About the Project

Inspiration

Reddit AutoModerator is one of the most powerful moderation systems available online, but once configurations grow large, they quickly become difficult to understand and debug.

Moderators often manage hundreds of YAML rules with hidden dependencies, chained actions, flair-based workflows, keyword filters, and moderation automations that interact in non-obvious ways. A small change in one rule can unexpectedly affect downstream moderation behavior.

While working with AutoModerator configurations, I realized there was no visual way to:

understand rule relationships
trace moderation execution
debug workflow chains
safely test rules before deploying them

That inspired the idea behind AutoMod Visualiz — a workflow visualization and sandbox debugging platform for Reddit AutoModerator.

The goal was to make AutoModerator feel less like static YAML and more like a visual workflow engine similar to GitHub Actions or LangGraph.

What the Project Does

AutoMod Visualiz converts AutoModerator YAML into interactive DAG-based moderation workflows.

The platform allows moderators to:

visualize rule dependencies
inspect moderation pipelines
trace execution paths
simulate moderation events
replay workflow execution
debug complex automation behavior safely

from the current subreddit and transforms it into an interactive workflow graph using React Flow.

Moderators can then simulate posts/comments and observe how rules propagate through the moderation pipeline.

How We Built It

The project was built using:

Devvit
React
React Flow
TypeScript
Zustand
TailwindCSS
Monaco Editor
Framer Motion
Hono

The frontend runs as a Devvit WebView application embedded directly inside Reddit.

The system architecture includes:

YAML parsing engine
rule relationship detection
DAG generation
execution tracing engine
sandbox simulation runtime
workflow playback system

We used React Flow to render AutoModerator rules as interactive DAG nodes and edges. Rule relationships are inferred by analyzing:

flair propagation
moderation actions
shared conditions
downstream dependencies

The sandbox engine simulates moderation events and generates execution traces that synchronize with the graph visualization.

Challenges We Faced

One of the biggest challenges was integrating a modern React workflow application into Reddit’s Devvit platform while staying within current SDK limitations.

Initially, we explored multiple architectures:

public launcher posts
sidebar/widget integrations
custom mod tool navigation
separate Blocks wrapper apps

We eventually discovered that Devvit’s current public APIs do not expose direct left-sidebar Mod Tools injection for WebView apps. This required redesigning the integration strategy around supported moderator menu surfaces while preserving a native-feeling workflow experience.

Another major challenge was modeling AutoModerator rules as graph relationships. AutoModerator YAML is not inherently graph-structured, so we had to build custom dependency detection logic to infer workflow relationships between rules.

Handling sandbox execution playback was also complex because execution traces needed to stay synchronized with animated React Flow graph state.

We also had to optimize the UI for:

Reddit embedded WebViews
fullscreen mode
mobile responsiveness
large workflow graphs

while preserving smooth interaction and graph rendering performance.

What We Learned

This project taught us a lot about:

workflow visualization systems
execution tracing
graph-based UI architecture
Devvit platform limitations
embedding rich tooling inside Reddit
React Flow performance optimization
YAML workflow analysis

We also learned how valuable visual debugging can be for moderation tooling. Many moderation systems are extremely powerful but difficult to reason about once workflows become large and interconnected.

Future Plans

Future improvements include:

workflow validation
infinite loop detection
conflict analysis
performance profiling
visual rule editing
workflow templates
moderation analytics
collaborative debugging

We also want to explore deeper moderator tooling integrations as Devvit expands its public APIs.

Why It Matters

Moderation tooling is critical infrastructure for online communities, but moderators often work with systems that are difficult to visualize and debug.

AutoMod Visualiz aims to make moderation automation: