ModLens: Evidence Packs for Reddit Moderation

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Inspiration

Moderators often need to review queue items with context scattered across reports, AutoModerator filters, repeated links, user-specific local notes, and previous actions. That context-switching takes time and can make decisions harder to keep consistent across a mod team.

ModLens was built to reduce that friction. Instead of replacing moderators, it gives them a compact evidence pack for each reported, filtered, or manually selected item.

What it does

ModLens is a Reddit Developer Platform / Devvit mod tool for subreddit moderators. When a post or comment is reported, filtered by AutoModerator, or manually selected by a moderator, ModLens creates a short-lived evidence pack.

Each evidence pack can show why the item was captured, a short excerpt, ModLens-recorded subreddit-local context, repeated domain or link signals, matched keywords, and the current review outcome.

Moderators can open the ModLens dashboard from the subreddit menu and manually approve, remove, record an internal warning outcome, or ignore evidence packs. ModLens also includes an AutoMod feedback table that tracks filtered counts and approved-back outcomes, helping mod teams identify noisy rules and reduce unnecessary queue load.

How we built it

ModLens is built directly on Reddit's Developer Platform using Devvit, TypeScript, and Devvit Redis. It uses Devvit triggers for reports, AutoModerator-filtered content, native mod actions, and deleted posts/comments.

The dashboard is implemented as a Devvit custom post. The backend stores only subreddit-local moderation context in Devvit Redis, with evidence retention capped at 30 days. Server-side moderator checks protect the dashboard, evidence API, settings API, review actions, and internal menu endpoints.

Challenges

I kept asking myself a question, that is, how to balance the usefulness and safety. A moderation tool should help moderators move faster, but it should not become a black-box judge. ModLens does not automatically ban users, does not make final moderation decisions, does not use LLMs or AI detectors, and does not track users across subreddits.

Another challenge was making the app feel close to launch-ready rather than just a demo. I focused on access control, delete-trigger scrubbing, reduced logging, local tests, documentation, and a reviewer-friendly synthetic demo flow.

What we learned

Building ModLens showed that useful moderation tools are not only about enforcement. They are also about surfacing the right context at the right time, keeping human moderators in control, and making review workflows easier to understand across a team.

What's next

Future improvements could include richer dashboard filtering, more rule-level analytics, optional mod note integrations, and more flexible subreddit-specific settings. The core principle would remain the same: assist moderators without replacing their judgment.

Built With

• devvit
• devvit-custom-posts
• devvit-redis
• devvit-triggers
• reddit
• reddit-developer-platform
• typescript