grabbit v5.0.2 — pull Reddit wallpapers from the terminal

Every wallpaper rotation setup eventually collapses under its own complexity — a Python script that broke after a macOS update, a cron job pulling from a dead API endpoint, a browser extension that requires staying logged in. grabbit takes the opposite approach: a single statically-linked Go binary, Reddit's public JSON API (no key needed), and whatever scheduler you already use.

v5.0.2 shipped today, June 20, 2026. 1

What it does

grabbit pulls the top images from one or more subreddits and saves them to a local directory, automatically skipping NSFW posts. You configure which subreddits to watch, what timeframe to pull from (hour, day, week, month, year, all), and how many images to grab per run. Point your OS wallpaper tool at that directory, schedule grabbit with launchd or a systemd timer, and your desktop cycles through fresh landscape or space photography without any manual steps. 2

The author, Benjamin Kane (SRE at LinkedIn), describes the project's status plainly: "Basically complete! I use grabbit for wallpapers." He added: "I've been surprised how much I enjoy seeing beautiful wallpapers when I lock/unlock my computer." 2

github.com · GitHub repository

bbkane/grabbit

https://github.com/bbkane/grabbit

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Concrete scenario

You follow r/EarthPorn and r/spaceporn. Every Sunday morning you want 20 fresh images from the past week sitting in ~/Pictures/Wallpapers/. Here's the config:

version: v5
subreddits:
  - subreddit-info: EarthPorn,week,10
    save-path: ~/Pictures/Wallpapers/
  - subreddit-info: spaceporn,week,10
    save-path: ~/Pictures/Wallpapers/

Run grabbit run --config ~/.config/grabbit/config.yaml. To automate it, follow the schedule_it.md guide in the repo — launchd plist for macOS, systemd timer for Linux. 2

The --subreddit-info name,timeframe,count syntax is the v5.0.0 redesign from January 2026 — it replaced three separate flags and cut the config file length significantly. 3

Install

Four paths, all produce a single binary:

Method	Command
Homebrew (macOS/Linux)	`brew install --cask bbkane/tap/grabbit`
Scoop (Windows)	`scoop bucket add bbkane https://github.com/bbkane/scoop-bucket` then `scoop install grabbit`
go install	`go install go.bbkane.com/grabbit/v5@latest`
Prebuilt binary	Download from Releases — linux/amd64, linux/arm64, windows/amd64, windows/arm64, darwin/amd64, darwin/arm64

All prebuilt binaries are statically linked (CGO_ENABLED=0). No runtime dependencies. 4 Shell completions for bash, fish, and zsh are available — run grabbit completion <shell> after install. 3

Stars

Releases

Commits

180

License

MIT

Language

Latest

v5.0.2

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Release history and maintenance signal

grabbit has 47 releases and 180 commits as of today. 1 The v5 series has moved at a measured pace:

v5.0.0 (Jan 18, 2026): major CLI and config redesign — compact --subreddit-info syntax, new version: v5 key required in config
v5.0.1 (May 27, 2026): added bash and fish shell completions
v5.0.2 (Jun 20, 2026, today): updated Homebrew installation instructions and --help format; removed brew services support 3

github.com · GitHub repository

bbkane/grabbit

https://github.com/bbkane/grabbit/releases/tag/v5.0.2

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The brew services removal in v5.0.2 is worth noting: grabbit no longer registers as a managed background service via Homebrew. The changelog is direct about it: "NOTE: this removes brew services functionality (see ./schedule_it.md for how to manually set up a service)." If you were running brew services start grabbit, migrate to a launchd plist before upgrading. 3

At 42 stars, grabbit sits far below most tools that appear on GitHub Trending. That number reflects a personal tool with no social media promotion, not a quality signal. The 47-release track record over several years and the author's stated daily use are more meaningful indicators of stability.

Caveats

macOS unsigned binary. If you install via the prebuilt binary directly (not Homebrew), macOS Gatekeeper will block launch with the "developer cannot be verified" warning. The author's stated reason: "Unfortunately, Apple wants to charge developers $100/year to distribute their apps without a big scary warning. I'm not willing to pay that to give away free apps." The Homebrew cask path auto-removes the quarantine bit, so that install method sidesteps the issue entirely. 4

Reddit's public JSON API. grabbit uses Reddit's unauthenticated JSON endpoints. Reddit has historically throttled or restructured these endpoints with little notice. No API key is required today, but this is a single point of failure outside the author's control.

No deduplication across runs. grabbit saves images by filename. If the same top post appears in two consecutive weekly runs, it will overwrite the existing file rather than skip it — which is harmless, but means your folder size stays stable rather than growing without bound.

Quick-reference

Data current as of Jun 20, 2026. 1 2

Field	Value
Repository	bbkane/grabbit
Version	v5.0.2 (released Jun 20, 2026)
Language	Go
License	MIT (Benjamin Kane, 2021)
Stars	42
Releases	47
Install (macOS)	`brew install --cask bbkane/tap/grabbit`
Dependencies	None (statically linked)
AI/LLM dependencies	None

Install if: you want automated wallpaper rotation from Reddit without maintaining a script, you use launchd or systemd already, and you're on macOS (Homebrew path) or Linux.

Skip if: you need authenticated Reddit access to pull from private or NSFW communities, you're on Windows and want a GUI-based wallpaper manager, or you're uncomfortable with the brew services deprecation requiring manual scheduler setup.