Reddit Comments Tree contains valuable data -- comment text, authors, scores, depth, and more. Scraping this data directly means dealing with anti-bot detection, CAPTCHAs, IP rotation, and constantly breaking selectors. The Scavio API handles all of that and returns clean, structured JSON from a single POST request.
This tutorial shows you how to scrape Reddit Comments Tree using Java and the Scavio API. By the end, you will have a working Java script that fetches real-time Reddit Comments Tree data and parses the results.
Prerequisites
- Java installed on your machine
- A Scavio API key (free tier includes 50 credits on signup -- no credit card required)
Step 1: Install Dependencies
HttpClient is built into Java, so there is nothing to install.
# HttpClient is built into Java 11+Step 2: Make Your First Reddit Comments Tree Search
Send a POST request to the Scavio Reddit Comments Tree API endpoint with your query. The API returns structured JSON with comment text, authors, scores, and more.
// Comments are fetched per post: get a post_id from POST /api/v1/reddit/search, or resolve
// a URL with POST /api/v1/reddit/post. Deeper replies come from POST
// /api/v1/reddit/post/comments/replies using a row's reply_cursor.
import java.net.URI;
import java.net.http.*;
var apiKey = "sk_live_your_key";
var postId = "t3_1u1143i";
var body = "{\"post_id\":\"" + postId + "\",\"sort\":\"TOP\"}";
var request = HttpRequest.newBuilder()
.uri(URI.create("https://api.scavio.dev/api/v1/reddit/post/comments"))
.header("Authorization", "Bearer " + apiKey)
.header("Content-Type", "application/json")
.POST(HttpRequest.BodyPublishers.ofString(body))
.build();
var client = HttpClient.newHttpClient();
var response = client.send(request, HttpResponse.BodyHandlers.ofString());
System.out.println(response.body());Step 3: Example Response
The API returns structured JSON. Here is an example response for a Reddit Comments Tree search:
{
"data": {
"comments": [
{
"comment_id": "t1_oz1h216",
"author": "vscoderCopilot",
"text": "Seems like C# to me or maybe they make a new lang for AI usage",
"score": 2,
"depth": 0,
"created_at": "2026-07-22T09:02:17.303000+0000",
"reply_cursor": null
}
],
"next_cursor": null,
"has_more": false
},
"response_time": 2050,
"credits_used": 1,
"credits_remaining": 4810
}Every field is structured and typed -- no HTML parsing, no CSS selectors, no regex extraction. Your Java code can access any field directly.
Step 4: Full Working Example
Here is a complete, runnable Java script that searches Reddit Comments Tree and prints the results:
import java.net.URI;
import java.net.http.*;
/**
* Fetch Reddit Comments Tree data with the Scavio API.
* POST /api/v1/reddit/post/comments - rows come back under data.comments. Requires Java 11+.
*/
// Comments are fetched per post: get a post_id from POST /api/v1/reddit/search, or resolve
// a URL with POST /api/v1/reddit/post. Deeper replies come from POST
// /api/v1/reddit/post/comments/replies using a row's reply_cursor.
public class RedditCommentsTreeExample {
private static final String API_URL = "https://api.scavio.dev/api/v1/reddit/post/comments";
private static final String API_KEY = System.getenv("SCAVIO_API_KEY");
public static String fetchRedditCommentsTree(String postId) throws Exception {
var body = "{\"post_id\":\"" + postId + "\",\"sort\":\"TOP\"}";
var request = HttpRequest.newBuilder()
.uri(URI.create(API_URL))
.header("Authorization", "Bearer " + API_KEY)
.header("Content-Type", "application/json")
.POST(HttpRequest.BodyPublishers.ofString(body))
.build();
var response = HttpClient.newHttpClient()
.send(request, HttpResponse.BodyHandlers.ofString());
if (response.statusCode() != 200) {
throw new RuntimeException("Scavio API error: " + response.statusCode());
}
return response.body();
}
public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
System.out.println(fetchRedditCommentsTree("t3_1u1143i"));
}
}Why Use Scavio Instead of Scraping Reddit Comments Tree Directly?
- No proxy management. Direct scraping requires rotating proxies to avoid IP bans. Scavio handles all of this server-side.
- No CAPTCHA solving. Reddit Comments Tree aggressively blocks automated requests. Scavio returns clean data every time.
- Structured JSON output. No HTML parsing or CSS selector maintenance. Get typed, consistent data from every request.
- Multi-platform in one API. Search Google, Amazon, YouTube, and Walmart from the same API key with the same authentication pattern.
- Free tier included. 50 credits on signup with no credit card required. Each search costs 1 credit.