fix(reddit): use browser-like headers to fix HTTP 403 from urllib#199
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francocarballar wants to merge 1 commit intomvanhorn:mainfrom
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fix(reddit): use browser-like headers to fix HTTP 403 from urllib#199francocarballar wants to merge 1 commit intomvanhorn:mainfrom
francocarballar wants to merge 1 commit intomvanhorn:mainfrom
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Python's urllib with a generic User-Agent gets blocked by Reddit with HTTP 403. Switching to a browser User-Agent and adding Accept-Language, Accept-Encoding and Connection headers fixes it. Also adds gzip decompression since Reddit now returns compressed responses when Accept-Encoding: gzip is sent.
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Problem
reddit_public.pyuses Python'surllibwith a genericUser-Agent: last30days/3.0 (research tool). Reddit's servers block this with HTTP 403 consistently, resulting in 0 Reddit results for every query.curlwith the same URL returns 200 — the issue is specific tourllib's minimal request fingerprint, not Reddit's API availability.Root cause
Reddit detects and blocks non-browser HTTP clients based on the combination of
User-Agent+ missing browser headers (Accept-Language,Accept-Encoding,Connection).Fix
USER_AGENTwith a standard browser User-Agent string.Accept-Language,Accept-Encoding, andConnectionheaders to match a real browser request.gzipdecompression — Reddit now returns compressed responses whenAccept-Encoding: gzipis sent, so the response body must be decompressed before JSON parsing.Verification
Tested locally: before the fix every request returned
[RedditPublic] 403 forbidden. After the fix, queries return 9+ results as expected.