Reddit Persona Generator

A web application that analyzes Reddit user profiles to generate detailed personas using AI-powered analysis. This tool scrapes Reddit user data (posts and comments) and uses Google's Gemini AI to extract personality traits, motivations, frustrations, and emotional profiles.

🚀 Features

• User Data Extraction: Scrapes Reddit posts and comments using PRAW
• AI-Powered Analysis: Uses Google Gemini AI for persona generation
• Comprehensive Personas: Generates detailed profiles including:
  • Basic demographics (age, occupation, location)
  • Personality traits and archetypes
  • Motivations and frustrations
  • Emotional analysis with scoring
  • Goals and behavioral patterns
• Web Interface: Clean, responsive web UI built with FastAPI and Tailwind CSS
• Database Storage: MongoDB integration for data persistence
• Real-time Processing: Live persona generation with loading indicators

📋 Prerequisites

Before running this application, make sure you have:

• Python 3.8+
• MongoDB (local or cloud instance)
• Reddit API credentials
• Google Gemini API key

🛠️ Installation

1. Clone the repository

   git clone https://github.com/yourusername/reddit-persona-generator.git
   cd reddit-persona-generator

2. Create a virtual environment

   python -m venv venv
   
   # On Windows
   venv\Scripts\activate
   
   # On macOS/Linux
   source venv/bin/activate

3. Install dependencies

   pip install -r requirements.txt

4. Set up environment variables

   Create a .env file in the project root:

   # Reddit API Credentials
   REDDIT_CLIENT_ID=your_reddit_client_id
   REDDIT_CLIENT_SECRET=your_reddit_client_secret
   REDDIT_USER_AGENT=your_app_name/1.0 by /u/yourusername
   
   # Google Gemini API
   GEMINI_API_KEY=your_gemini_api_key
   
   # MongoDB Connection
   MONGODB_URI=mongodb://localhost:27017/

🔑 API Setup

Reddit API Setup

1. Go to Reddit Apps
2. Click "Create App" or "Create Another App"
3. Fill out the form:
   • Name: Your app name
   • App type: Choose "script"
   • Description: Optional
   • About URL: Optional
   • Redirect URI: http://localhost:8000 (or leave blank for scripts)
4. Note down the Client ID (under the app name) and Client Secret

Google Gemini API Setup

1. Go to Google AI Studio
2. Create a new API key
3. Copy the API key to your .env file

MongoDB Setup

Option 1: Local MongoDB

1. Install MongoDB locally
2. Start MongoDB service
3. Use default connection string: mongodb://localhost:27017/

Option 2: MongoDB Atlas (Cloud)

1. Create account at MongoDB Atlas
2. Create a cluster
3. Get connection string and add to .env

🚀 Usage

Running the Web Application

1. Start the FastAPI server

   uvicorn main:app --reload

2. Open your browser

   Navigate to http://localhost:8000

3. Analyze a Reddit user

   • Enter a Reddit username or URL (e.g., https://reddit.com/u/username or just username)
   • Click "Generate Persona"
   • Wait for analysis to complete (may take 1-2 minutes)
   • View the generated persona dashboard

Running the Command Line Script

For direct command-line usage:

python persona_generator.py

Enter the Reddit username when prompted.

📁 Project Structure

reddit-persona-generator/
├── persona_generator.py # Core analysis logic
├── app/
│ └── main.py # FastAPI web application
│ └── templates/
│ ├── index.html # Home page template
│ └── combined.html # Persona display template
├── requirements.txt # Python dependencies
├── .env.example # Environment variable template
├── .gitignore # Git ignore rules
├── .python-version # Python version manager file
├── pyproject.toml # Project metadata and build system
├── uv.lock # Dependency lock file (used by uv)
├── sample_users/ # Sample output persona files
│ ├── kojed # Sample analysis output for Reddit user 'kojed'
│ └── Hungry-Move-6603 
└── README.md # Project documentation

• You can find real examples in the sample_users/ directory. Each file corresponds to a specific Reddit user’s persona analysis.

🔧 Configuration

Environment Variables

Variable	Description	Required
REDDIT_CLIENT_ID	Reddit API client ID	Yes
REDDIT_CLIENT_SECRET	Reddit API client secret	Yes
REDDIT_USER_AGENT	Reddit API user agent	Yes
GEMINI_API_KEY	Google Gemini API key	Yes
MONGODB_URI	MongoDB connection string	No (defaults to local)

Customization

• Data Limits: By default, the app fetches 100 recent posts and comments. Modify in persona_generator.py:

  posts = list(redditor.submissions.new(limit=100))
  comments = list(redditor.comments.new(limit=100))

• Persona Fields: Customize the persona analysis structure in the json_format_definition within analyze_with_llm() function

📊 Sample Output

The application generates personas with the following structure:

• Basic Info: Name, age, occupation, location, status
• Personality Traits: Key characteristics
• Motivations: What drives the user
• Frustrations: Common pain points
• Goals & Needs: Aspirations and requirements
• Emotional Profile: Scored analysis (0-100) for:
  • Happiness
  • Confidence
  • Anxiety
  • Anger
  • Sadness

🚨 Limitations & Considerations

• Rate Limits: Reddit API has rate limits (60 requests/minute)
• Public Data Only: Only analyzes publicly available posts/comments
• Privacy: Respect user privacy and Reddit's terms of service
• AI Accuracy: Persona analysis is AI-generated and may not be 100% accurate
• Data Freshness: Analysis based on recent activity (last 100 posts/comments)

🔒 Privacy & Ethics

• This tool only analyzes publicly available Reddit data
• No personal information is stored beyond what's publicly posted
• Users can request data deletion by contacting the administrator
• Follow Reddit's API terms of service and rate limiting guidelines

🐛 Troubleshooting

Common Issues

1. "FATAL: GEMINI_API_KEY not set"

   • Ensure your .env file contains the correct GEMINI_API_KEY

2. MongoDB Connection Error

   • Check if MongoDB is running locally
   • Verify your MONGODB_URI is correct

3. Reddit API Errors

   • Verify your Reddit API credentials
   • Check if you're hitting rate limits
   • Ensure the username exists and has public posts

4. Empty Persona Generated

   • User might have no public posts/comments
   • Account might be too new or inactive
   • Check if the username is spelled correctly

🤝 Contributing

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add some amazing feature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
5. Open a Pull Request

📝 License

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

🙏 Acknowledgments

• PRAW for Reddit API access
• Google Gemini for AI-powered analysis
• FastAPI for the web framework
• Tailwind CSS for styling

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📧 Support

If you encounter any issues or have questions, please:

1. Check the troubleshooting section above
2. Search existing GitHub issues
3. Create a new issue with detailed information about the problem

Happy analyzing! 🎉