Understanding Story Feeds

The Hacker News MCP server provides access to several curated story feeds that help you stay informed about what's happening in the tech community. Each feed serves a different purpose and offers unique insights into community activity.

Top Stories represent submissions that have gained significant traction through community voting and engagement. These are the posts currently featured on Hacker News' front page and reflect what the community finds most interesting or valuable at this moment.

New Stories show the latest submissions as they arrive on the platform, before community voting has determined their popularity. This feed is perfect for discovering emerging topics and getting ahead of trending discussions.

Best Stories highlight submissions that have demonstrated lasting value, combining factors like vote counts, engagement quality, and time to identify truly exceptional content.

Retrieving Story Lists

To access any story feed, simply ask your AI assistant in natural language. The server handles the complexity of making API calls and formatting responses automatically.

For example, you might say:

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

The server returns structured information about each story, including the title, URL, author, submission time, current score, and number of comments. This data gives you everything needed to understand what's being discussed and decide which stories warrant deeper exploration.

Working with Individual Stories

Once you've identified a story of interest from any feed, you can drill deeper into its details. Request specific stories by referencing them in your query, and the server will retrieve comprehensive information including the full discussion thread.

You can ask questions like:

• "Tell me more about the third story"
• "Show me the comments on that story about AI"
• "What's the discussion like on the top-rated post?"

Practical Tips

Stay Current: Story rankings and feeds update frequently as the community votes and submits new content. For time-sensitive monitoring, check feeds regularly to catch emerging trends early.

Combine Feeds: Different feeds serve different purposes. Use top stories to understand current community consensus, new stories to spot emerging topics, and best stories when seeking high-quality, vetted content.

Context Matters: Pay attention to scores and comment counts—they indicate community engagement levels and can help you prioritize which discussions to explore further.