Spotlight | Reddit for Developers

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Spotlight - Pin comments that matter

Sometimes the most helpful comment in a thread comes from someone who is not a mod: a company rep, an expert, or just a user with the right context. Normally you cannot pin their reply. Spotlight fixes that.

Spotlight is a Dev Platform app that lets moderators, trusted users, and optionally the original poster (OP) pin another user's comment to the top of a post.

What Spotlight does

  • Allows mods, trusted users, and OPs (if enabled) to pin comments
  • Can automatically keep one Spotlight sticky comment in sync with selected top-level replies from a separate tracked commenter list
  • Lets mods remove any comment created by the app
  • Can automatically apply a post flair when a comment is spotlighted
  • Supports optional Discord webhook notifications
  • Append mode for post flair updates - append configured flair text instead of replacing it, while preserving existing flair styling
  • Preserves flair template and styling - Spotlight keeps the post's existing flairTemplateId, cssClass, backgroundColor, and textColor when updating flairs
  • Author mention toggle - optionally hide the original author's username in pinned comments
  • Spotlight footer toggle - optionally show or hide the "What is Spotlight?" footer
  • Allowlist by user flair CSS class - trusted users can also be allowed through a comma-separated flair CSS class allowlist

All of this can be configured in the app settings.

How to use it

Trusted users, mods, and OPs

  1. Moderators add trusted users in the Dev Platform settings - for example verified accounts, support reps, or helpful regulars.
  2. Open a comment and select Spotlight from the menu.
  3. Fill out the short form and confirm.

That is all you need to do.

If you are a regular user and want to use Spotlight

  • Spotlight is not automatically available to everyone. If you want the ability to spotlight comments on a specific subreddit, contact that subreddit's moderators and ask them to add you as a trusted user.
  • Whether they grant access is entirely up to that moderation team.

Optional features

Automatic flair

  • You can set a custom flair that is applied when a comment is spotlighted.
  • This is useful for posts where added context or clarification should be visible immediately.
  • Append mode works for both manual Spotlight pins and auto-pin updates.
  • Spotlight will not append the same configured suffix twice, so flairs like Stocks | Revolut Replied | Revolut Replied are avoided.
  • Existing emoji-heavy flair text is preserved as cleanly as possible before the Spotlight suffix is appended.

Example:

Context Provided - Spotlight
  • You can enable this feature and customize the flair text in the app settings.

Auto-pin tracked comments

  • Mods can optionally enable automatic Spotlight pinning for a separate set of tracked top-level commenters.
  • Spotlight keeps a single app comment updated with comments from up to 5 tracked users in the thread.
  • Within each tracked user block, Spotlight can quote up to 3 comments and link back to the originals.
  • Auto-pin commenters can be recognized either by username or by user flair CSS class.
  • If a tracked comment is edited, removed, approved, spammed, or deleted, the auto-pinned Spotlight comment updates accordingly.
  • This feature is off by default and can be enabled in app settings.
  • Auto-pin has priority over manually spotlighted sticky comments. If auto-pin is enabled, manual sticky spotlighting should not be used on the same post.

OP spotlighting

  • Mods can allow the original poster to spotlight another user's comment.
  • This is especially useful for AMAs, Q&A threads, and posts where the OP is actively involved.

Anonymous spotlight

  • Trusted users can spotlight a comment without showing their username publicly.
  • Mods still see who performed the action in logs and notifications.

Public comment format:

u/TrustedUser has pinned a comment by u/ExampleUser.

Anonymous format:

Pinned comment from u/ExampleUser.

Mod tools

  • Configure the app through your Dev Platform settings.
  • Manage manual Spotlight access for trusted users by username or via a comma-separated allowlist of user flair CSS classes.
  • Configure auto-pin separately through its own tracked usernames and tracked flair CSS class lists.
  • If auto-pin is enabled, treat it as the primary sticky system for that post because it takes priority over manual sticky Spotlight comments.
  • To remove a comment posted by u/spotlight-app, open the comment and use mod tools -> [Spotlight] Delete content.
  • All spotlight actions are logged in /w/spotlight/logs on your subreddit.

What the app posts

Depending on who spotlighted the comment, Spotlight will post:

  • Moderator: Mods have pinned a comment by u/{author}.
  • OP: OP has pinned a comment by u/{author}.
  • Trusted user: u/{TrustedUser} has pinned a comment by u/{author}.
  • Anonymous trusted user: Pinned comment from u/{author}.

Resources

Source code and license

The source code for Spotlight is available on GitHub.

This project is licensed under the BSD-3-Clause License. This app was developed in compliance with Reddit's Developer Terms and follows the Devvit platform guidelines.

Support

If you run into issues or have questions, please do not message the bot or the app directly because that inbox is not monitored. The best way to reach the developer (u/paskatulas) is through r/paskapps modmail, so everything stays in one place.

Thank you for using Spotlight.

About this app