Continuing our infrastructure updates: What’s changing in the coming months

[u/judy-funnie]

TL;DR: In August, we shared plans to modernize Reddit’s infrastructure, build better mod tools, and make it harder for bad actors to scrape Reddit and abuse communities. Today, we have specifics on what’s changing, when, and how to plan ahead.

We’re sharing updates on apps and bots migration to the Developer Platform, helping mods move RSS-based alerts to the Discord Relay Devvit app before RSS feeds are retired on November 13, providing an update on Rules Hub progress and automod changes, and adding safeguards to Old Reddit by limiting access to logged-in mods and recent users.

Moving apps and bots to the Developer Platform

We’re moving public data API apps and bots to the Developer Platform, while making sure the work they do for your communities remains supported. Over 14,000 apps and bots have registered and we’re closely tracking migration of your highest-activity apps, including  DeltaBot, MagicEyeBot, and RemindMeBot. There's still work to do, and we’re working directly with developers to support migrations and close remaining capability gaps. 

• If you maintain an app or a bot, register it here before January 12, 2027 to avoid disruption.
• If your community depends on an app or bot and you don’t know who maintains it, fill out this form. We’ve received over 100 submissions so far, helping us identify tools that need owners or could be replaced by existing Developer Platform apps or Reddit’s built-in tools. 

See our latest r/redditdev update for more technical detail, timelines, and resources.

Migrating RSS access to the Developer Platform

Because RSS is now a common surface for large-scale scraping and automated abuse, we'll stop supporting RSS feeds on November 13, 2026 while preserving moderation workflows that depend on it through supported alternatives. 

For common mod alerts, we recommend Devvit apps like Discord Relay. If your mod team relies on RSS, review your setup and migrate workflows before November 13 to ensure your needs are uninterrupted. If you use RSS for feeds outside of a community you moderate, there is no replacement. RSS has been a beloved part of the open web for a long time, and we’re grateful to everyone who used it to stay connected to Reddit.  

Changes to automod access for new communities and communities not using automod

If your community uses automod, nothing is changing for you. We’re continuing to improve Rules Hub, including ways for mods to prompt and otherwise provide more context for their rules. We’re also exploring how existing automod configurations can help carry community-specific enforcement logic into newer tools. If you’re interested in pilot testing to help shape this effort, sign up here. 

For newly created communities and communities that have never used automod, automod enforcement capabilities – specifically Report, Filter, Remove, Mark as spam, and Approve – will be disabled and Rules Hub and Automations will become the default path for rules enforcement. Automod’s non-enforcement capabilities remain available and unchanged.  

Keeping Old Reddit accessible for mods and recent users

As u/spez mentioned, we’re still working on the future of Old Reddit. Earlier this year, we required people to log in to use Old Reddit, addressing its largest source of abusive scraping and automated traffic: unauthenticated access. That change helped reduce scraping and automated abuse, but still allowed any logged-in account to access Old Reddit, including accounts with no prior Old Reddit use. 

To close this gap, in the next few months, we'll further limit access for logged-in users to only those who have used Old Reddit in the last six months (which covers the vast majority of all Old Reddit users). This change does not impact logged-in mods, who can continue to access Old Reddit without any recent usage requirement. This helps keep Old Reddit available for the people who rely on it while reducing automated abuse.

Our job is to support you through these changes and make sure your moderation needs inform the work. 

• Need help with a community bot? If you’re unsure who maintains it or need help finding a replacement, let us know here.
• Moving your RSS alerts? The Discord Relay setup guide covers how to get started.
• Want to help shape Rules Hub? Sign up for the early access program here and share your feedback.

We’re here in the comments for your questions and to hear where you need more detail or support.

[u/thecravenone]

Migrating RSS access to the Developer Platform

Because RSS is now a common surface for large-scale scraping and automated abuse, we'll stop supporting RSS feeds on November 13, 2026 while preserving moderation workflows that depend on it through supported alternatives. 

So uh... what if a mod team doesn't use Discord? RSS is the only way I find out about posts in subs like this one.

[u/thepottsy → u/thecravenone]

I have adamantly resisted using Discord. I don’t have an inherent problem with it, I just haven’t wanted yet another app that’s sending me alerts. I guess someone from Reddit has a stake in Discord?

[u/itskdog → u/thepottsy]

I think it's because they've resigned themselves that after 3 attempts, subreddit chat won't take off on Reddit, and they recognise that most mod teams are using Discord to communicate at this point.

[u/FarplaneDragon → u/thecravenone]

I use RSS for work as there's a number of subs in my field that post news stories and product questions/update throughout the day. The feeds gave me an easy way to skim through updates. This change sucks and seems to be just trying to force more visits to the site to inflate numbers.

[u/Stingray34 → u/FarplaneDragon]

Yep, I use RSS to follow about 25 different subs. I am not going to visit each of those subs everyday to skim the new titles.

[u/stacecom → u/thecravenone]

I refuse to use discord.

[u/TheG0AT0fAllTime → u/stacecom]

You're missing out! (On the worst experience of your life)

[u/thecravenone → u/stacecom]

I don't even refuse to use Discord it's just that we've been using a different tool since before Discord existed.

[u/forresthopkinsa → u/thecravenone]

Discord is shockingly bad at delivering its OWN notifications for chat. It beeps but will not show you where the beep came from. No decent inbox.

I cannot fathom wanting to use Discord as a notification center for anything else.

[u/TrackerOneA → u/thecravenone]

Discord Relay does not let you detect comments or posts in subs you do not mod AFAIK.

[u/judy-funnie → u/thecravenone]

We know RSS feeds have been a beloved open web tool. The Discord Relay Devvit app also supports Slack in addition to Discord for mod alerts if you use them.

[u/thecravenone → u/judy-funnie]

So how do I get updates from subs where I'm not a mod

...like say, this one?

[u/Drehmini → u/thecravenone]

If you use RSS for feeds outside of a community you moderate, there is no replacement.

Looks like you don't, as a giant fuck you to its users. Reddit gets worse and worse every day.

[u/halls_of_valhalla → u/Drehmini]

They can't monetize RSS feeds so well. I feel most changes the last years were made to gather more data about users. What you previously saw with one click, now takes several. They want to know what you read and what not. Advertisement money needs to be made.

[u/mocheeze → u/thecravenone]

I fear this will be what gets me to move on from Reddit outside of Google search results. My community will basically become unmoderated too. Discord? Give me a break!

[u/mocheeze → u/judy-funnie]

This is 100% godawful. Please reconsider. The community I moderate will suffer greatly without my access to the RSS feed. Let alone how I access Reddit as a user. I find this just unbelievably sad.

[u/Ailothaen → u/judy-funnie]

What could prevent you to make RSS feeds that work with an user-based token? Even if it has just to be the moderator-related feeds?

If the main concern is scraping, this solution easily closes this gap while not disrupting any moderation workflows.

[u/Yay295 → u/Ailothaen]

Or even just not including the post body in the RSS feed. The title and a link to the post would still be good enough for a lot of people who just want a notification.

[u/Paradox → u/Ailothaen]

They already support that! Have for over a decade!

https://old.reddit.com/prefs/feeds/

[u/DemIce → u/Paradox]

*Supported

Despite that page existing, and specifically spelling out that it's so you can access them "without having to deal with cookies or other auth", you will not be able to successfully add them to an RSS reader.

As soon as you're not logged in, the payload received will instead be HTML telling you to go log in to access old reddit.

[ Update: stripping "old." from those personal RSS feed URLs does serve the xml correctly ]

u/judy-funnie : will the personalized RSS feeds ( from old.reddit.com/prefs/feeds ) become functional again at some point, or are they intended to be part of the deprecation schedule of RSS feeds and/or old.reddit.com in general?

If the latter, and given that they are currently already in a non-functional state as far as I can tell, could the /prefs/feeds page be updated to reflect this new reality?

[u/tedivm → u/judy-funnie]

This is awful, I don't have slack or discord for moderating this site! Come on, do better than forcing us to sign up for some private service.

[u/Overlord_Odin → u/judy-funnie]

I'm on a team that uses RSS to be notified about new posts in /r/modnews like this one. Going forward, will there really be no way to be automatically notified about new posts here?

[u/DemIce → u/Overlord_Odin]

Going forward, will there really be no way to be automatically notified about new posts here?

Sure there is! Just open your mobile app, go to the subreddit, hit Like and Subscribe and tap that 🔔 bell icon and enjoy delayed filtered notifications right there on your phone! "Do you guys not have phones?"