Reddit Creates New Portal To Make Third-Party Bots Easier

JAKARTA - Reddit is building a new portal to give developers the resources they need to build bots and other third-party tools.

In a blog post, Reddit announced that it was opening a waiting list for the beta of its developer platform, which allows developers to host bots for free and reuse apps across different communities.

There are some of the more popular bots on the platform, such as u/RemindMeBot, which send users messages to remind them of certain posts or comments at any given time. There are also bots that provide summaries of Wikipedia pages and even bots that convert videos on the platform into downloadable links.

As Reddit notes, developers on the platform are currently "operating primarily as a separate resource" and receiving "limited resources and ad-hoc support." Reddit wants to solve this problem by building a dedicated tool for developers through its new platform.

It's unclear what tools the platform will offer to start the bot. Reddit spokesman Tim Rathschmidt said in a statement to The Verge that the toolkit will allow developers to "extend and build bots and automation tools that allow users and moderators to have a simpler and more meaningful experience on Reddit."

Reddit will also provide moderators and users with a list of third-party tools they can use. They plan to make the platform available to all developers next year.