Reddit Flair Updater

Bulk-update post flairs in a subreddit using Python and PRAW. Designed for moderators to easily update existing posts after renaming or reorganizing flair templates.

This repository contains two separate scripts:

1. list_flairs.py — Lists all flair templates and their IDs for a subreddit.
2. update_flairs.py — Updates old flairs to new templates on posts based on a user-provided flair map.

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Table of Contents

• Features
• Prerequisites
• Installation
• Configuration (praw.ini & config.json)
• Listing Flairs
• Updating Post Flairs
• Tips and Safety
• Security

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Features

• Lists all link flair templates with their IDs
• Updates old flairs to new templates on existing posts
• Modular design with main() functions for clean code and safe importing
• Fully configurable via config.json

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Prerequisites

• Python 3.8+
• A Reddit account with moderator permissions on the subreddit
• A Reddit API app (script type)

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Installation

1. Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/YOUR_USERNAME/reddit-flair-updater.git
cd reddit-flair-updater

2. Create a Python virtual environment and activate it:

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

3. Install dependencies:

pip install -r requirements.txt

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Configuration (praw.ini & config.json)

1. Create praw.ini for Reddit credentials

Create a file named praw.ini in the project folder with the following content:

[default]
client_id=YOUR_CLIENT_ID
client_secret=YOUR_CLIENT_SECRET
username=YOUR_REDDIT_USERNAME
password=YOUR_REDDIT_PASSWORD
user_agent=FlairUpdater by u/YOUR_REDDIT_USERNAME

Replace placeholders:

• YOUR_CLIENT_ID → from your Reddit script app (string below your app name)
• YOUR_CLIENT_SECRET → from your Reddit script app
• YOUR_REDDIT_USERNAME → your Reddit username
• YOUR_REDDIT_PASSWORD → your Reddit password
• user_agent → can be any descriptive string, e.g., "FlairUpdaterBot by u/YourUsername"

Test your credentials:

import praw
reddit = praw.Reddit("default")
print(reddit.user.me())  # Should print your Reddit username

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2. Create config.json for subreddit & flair map

Create a file named config.json in the project folder with placeholders:

{
  "subreddit": "YOUR_SUBREDDIT",
  "flair_map": {
    "OLD_FLAIR_1": "NEW_FLAIR_TEMPLATE_ID_1",
    "OLD_FLAIR_2": "NEW_FLAIR_TEMPLATE_ID_2"
  }
}

How to replace placeholders:

• YOUR_SUBREDDIT → the subreddit you want to update (without r/)
• OLD_FLAIR_1, OLD_FLAIR_2 → the current flair text of posts you want to change
• NEW_FLAIR_TEMPLATE_ID_1, etc. → the flair template IDs for the new flairs (use list_flairs.py to get them)

Example after replacing placeholders:

{
  "subreddit": "YourSubreddit",
  "flair_map": {
    "Old_Discussion_Flair": "d373b1ba-5e7e-11f0-870e-7aef208a0ad8",
    "Old_Video_Flair": "61220302-bbac-11ef-b53d-22870e36641c"
  }
}

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Notes:

• The scripts read subreddit and flair_map directly from config.json, so no changes to the Python scripts are needed for different subreddits.
• Always verify flair IDs using list_flairs.py before running update_flairs.py.

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Listing Flairs

If you don’t know your flair template IDs:

1. Run the listing script:

python list_flairs.py

2. It reads the subreddit from config.json and prints all link flair templates in the format:

New_Discussion_Flair — d373b1ba-5e7e-11f0-870e-7aef208a0ad8
New_Video_Flair — 61220302-bbac-11ef-b53d-22870e36641c
...

3. Copy the IDs into config.json to build your flair_map.

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Updating Post Flairs

1. Ensure config.json contains your subreddit and flair_map.
2. Run the update script:

python update_flairs.py

3. The script loops through posts and updates old flairs to new templates. Progress is printed to the console.

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Tips and Safety

• Test first: use limit=10 in update_flairs.py during testing.
• API rate limits: the script includes time.sleep(2) between updates.
• Filtering posts: you can modify the script to target .new(), .top(), or .search() results.
• Dry-run option: modify the script to print matched posts without updating for safety.

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Security

• Never commit praw.ini or config.json to public repositories, they contain sensitive credentials and flair IDs.
• .gitignore is already configured to exclude them.

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License

MIT License – free to use, modify, and distribute.

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