Understanding User Profiles

Hacker News user profiles contain valuable information about community members, including their submission history, comments, karma score, and biographical details. The Hacker News MCP server makes it simple to access this information through natural language requests to your AI assistant.

When you look up a user profile, you'll receive structured data about that person's activity and standing within the community. This includes their username, total karma points (which reflect the community's appreciation of their contributions), when they joined Hacker News, and any biographical information they've chosen to share.

How to Look Up User Profiles

To retrieve a user's profile information, simply ask your AI assistant about the specific user. For example:

• "Show me the profile for [username]"
• "What's the karma score for [username]?"
• "Tell me about the user [username] on Hacker News"

The server will fetch the requested profile data and present it in an easy-to-understand format. This works for any public Hacker News user account.

Exploring User Activity

Beyond basic profile information, you can investigate a user's contribution history on Hacker News. User profiles include lists of their submitted stories and comments, allowing you to understand what topics they discuss and what content they share with the community.

You might ask:

• "What stories has [username] submitted recently?"
• "Show me recent comments from [username]"
• "What topics does [username] typically discuss?"

This functionality is particularly useful for identifying subject matter experts in specific domains, researching thought leaders, or understanding the perspectives of frequent contributors to discussions you're following.

Practical Applications

Looking up user profiles serves several purposes:

Identifying Experts: Find users with deep knowledge in specific technical areas by reviewing their comment history and karma scores.

Following Contributors: Track the activity of users whose perspectives you value or who consistently share high-quality content.

Research and Context: Understand who's participating in important discussions and what background they bring to the conversation.

Community Analysis: Study user engagement patterns and identify influential voices within the Hacker News community.

Tips for Effective Use

When researching users, consider combining profile lookups with other server capabilities. For instance, after finding an interesting comment, look up the commenter's profile to see their other contributions. Or when a story gains significant attention, investigate the submitter's history to understand their typical interests and submission patterns.

Remember that all data accessed through the server is public information available on Hacker News itself—the server simply makes it more convenient to retrieve and analyze.