Overview

Every item on Hacker News—whether it's a story, comment, or poll—has a unique numeric identifier. When you need to retrieve specific content rather than browsing curated lists, querying by ID provides direct access to exactly what you're looking for. This approach is particularly useful when you have a reference to specific content or need to track particular discussions over time.

When to Use ID-Based Queries

ID-based queries are ideal when you already know which item you want to access. You might have encountered an interesting story and want to retrieve its full details and comments, or you may be tracking specific discussions and need to check for updates. IDs are also essential when following links from other items—for example, comments reference their parent items by ID, and stories list their comment IDs.

How Item IDs Work

Hacker News assigns a sequential numeric ID to every item created on the platform. These IDs are permanent and never change, making them reliable references. You'll typically encounter IDs in several contexts: URLs on the Hacker News website include them, API responses contain IDs for related items, and users sometimes reference specific posts by their ID in discussions.

Retrieving Items by ID

To query a specific item, simply request it from your AI assistant using natural language. You might say "Get Hacker News item 31234567" or "Show me the details for item 31234567." The server will retrieve the complete data for that item, including its type (story, comment, poll, etc.), content, metadata, and any associated information.

Understanding Item Data

The response you receive depends on the item type. Stories include the title, URL (if it's a link post), score, author, submission time, and a list of comment IDs. Comments contain the comment text, author, timestamp, parent item ID, and any child comment IDs. User profiles return karma, creation date, and biographical information.

Working with Comment Threads

When you retrieve a story by ID, you'll receive the IDs of its top-level comments. To explore the full discussion, you can then query individual comment IDs. Each comment includes IDs for its replies, allowing you to traverse the entire conversation tree as deeply as needed. This hierarchical structure lets you focus on specific discussion branches that interest you.

Practical Applications

ID-based queries enable powerful workflows. You can bookmark interesting items by saving their IDs for later retrieval, monitor specific discussions by periodically checking story IDs for new comments, or build deeper analysis by programmatically traversing comment threads. This direct access method complements broader browsing features, giving you precise control over the content you access.