CLI Tool "rolodex" Released to Replicate Reddit's Friend Feature on Other Sites

CLI Tool Aims to Replicate Reddit’s Friend Feature

Reddit has a feature to register specific accounts as “friends.” There are no approvals or notifications; simply by pressing a button, posts and comments from that user are highlighted across the site. According to an article by xavd.id on Lobsters, this simple feature brings the difference between a “party full of strangers” and “meeting friends” to online communities. However, this feature does not exist on other sites like Tildes or Lobsters.

xavd.id by xavdid developed the tool “rolodex” to solve this issue using a browser extension’s CSS. The decision to implement it was made by the developer themselves following Tildes’ move into maintenance mode. The purpose of rolodex is to load a list of rolled usernames and automatically generate highlight CSS for the target site.

How rolodex Works and How to Use It

rolodex is a CLI tool run from the command line. Users create a configuration file in TOML format, listing the usernames they wish to highlight. The tool reads this list and generates code based on CSS selectors for the specified site. The generated CSS consists of rules that apply a specific color (e.g., #ff4500) to the links of target users.

Currently, rolodex supports Tildes and Lobsters. By pasting the generated CSS code into the browser extension Stylus, user highlighting becomes active. xavd.id by xavdid stated that support for Hacker News (HN) is also planned for the future. Furthermore, a template repository xavdid/rolodex-template has been released to make self-implementation easier. This includes starter files and build scripts, allowing users to fork the repository and create their personal lists.

Current Limitations and Challenges

Being based on CSS and the CLI, rolodex has several limitations. To change the user list, one must edit a local file, run the script, and manually upload the results. This process is cumbersome and a high hurdle for many users. Additionally, synchronization options across devices are limited, and support in mobile environments is incomplete.

The most significant constraint is the lack of a feed function that aggregates posts and comments from followed users, as provided by Reddit. Such dynamic feed generation cannot be achieved with pure CSS. xavd.id by xavdid described this method as “better than nothing,” while emphasizing the superiority of a native implementation. On this basis, they called for social network developers and operators to include follow features as standard.

Future Outlook and the Meaning of Community

rolodex demonstrates a groundbreaking approach to visually emphasizing connections between users without relying on a website’s native features. Leveraging browser extensions allows individuals to customize their community experience without waiting for administrator action. This holds the potential to heighten personal awareness and deepen immersion in a site.

However, the purely CSS-based approach has limits in versatility. It requires the effort of rewriting selectors to match different sites’ HTML structures, and guaranteed operation within in-app mobile browsers is difficult. xavd.id by xavdid pointed out that “in a world where inauthenticity is increasing, building human connections online has become more important than ever.” rolodex can be seen as an attempt to play a part in that.

Editorial Opinion

In the short term, tools like rolodex will remain niche, satisfying the demand to improve individual browsing experiences. Among volunteer users of Tildes and Lobsters, a slight revitalization of the culture around CSS customization can be expected. However, the cumbersome manual process is a barrier, and widespread adoption seems unlikely.

In the long term, as this article points out, the “lack of native follow features” highlights a structural challenge faced by small-scale community sites. Features that visualize connections between users directly contribute to engagement, but many sites prioritize other implementations. The existence of rolodex suggests an underlying demand and should be viewed as a warning for future platform design.

The editorial team questions what tension exists between visualizing such personal connections and a site’s diversity or anonymity. While highlighting fosters intimacy, it also carries risks of fostering fixation on or bias against specific users. How to balance technical reproducibility with the ethical and social impacts of community management is a point that warrants broader discussion.

References

• “Replicating Reddit’s best feature on other forums”, by xavd.id by xavdid — Lobsters, 2026-08-23T19:23:51.000Z (ARR)
• Source URL: https://xavd.id/blog/post/highlighting-users/