary ships alongside rdk as an npm dependency. If your shell can't find it, use npx tap bridge start or find the binary path with npm bin -g and add it to your PATH.

"Is the Tap browser logged into Reddit?"

This means the bridge connected to Chrome, but you're not logged into Reddit in that browser. Open Chrome, go to reddit.com, sign in, and retry.

Bridge connects but tools still return RSS data

Check rdk status — if Tier shows Free, your license may have expired. Run rdk activate <key> again. If Tier shows Pro but Data shows RSS, the tap binary can't be found — see "tap: command not found" above.

Can I run the bridge in the background?

Yes. On macOS/Linux: tap bridge start & or use a process manager. The bridge auto-exits cleanly when no clients have connected for 30 minutes.

Does the extension see my Reddit password?

No. The extension reads page content from tabs that the bridge opens. It never accesses stored passwords, cookies directly, or other extensions' data. The bridge runs on localhost — no data leaves your machine.