MCP Integration

The Model Context Protocol (MCP) is an open standard that lets AI assistants like Claude call external tools directly during a conversation. By configuring the ReddGrow CLI as an MCP server, Claude Desktop gains persistent access to Reddit data without any code on your part.

Prerequisites

Claude Desktop installed
ReddGrow CLI installed globally: npm install -g @reddgrow/cli
A valid API key (set as REDDGROW_API_KEY in your environment)

Configure Claude Desktop

Open your Claude Desktop configuration file:

macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

Add the ReddGrow MCP server entry:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "reddgrow": {
      "command": "reddgrow",
      "args": ["mcp"],
      "env": {
        "REDDGROW_API_KEY": "rg_your_key_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Desktop. You should see a tools icon in the chat input area indicating MCP tools are available.

Available MCP tools

Once configured, Claude can call the following tools on your behalf:

Tool	Description	Credits
`subreddit_about`	Get subreddit metadata and description	1
`subreddit_rules`	Get posting rules for a subreddit	1
`subreddit_posts`	List posts from a subreddit	2
`subreddit_wiki`	Read a subreddit wiki page	5
`subreddit_check_url`	Check if a URL was posted to a subreddit	3
`search_posts`	Search Reddit posts by keyword	3
`domain_mentions`	Get Reddit posts linking to a domain	5
`batch_posts`	Fetch multiple posts by ID	5
`user_about`	Get a Reddit user's profile	1

Example MCP tool definitions

The CLI exposes these as structured MCP tool definitions. Here is what subreddit_about looks like internally:

{
  "name": "subreddit_about",
  "description": "Fetch metadata for a subreddit including subscriber count, description, and posting settings",
  "inputSchema": {
    "type": "object",
    "properties": {
      "subreddit": {
        "type": "string",
        "description": "Subreddit name without the r/ prefix"
      }
    },
    "required": ["subreddit"]
  }
}

And search_posts:

{
  "name": "search_posts",
  "description": "Search Reddit posts by keyword, optionally limited to a subreddit",
  "inputSchema": {
    "type": "object",
    "properties": {
      "query": {
        "type": "string",
        "description": "Search query"
      },
      "subreddit": {
        "type": "string",
        "description": "Limit results to this subreddit (optional)"
      },
      "sort": {
        "type": "string",
        "enum": ["relevance", "hot", "top", "new"],
        "description": "Sort order"
      },
      "limit": {
        "type": "number",
        "description": "Number of results (max 25)"
      }
    },
    "required": ["query"]
  }
}

Using ReddGrow tools in conversation

Once the MCP server is running, you can ask Claude naturally:

"Research r/typescript for me — what are their rules, and what are the top posts this week?"

Claude will automatically call subreddit_rules and subreddit_posts behind the scenes and summarize the results for you.

"Has anyone on Reddit linked to stripe.com/docs/payments recently?"

Claude will call domain_mentions with stripe.com and report back.

Using the SKILL.md with OpenClaw

If you use OpenClaw or another MCP-compatible agent framework, the ReddGrow CLI ships with a SKILL.md file that describes all available operations in a format compatible with skill-based agent systems.

Run the following to print the skill definition:

reddgrow skill

Paste the output into your OpenClaw skill configuration or any framework that accepts Markdown-based tool descriptions.

Troubleshooting

Tools not appearing in Claude Desktop

Verify reddgrow mcp runs without error from your terminal
Check that REDDGROW_API_KEY is set correctly in the config env block
Restart Claude Desktop after editing the config file

Authentication errors

Confirm your key starts with rg_
Test the key directly: curl -H "x-api-key: rg_your_key" https://api.reddgrow.ai/agent/me

Credit errors during tool calls

Check your balance: reddgrow me
Each tool call consumes credits from your account — see the cost table above