Overview

The Hacker News MCP server provides a straightforward way to retrieve and filter stories from Hacker News directly through your AI assistant. Whether you're researching trending topics, monitoring specific discussions, or discovering quality technical content, this server brings Hacker News data into your workflow without requiring manual browsing or custom scripts.

Accessing Story Feeds

The server supports multiple story feeds that reflect different aspects of the Hacker News community:

Top Stories represent submissions that have risen to the front page through community voting. These stories reflect what's currently capturing the community's attention and typically include a mix of technical articles, startup news, and thought-provoking discussions.

New Stories provide access to the latest submissions as they arrive. This feed is ideal for staying ahead of trends or monitoring specific topics as they emerge, before the voting system has filtered them.

Best Stories showcase content that has demonstrated lasting value to the community. These submissions have strong engagement and represent high-quality content that resonates with Hacker News readers.

Retrieving Story Details

When you request stories, the server returns structured data including the story title, URL, submission time, author username, current score, and number of comments. This information helps you quickly assess relevance and popularity without visiting each link individually.

Simply ask your AI assistant for what you need: "Show me today's top Hacker News stories" or "What are the newest submissions about machine learning?" The server handles the API interactions and presents the information in an easily digestible format.

Filtering and Focusing Your Search

While the server doesn't include built-in keyword filtering, you can work with your AI assistant to narrow results based on your interests. Request stories about specific topics, ask for submissions from particular time periods, or focus on highly-scored content. Your assistant can parse the retrieved data to match your criteria.

For example, you might ask to see only top stories with more than 100 points, or request new submissions related to a specific technology. The combination of the server's data retrieval and your assistant's processing capabilities provides flexible filtering options.

Exploring Related Content

Once you've identified interesting stories, you can dig deeper by requesting comment threads to understand community reactions, or look up author profiles to discover their other contributions. This interconnected approach helps you build a complete picture of discussions and identify valuable insights beyond the original submission.