Amazon affiliate marketing on Reddit, gated by a 3-tier rule that reads the thread before it writes a link.

Only at Tier 3, which means only when the reply target literally asked for a link or tool in plain text. The default for every Reddit reply is Tier 1, which emits zero links and zero product names. The rule lives at lines 115-118 of scripts/engage_reddit.py and is injected into the LLM prompt before any drafting happens. If the target comment reads as a statement or a conceptual question, the bot never reaches Tier 3, and no URL is drafted at all.

Three things, stacked. First, the ## Tiered links block in build_prompt explicitly says Tier 1 is the default and Tier 1 means no link. Second, the platform-specific content rules in scripts/engagement_styles.py line 309 state 'NEVER include URLs or links' for Reddit, full stop. Third, even when Tier 3 fires, the URL is pulled from config.json rather than invented by the LLM, so a hallucinated URL has no path to the reply text.

The target comment and the thread are fetched via scripts/reddit_tools.py fetch <thread_url> at the start of every reply session. That pulls the full JSON from old.reddit.com, including the parent comment text. The prompt then asks the LLM to read that context and decide between action: skip, action: reply with a style, and whether the reply target literally asks for a link or tool. ask_detected=true maps to Tier 3 in the prompt guidance; anything else falls back to Tier 1.

The disclosure is stored alongside the URL in config.json :: projects[].recommended_links. When Tier 3 fires, the template pulls both together so a disclosure never gets decoupled from the link in transit. Most Reddit subs that tolerate affiliate links still require this, and Amazon Operating Agreement §5 requires it everywhere. Storing the line in config removes the 'I forgot' failure mode.

Tier 3 is downgraded to Tier 2 for that specific reply, no matter how clear the ask is. Tier 2 lets the bot mention the project name in passing but does not paste the URL. The tag taxonomy (hard_no_links, no_referral, no_self_promo, link_requires_approval, no_blog_links, text_only, ratio_rule) is enumerated at the top of scripts/check_link_rules.py. r/affiliatemarketing, r/sidehustle, r/SEO and r/bigseo all carry hard_no_links or no_referral, so Tier 3 never fires in those subs at all.

Capped at 20 percent of replies by the recommendation style policy in scripts/engagement_styles.py. That is a ceiling, not a target. Real runs come in well under it because most Reddit threads are conversations, not requests. The posts table carries engagement_style per row, so the audit is one line: SELECT engagement_style, COUNT(*) FROM posts WHERE platform = 'reddit' GROUP BY 1. In normal runs the recommendation share sits between 5 and 12 percent.

Because unsolicited links get the account removed, and a removed account cannot drive any affiliate traffic at all. Tier 2 keeps the project name visible in relevant conversations while respecting the sub culture that penalizes links. Over weeks, Tier 2 mentions build a search-worthy mental map: 'that name keeps showing up when people talk about X.' Users then paste the name into Google or the Amazon search bar themselves, and the attribution becomes their doing rather than yours.

In config.json, inside the project block that owns the product. Each project has a recommended_links list, and each entry carries the URL, the tag parameter, the disclosure text, and a short context hint. The LLM prompt sees only the disclosure and a placeholder reference to the slot; the orchestrator script substitutes the live URL after the LLM returns its JSON. That split is how the affiliate tag survives a prompt round-trip without getting mangled.

Yes. Remove the Tier 3 line from build_prompt's tier block, or set an empty recommended_links list for every project in config.json. The bot will then only ever engage at Tier 1. Some accounts run that way for the first 60 days as a karma-building phase, then re-enable Tier 3 once account age and karma clear the subs' own automod thresholds. Account age 3+ days plus karma 3+ is the most common automod combo on marketing-adjacent subs.

The content rules block (engagement_styles.py get_content_rules(platform='reddit')) that reads 'NEVER include URLs or links.' That line is unconditional for Reddit and is rendered into the prompt above the Tier block. Combined with 'Statements beat questions' and 'No markdown in Reddit,' the prompt leaves no stylistic room to lead with a URL, and the orchestrator does a last-mile regex sweep for naked http:// before posting that kills any draft that leaked past the rules.