Overview

The Hacker News MCP Server allows you to access detailed user profiles and activity history from the Hacker News community. This feature is essential for researching contributors, tracking thought leaders, understanding user engagement patterns, or conducting analysis on community dynamics.

Accessing User Profiles

To retrieve a user profile, simply ask your AI assistant for information about a specific Hacker News user by their username. The server will fetch comprehensive profile data including:

• Username and account age - When the user joined Hacker News
• Karma score - Total points earned from submissions and comments
• About section - User-provided biographical information
• Submission history - Links to all stories and comments posted

For example, you might ask: "Show me the profile for user 'pg'" or "What's the karma score for user 'tptacek'?"

Understanding Activity History

Each user profile includes access to their complete activity history on Hacker News. This encompasses both submissions (stories they've posted) and comments they've made across various discussions. The activity history provides:

• Chronological records of user contributions
• Links to each submission or comment
• Context about when items were posted
• Engagement metrics like points and replies

Practical Use Cases

Research Subject Matter Experts: Identify users with deep knowledge in specific technical domains by examining their comment history and karma.

Track Thought Leaders: Monitor the activity of influential community members to stay informed about their perspectives and recommendations.

Analyze Engagement Patterns: Study how active users contribute to the community, including posting frequency and areas of interest.

Conduct Community Research: Understand user behavior, contribution quality, and influence within the Hacker News ecosystem.

Tips for Effective Use

When retrieving user profiles, be specific with usernames as they are case-sensitive. You can discover interesting users by first browsing top stories or valuable comment threads, then diving deeper into those contributors' profiles.

The server provides real-time data, so you'll always see the most current profile information and recent activity. This makes it ideal for ongoing monitoring or time-sensitive research about how specific users are engaging with current events and discussions in the technology community.