Developer Platform (Devvit)

The Developer Platform, known as Devvit, is Reddit's official framework for building apps that run inside Reddit itself, including interactive "Experiences" within posts and custom moderation tools for communities. Developers, sometimes called "devvitors," build and publish these apps through Reddit's sanctioned developer documentation and tooling, and Reddit has offered funding programs to encourage development on the platform.

Devvit matters because of when and why it arrived. After Reddit's 2023 decision to begin charging for high-volume access to its data API, which drove popular third-party apps to shut down, the company steered developers toward building on-platform via the Developer Platform instead of off-platform clients. Devvit therefore represents a deliberate shift in how Reddit governs its developer ecosystem: extending the official product through controlled, in-platform apps rather than an open API that anyone could use to build independent experiences. It is central to understanding the post-API-blackout relationship between Reddit and the people who build for it.