Hacker News MCP Server

A powerful Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that provides seamless access to Hacker News data. This server enables you to retrieve stories, comments, user information, and more directly from the Hacker News API. Whether you're building content aggregators, conducting research, or just staying updated with the tech community, this server provides a comprehensive interface to all of Hacker News's publicly available data.

Overview

The Hacker News MCP server acts as a bridge between your applications and the Hacker News Firebase API, offering structured access to one of tech's most influential communities. With this server, you can fetch trending stories, explore user profiles, track comments, and monitor real-time updates without dealing directly with API endpoints. The server handles all the complexity of data retrieval and presents information in a clean, accessible format.

Features

Comprehensive Story Access

Access different categories of Hacker News stories with fine-grained control over the number of results returned. Whether you're interested in what's trending now, the best content of all time, or the latest submissions, this server has you covered.

User Profile Information

Retrieve detailed information about any Hacker News user, including their submission history, karma, and profile details. This is perfect for research, community analysis, or building user-focused applications.

Real-time Updates

Stay current with the latest changes on Hacker News by accessing recently updated items and profiles. The server provides tools to poll for new content and track the maximum item ID for efficient monitoring.

Flexible Data Retrieval

All tools support configurable limits, allowing you to request anywhere from a single item to hundreds of results depending on your needs. This flexibility ensures you're never over-fetching data or missing important content.

Tools

get_top_stories

Retrieves the list of top story IDs currently featured on Hacker News's front page. These are the stories that have risen to prominence through community voting and engagement.

Parameters:

• limit (optional): Number of story IDs to return, between 1 and 500. Defaults to 30.

get_new_stories

Fetches the newest story IDs submitted to Hacker News, ordered by submission time. Use this to stay on the cutting edge of what's being shared in the community.

Parameters:

• limit (optional): Number of story IDs to return, between 1 and 500. Defaults to 30.

get_best_stories

Returns the list of best story IDs as determined by Hacker News's ranking algorithm. These represent the highest quality content based on community engagement over time.

Parameters:

• limit (optional): Number of story IDs to return, between 1 and 500. Defaults to 30.

get_ask_stories

Retrieves Ask HN story IDs, which are community questions and discussions. Ask HN is where the community seeks advice, shares experiences, and engages in meaningful conversations.

Parameters:

• limit (optional): Number of story IDs to return, between 1 and 200. Defaults to 30.

get_show_stories

Fetches Show HN story IDs where community members showcase their projects, products, and creations. This is the place to discover new tools, services, and creative work.

Parameters:

• limit (optional): Number of story IDs to return, between 1 and 200. Defaults to 30.

get_job_stories

Returns job posting IDs from Hacker News. These are employment opportunities shared by companies looking to hire from the tech community.

Parameters:

• limit (optional): Number of job IDs to return, between 1 and 200. Defaults to 30.

get_user_submissions

Retrieves all submission IDs for a specific Hacker News user, allowing you to explore an individual's contribution history.

Parameters:

• username (required): The Hacker News username to query.
• limit (optional): Number of submission IDs to return, between 1 and 100. Defaults to 30.

get_max_item_id

Returns the current maximum item ID on Hacker News. This is useful for implementing efficient polling mechanisms to detect new content without repeatedly fetching entire lists.

Parameters: None required.

get_updates

Fetches lists of items and profiles that have been recently changed or updated on Hacker News. This provides a real-time view of activity across the platform.

Parameters: None required.

Resource Templates

story

Access detailed information about a specific Hacker News story using its unique ID.

URI Pattern: hn://story/{id}

Description: Returns comprehensive story data including title, URL, author, score, comment count, and submission time.

comment

Retrieve detailed information about a specific comment on Hacker News.

URI Pattern: hn://comment/{id}

Description: Provides the complete comment text, author, timestamp, and parent relationships for threading context.

user

Get comprehensive profile information for any Hacker News user.

URI Pattern: hn://user/{username}

Description: Returns user details such as karma score, account creation date, about section, and submission history.

item

Access detailed information about any type of Hacker News item, whether it's a story, comment, poll, or job posting.

URI Pattern: hn://item/{id}

Description: A universal accessor that returns appropriate data based on the item type, providing maximum flexibility.

poll

Retrieve detailed information about Hacker News polls, including all available voting options.

URI Pattern: hn://poll/{id}

Description: Returns the poll question, all poll options with their IDs, vote counts, and related metadata.

Use Cases

This MCP server is ideal for a variety of applications and workflows. Content curators can use it to monitor trending topics and aggregate relevant stories. Researchers can analyze community behavior, track discussion patterns, and study information flow. Developers can build custom Hacker News clients with specialized features. Data scientists can collect datasets for sentiment analysis, trend prediction, or network analysis. The possibilities are limited only by your imagination.

The structured access to Hacker News data through the MCP protocol means you can integrate this information into AI assistants, automation workflows, custom dashboards, and more. The server handles rate limiting, error management, and data formatting, allowing you to focus on building valuable features rather than wrestling with API details.