libreddit: Self-hosted reddit on the Tailscale network

If you have been following my posts, you might have noticed a trend recently, where I am looking for self-hostable alternatives for common websites and apps that I access. And I put them all on the Tailscale network so that they are easily accessible from other devices.

Today, I stumbled upon libreddit, a self-hosted, tracker-free reddit interface. It’s important to note that this is just an interface and does not allow accessing your reddit account through it.

Installation of libreddit

The installation process was fairly straightforward: SSH into my Raspberry Pi, and use the Docker instructions on libreddit homepage. That’s it — a libreddit UI would be available on 0.0.0.0:8080 on your computer, and if the Raspberry Pi was is connected to a Tailscale network, it becomes immediately available at the Tailscale node address as well. In my case, I can access the libreddit interface at http://mew:8080 too, thanks to Magic DNS.

Setup and usage

I like how libreddit is fast on desktop and mobile views, and is configurable in many ways: wide UI, theme, sorting of posts and comments, and most importantly, supports importing of existing subreddits that you follow. Here’s a guide on that process.

Since one doesn’t have to log into their reddit account, all of libreddit settings and subreddit subscriptions are stored locally. They will be lost when browser cookies are cleared, but libreddit goes one step further in allowing one to import back settings and subreddits using a link. Look for the details at the bottom of the libreddit settings page.

Overall, I am very happy with libreddit. I have made it available to my friend who is on my Tailscale network as well, using Tailscale ACLs, and the subreddits/settings he configures wouldn’t be visible at my end. Likewise, he cannot see what I configure.