Build Your Own GummySearch-Style Monitor (Lightweight, Robust)

Build vs Buy Decision Checklist

Buy (managed tool) if:
  [ ] You have fewer than 20 keyword/subreddit combinations to monitor
  [ ] You don't have Python or backend engineering available
  [ ] You need to be running within a day, not a week
  [ ] Your compliance requirements allow third-party data storage
  [ ] Your budget is < $50/month (managed tools start here)

Build (self-hosted) if:
  [ ] You need 50+ keyword/subreddit combinations
  [ ] You need data to stay on your own infrastructure
  [ ] You want to pipe results into a custom CRM or internal tool
  [ ] You need polling faster than 5-minute intervals
  [ ] You want to monitor beyond Reddit (forums, ProductHunt, HN)
  [ ] You have a developer available for setup and occasional maintenance

Environment Variables — save to .env file

REDDIT_CLIENT_ID=your_client_id_here
REDDIT_CLIENT_SECRET=your_client_secret_here
REDDIT_USER_AGENT=reddit-monitor/1.0 by u/your_username
SLACK_WEBHOOK_URL=https://hooks.slack.com/services/YOUR/WEBHOOK/URL

# Optional: alert by email instead of Slack
SMTP_HOST=smtp.gmail.com
SMTP_PORT=587
SMTP_USER=you@gmail.com
SMTP_PASS=your_app_password
ALERT_EMAIL=alerts@yourcompany.com

crawler.py — production-ready keyword monitor

import praw
import requests
import sqlite3
import time
import os
from datetime import datetime

# Load from environment
reddit = praw.Reddit(
    client_id=os.environ["REDDIT_CLIENT_ID"],
    client_secret=os.environ["REDDIT_CLIENT_SECRET"],
    user_agent=os.environ["REDDIT_USER_AGENT"],
)

KEYWORDS = [
    "looking for a tool",
    "any recommendations for",
    "alternatives to",
    "frustrated with",
    "switching from",
    "what do you use for",
    # Add your competitor names here:
    # "competitor_name",
]

SUBREDDITS = [
    "entrepreneur", "SaaS", "startups", "indiehackers",
    # Add your vertical communities:
    # "your_vertical",
]

SLACK_URL = os.environ.get("SLACK_WEBHOOK_URL")

# SQLite for deduplication
conn = sqlite3.connect("seen_posts.db")
conn.execute("CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS seen (id TEXT PRIMARY KEY, ts INTEGER)")
conn.commit()

def already_seen(post_id):
    row = conn.execute("SELECT id FROM seen WHERE id=?", (post_id,)).fetchone()
    return row is not None

def mark_seen(post_id):
    conn.execute("INSERT OR IGNORE INTO seen VALUES (?,?)",
                 (post_id, int(time.time())))
    conn.commit()

def matches(post):
    text = (post.title + " " + (post.selftext or "")).lower()
    return any(kw.lower() in text for kw in KEYWORDS)

def alert(post, sub):
    message = (
        f"*[r/{sub}]* {post.title}\n"
        f"Score: {post.score} | Comments: {post.num_comments}\n"
        f"{post.url}"
    )
    if SLACK_URL:
        requests.post(SLACK_URL, json={"text": message}, timeout=5)
    else:
        print(message)

def run():
    for sub_name in SUBREDDITS:
        try:
            sub = reddit.subreddit(sub_name)
            for post in sub.new(limit=50):
                if not already_seen(post.id):
                    mark_seen(post.id)
                    if matches(post):
                        alert(post, sub_name)
        except Exception as e:
            print(f"Error in r/{sub_name}: {e}")
            time.sleep(30)  # back off on errors

if __name__ == "__main__":
    print(f"Monitor started at {datetime.now()}")
    run()

crontab entry — runs every 15 minutes

# Edit with: crontab -e
*/15 * * * * cd /path/to/monitor && /usr/bin/python3 crawler.py >> /var/log/reddit-monitor.log 2>&1

# Verify it's running:
# tail -f /var/log/reddit-monitor.log

docker-compose.yml — spin up Meilisearch

services:
  meilisearch:
    image: getmeili/meilisearch:latest
    ports:
      - "7700:7700"
    volumes:
      - ./meili_data:/meili_data
    environment:
      - MEILI_MASTER_KEY=your_master_key_here
    restart: unless-stopped

crawler_with_index.py — full crawl + index + alert

import praw, meilisearch, requests, sqlite3, time, os

reddit = praw.Reddit(
    client_id=os.environ["REDDIT_CLIENT_ID"],
    client_secret=os.environ["REDDIT_CLIENT_SECRET"],
    user_agent=os.environ["REDDIT_USER_AGENT"],
)
ms = meilisearch.Client("http://localhost:7700", os.environ.get("MEILI_MASTER_KEY"))
idx = ms.index("reddit_posts")

SUBS = ["entrepreneur", "SaaS", "startups"]
KEYWORDS = ["looking for a tool", "any recommendations", "frustrated with"]
SLACK_URL = os.environ.get("SLACK_WEBHOOK_URL")

conn = sqlite3.connect("seen.db")
conn.execute("CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS seen (id TEXT PRIMARY KEY)")
conn.commit()

while True:
    for sub in SUBS:
        try:
            for post in reddit.subreddit(sub).new(limit=50):
                if conn.execute("SELECT id FROM seen WHERE id=?", (post.id,)).fetchone():
                    continue
                conn.execute("INSERT OR IGNORE INTO seen VALUES (?)", (post.id,))
                conn.commit()

                text = (post.title + " " + post.selftext).lower()
                matched = any(k in text for k in KEYWORDS)

                # Always index (for search)
                idx.add_documents([{
                    "id": post.id,
                    "title": post.title,
                    "body": post.selftext[:500],
                    "url": post.url,
                    "subreddit": sub,
                    "score": post.score,
                    "created_utc": int(post.created_utc),
                    "matched_keyword": matched,
                }])

                # Alert only on keyword matches
                if matched and SLACK_URL:
                    requests.post(SLACK_URL, json={
                        "text": f"*[r/{sub}]* {post.title}\n{post.url}"
                    }, timeout=5)

        except Exception as e:
            print(f"Error r/{sub}: {e}")
            time.sleep(30)

    time.sleep(900)  # 15-minute poll

Monthly Maintenance Checklist — 30 minutes per month

[ ] Check crawler logs for errors or gaps in the last 30 days
[ ] Verify Slack/email alerts are still firing (post a test keyword to a private subreddit)
[ ] Review keyword list — remove low-signal terms, add new competitor names or pain phrases
[ ] Check Reddit API rate limit usage — should be well under 60 req/min average
[ ] Rotate API credentials if any team members have left or credentials are 6+ months old
[ ] Prune seen_posts.db if it's grown over 500MB (DELETE rows older than 90 days)
[ ] Update PRAW and meilisearch Python packages to latest stable versions
[ ] Confirm disk usage on VPS is under 80% — Meilisearch index grows with volume