Overview

The Hacker News MCP Server provides multiple ways to access story feeds, allowing you to stay current with what's trending in the tech community. This guide walks you through retrieving different types of stories and understanding the data you receive.

Available Story Feeds

The server offers three primary story feeds, each serving a different purpose:

Top Stories are the most popular submissions currently on Hacker News's front page. These stories have received significant upvotes from the community and represent what's capturing attention right now. Use this feed when you want to understand what the tech community considers important today.

New Stories provides the latest submissions as they arrive on Hacker News. This feed is ideal for monitoring breaking news, tracking specific topics in real-time, or discovering content before it gains widespread attention.

Best Stories surfaces submissions that have demonstrated lasting value and engagement. These stories typically maintain high scores and active discussion over time, making this feed perfect for finding high-quality content worth deeper exploration.

Retrieving Stories

To access any story feed, simply ask your AI assistant for the content you're interested in. Use natural language requests like:

• "Show me the top stories on Hacker News"
• "What are the latest new submissions?"
• "Get the best stories from Hacker News"

The server processes your request and returns structured data about each story, including the title, URL, author, score (upvotes), submission time, and number of comments. This information provides everything you need to evaluate whether a story is worth reading or exploring further.

Understanding Story Data

Each story includes several key pieces of information. The score indicates how many upvotes the story has received, reflecting community interest. The submission time shows when the story was posted, helping you gauge its freshness. The comment count reveals the level of discussion, with higher counts often indicating controversial or particularly engaging topics.

Exploring Story Details

Once you've identified an interesting story, you can dive deeper by requesting its comment thread. This allows you to access the community discussion, expert insights, and diverse perspectives that make Hacker News valuable. Simply reference the story and ask to see its comments.

Practical Tips

For trend monitoring, check top stories regularly throughout the day. For comprehensive coverage, combine new and top stories to catch both emerging content and validated popular submissions. When researching specific topics, scan titles and scores first, then explore comment threads on the most relevant stories.