last30days: The Open-Source AI Research Skill That Searches Reddit, X, YouTube, and 15+ Platforms at Once

Why Traditional Research Is Broken for Developers

Every developer, product manager, and founder knows the drill: you need to understand a topic, a person, or a market — fast. So you open six tabs. Google gives you blog posts from 2023. Reddit has the real opinions but you need to find the right threads. X/Twitter has the breaking reactions but no search that works. YouTube has 45-minute deep dives but you don't have time to watch them all. Hacker News has the technical debate but it's buried in 800-comment threads.

No single AI has access to all of it. Google doesn't touch Reddit comments or X posts. ChatGPT has a Reddit deal but can't search X or TikTok. Gemini has YouTube but not Reddit. Each platform is a walled garden with its own API, its own tokens, its own auth.

last30days bridges all of them.

What Is last30days?

Created by Matt Van Horn (github.com/mvanhorn/last30days-skill), last30days is an AI agent skill — not a standalone app — that plugs into the coding tools you already use. It runs a parallel search across every connected platform, scores results by what real people actually engaged with, and hands you a tight, sourced brief.

Think of it as a search engine scored by upvotes, likes, and real money — not editors.

Supported Platforms (as of v3.11)

How It Works Under the Hood

The architecture is straightforward but powerful:

1. Pre-research brain — Before any API call fires, last30days resolves the right handles, subreddits, and hashtags for your query. This avoids wasting calls on irrelevant searches.
2. Parallel fan-out — All connected platforms are queried simultaneously, not sequentially. A typical run hits 8-12 sources in the time it takes one to respond.
3. Engagement scoring — Results are ranked by real human engagement: Reddit upvotes, X likes, YouTube views, Polymarket volume. Not SEO juice.
4. Cross-source merging — Related results from different platforms are clustered together. A topic trending on both HN and Reddit gets boosted.
5. AI judge synthesis — Your host agent (Claude, GPT, Gemini, etc.) reads all the scored, merged results and writes a concise, sourced brief with citations.

# Install globally (works across all projects)
npx skills add mvanhorn/last30days-skill -g

# Or for Claude Code specifically (recommended — auto-updates)
/plugin marketplace add mvanhorn/last30days-skill
/plugin install last30days

# First run: zero config, Reddit + HN + Polymarket + GitHub work immediately
/last30days Claude Code vs Cursor

# Setup wizard unlocks X, YouTube, TikTok, arXiv in 30 seconds
/last30days --setup

Discovery Mode: Find What's Exploding Before It Peaks

One of the most powerful features is discovery mode. Instead of researching a specific topic, you ask what's trending:

/last30days what's exploding in AI agents?

# The engine sweeps Reddit category listings, HN front/best,
# Digg AI 1000, and X (when authenticated).
# Returns 5-10 velocity-ranked topics with cross-source numbers,
# momentum labels, and ready-to-run follow-up commands.

Real-World Use Cases for Developers

1. Pre-Meeting Intelligence

You have a meeting with a CEO tomorrow. Google gives you their LinkedIn from 2023. last30days gives you:

• What they've been tweeting this month
• Podcast transcripts where they appeared
• GitHub PRs they've merged (velocity and merge rate)
• What Reddit communities are saying about them
• Recent news coverage and community sentiment

/last30days Peter Steinberger
# → Joined OpenAI Codex team, 23 PRs at 85% merge rate,
#   building LobsterOS for cross-device agent control,
#   r/ClaudeCode debate: 569 upvotes, mixed sentiment

2. Tool Comparison in Minutes, Not Hours

Instead of reading 12 blog posts to compare developer tools, last30days pulls live data:

/last30days OpenClaw vs Hermes vs Paperclip
# → Side-by-side: architecture, memory, security, best-for
#   Star counts pulled LIVE from GitHub API (not stale blog posts)
#   Community quote: "OpenClaw = Charmander, Hermes = Charizard"
#   Sources: 23 Reddit threads, 17 YouTube videos, 86K upvotes

3. Hiring Signal Detection

/last30days Listen Labs --hiring-signals
# → Current job postings become cited evidence for focus shifts:
#   enterprise security, customer success, infrastructure
#   The report says what the hiring appears to signal,
#   not what the roadmap will ship.

4. ELI5 Mode for Complex Topics

After any run, append eli5 on and the agent rewrites the entire brief in plain language — perfect for explaining technical topics to non-technical stakeholders.

Key Benefits

• Zero-config start — Reddit, HN, Polymarket, and GitHub work immediately out of the box. No API keys needed for the core experience.
• 15+ platforms in one command — Stop juggling tabs. One query searches everything and cross-references results.
• Engagement-weighted ranking — Results scored by what real people actually engaged with, not what's optimized for search engines.
• Works with your existing tools — Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Copilot, Gemini CLI, OpenClaw, and 50+ other agent hosts.
• Community-driven — 175 merged PRs from 52 contributors across 15 releases. Actively maintained and rapidly expanding.
• Security-hardened — OpenSSF Scorecard, Semgrep, OSV-Scanner, 84% test coverage, supply-chain hardened CI.
• Shareable HTML briefs — Export self-contained, cited reports with --emit=html.
• Free and open-source — Full source on GitHub, no subscription required.

Getting Started in Under 2 Minutes

# Step 1: Install (pick your platform)
npx skills add mvanhorn/last30days-skill -g

# Step 2: Run your first research
/last30days Rust vs Go for backend services

# Step 3: Unlock more sources (optional, takes 30 seconds)
/last30days --setup

# Step 4: Export a shareable brief
/last30days Rust vs Go for backend services --emit=html

For Claude.ai web users: Download the .skill file from the latest release, then go to Customize → Skills → + → Upload.

For Claude Desktop users: Download the .mcpb bundle for your platform and drag it into Settings → Extensions.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Is last30days free to use?

Yes, last30days is completely free and open-source. The core experience (Reddit, HN, Polymarket, GitHub, arXiv, Techmeme, Web) requires no API keys at all. Optional platforms like X/Twitter and TikTok require you to bring your own browser cookies or API keys.

2. Which AI coding tools does last30days support?

It works as a native plugin on Claude Code (with auto-updates via marketplace), Codex, and Grok. It also installs via npx skills on Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI, Windsurf, Cline, Continue, Roo, Aider, OpenCode, Goose, and 40+ other Agent Skills-compatible hosts.

3. How is last30days different from Google or ChatGPT search?

Google aggregates editors and SEO-optimized content. ChatGPT has a Reddit deal but can't search X, TikTok, or Polymarket. last30days bridges 15+ disconnected platforms and scores results by real human engagement (upvotes, likes, prediction market odds) rather than search engine rankings.

4. Can I use last30days for non-technical research?

Absolutely. Users run it for travel planning (checking ride wait times and community tips for theme parks), sales prep (researching a company's last 30 days of activity), celebrity tracking, market analysis via Polymarket odds, and general current-events research.

5. How does the discovery mode work?

Instead of researching a specific topic, you ask "what's exploding in [category]?" The engine sweeps Reddit category listings, Hacker News front/best stories, Digg's AI 1000 feed, and X (when authenticated). Your agent then judges the nominations, filters junk, and returns 5-10 velocity-ranked topics with cross-source numbers and ready-to-run follow-up commands.

6. Is my data safe when using last30days?

Yes. last30days runs entirely on your machine through your existing AI coding tool. No data is sent to a central server. Browser cookies are stored in temporary files with locked-down permissions. The project has passed OpenSSF Scorecard audits, Semgrep scans, and OSV-Scanner checks with 84% test coverage.

7. How often is last30days updated?

Very actively. As of July 2026, the project has 175 merged PRs from 52 community contributors across 15 releases. Claude Code marketplace users get auto-updates. Others can update with npx skills update last30days -g.