r/ai_tools: rules, karma requirements and posting culture
A small community of about 300 people sharing and asking about AI tools. Quiet, friendly, and open to builders who say the product is theirs.
Spacestation Labs runs this community. The numbers here come from the same public data as every other guide.
AI Tools · Open on Reddit
- Members
- 313
- Created
- 2022
- New posts a day
- 1.2
- Comments on a typical post
- 1
- New posts removed
- 19%
The short answer
No karma or account age requirement is published for r/ai_tools, and the public archive has no rules list. What is written down: every post must be about AI, harassment is not tolerated, and you should say so when the product you post is your own. About 78% of posts in our sample stayed up. The rest were taken down by Reddit's own spam filters or deleted by their authors, and none were removed by a moderator. It is a small room of about 300 members, so expect a reply or two rather than a long thread.
Who posts here
Nothing published turns away basic questions, and there is no weekly thread that pushes them elsewhere. Most posts are plain-language text, and about a third of titles are questions. With one comment on a typical post, the risk for a vague question is silence, not a telling-off.
- People looking for an AI tool for one specific job.
- Builders showing a tool they made and asking for feedback.
- People sharing tools they found and use, and AI news they want to talk about.
Karma and account requirements
What it takes to get a post through in r/ai_tools.
| Karma | None is published. There is no rules list in the public archive, and AutoModerator's only message is a welcome note, not a karma check. |
|---|---|
| Account age | Not stated publicly. |
| Topic | Every post must be about AI: tools, models, news or how you use them.Mods' wording: “All posts must be AI-related.” |
| Your own product | Allowed, as long as you say it is yours.Mods' wording: “please be transparent when you're posting your own product for feedback” |
| Post flair | Optional, but about two posts in three carry one. Tool Share is the most used, then AI Discussion. Dev Showcase is for something you built, Tool Request for when you are looking. |
| Conduct | No harassment.Mods' wording: “No form of harassment will be tolerated” |
What AutoModerator says
The moderators' bot leaves these messages on posts. They are the closest thing to an official statement of the thresholds.
AI Tools welcomes everyone to share and discuss anything related, but please make sure that your post follows our community rules. No form of harassment will be tolerated, and please be transparent when you're posting your own product for feedback.
What you can post
| Post type | Subreddit setting | Share of recent posts |
|---|---|---|
| Text | Allowed | 83% |
| Link | Allowed | 9% |
| Image | Allowed | 4% |
| Video | Allowed | 4% |
| Poll | Allowed | 0% |
Post flairs in use
- Tool Share 🛠️ 22%
- AI Discussion 💬 14%
- Tool Request 🔍 7%
- Dev Showcase ✍️ 7%
- Question 🤔 7%
- AI Guides 💡 4%
- AI News 📰 3%
- Others 📦 1%
What happens to a new post
Where the most recent posts ended up. Sample size: 124.
- Stayed up78%
- Removed by Reddit's filters19%
- Deleted by the author3%
Reddit counts a removal by the subreddit's own AutoModerator rules as a moderator removal, so that share is not all human. Held by AutoModerator means the post is waiting in the mod queue.
The culture
r/ai_tools was created in December 2022 and has about 300 members. It runs at a bit over one new post a day, and a typical post gets one comment. About 83% of posts are text, and the typical one is about 157 words.
What is written down is short. The description says every post must be about AI, and AutoModerator's welcome note asks for no harassment and for honesty when you post your own product. No post in our sample was removed by a moderator. Reddit's own spam filters took down about 19% before anyone in the community saw them.
Flair does the sorting. About two posts in three carry one, and Tool Share, AI Discussion, Tool Request and Dev Showcase cover most of them.
What lands
- Tool requests that name the job and what you already use, under the Tool Request flair.
- Your own tool, said up front as yours, with a specific question about it. Dev Showcase is the flair for it.
- Tools you found and kept using, under Tool Share, with a line on what you use them for.
- Questions someone can answer in one comment. About a third of titles are questions, and one reply is typical.
What gets removed or ignored
- Posts that are not about AI. That is the one topic rule in the description.
- Harassment. AutoModerator's welcome note says none is tolerated.
- Undisclosed promotion. Posting your own product as if you just found it breaks the one self-promotion rule there is.
- In our sample, Reddit's own spam filters took down about 19% of posts before anyone saw them. No post was removed by a moderator.
The unwritten rules
- Say it is yours in the first line if you built it or work on it. That is the one thing the welcome note asks.
- Pick a flair. About two posts in three carry one, and it tells people whether you are asking, sharing or showing something you made.
- Write a paragraph, not a link. Most posts are text, and only about 9% are bare links.
- Comments run about 41 words and about 10% carry a link. A reply that answers a question and then links a product stands out.
Self-promotion
The written rule is short: be transparent when you post your own product for feedback. No ratio or posting limit is published. Say it is yours in the first line, use the Dev Showcase flair, and ask something specific, so the post reads as a request for feedback and not an ad.
How people write here
- Typical post length
- 157 words
- Typical title length
- 12 words
- Titles phrased as a question
- 35%
- Typical comment length
- 41 words
- Comments that include a link
- 10%
- Posts that carry a flair
- 64%
When people post
- 0:00 UTC, 2
- 1:00 UTC, 2
- 2:00 UTC, 2
- 3:00 UTC, 6
- 4:00 UTC, 6
- 5:00 UTC, 2
- 6:00 UTC, 6
- 7:00 UTC, 3
- 8:00 UTC, 6
- 9:00 UTC, 9
- 10:00 UTC, 4
- 11:00 UTC, 6
- 12:00 UTC, 8
- 13:00 UTC, 6
- 14:00 UTC, 7
- 15:00 UTC, 6
- 16:00 UTC, 6
- 17:00 UTC, 9
- 18:00 UTC, 9
- 19:00 UTC, 4
- 20:00 UTC, 6
- 21:00 UTC, 4
- 22:00 UTC, 3
- 23:00 UTC, 2
New posts by hour of day, UTC.
Common questions
How much karma do you need to post in r/ai_tools?
None is published. The public archive has no rules list for r/ai_tools, and AutoModerator's only message is a welcome note asking you to follow the community rules and disclose your own products. Reddit's own spam filters still apply, and they took down about 19% of posts in our sample.
Can I promote my AI tool in r/ai_tools?
Yes, if you say it is yours. AutoModerator's welcome note asks you to be transparent when you post your own product for feedback. Use the Dev Showcase flair and say what you want feedback on.
Why was my r/ai_tools post removed?
Most likely Reddit's own spam filters, which took down about 19% of posts in our sample. No post in our sample was removed by a moderator. Check that the post is about AI and that you said so if the product is yours, and message the moderators if you think it was a mistake.
Who runs r/ai_tools?
Spacestation Labs runs r/ai_tools. Questions about a post or a removal can go to the moderators through modmail.
Data as of October 5, 2026. Numbers come from public Reddit data (the Arctic Shift archive and GummySearch) sampled on this date. Removal share counts posts taken down by moderators, AutoModerator or Reddit's own filters. Banner and icon belong to the community. Moderators change rules without notice, so treat the sidebar as the final word.
