Understanding Story Feeds

The Hacker News MCP server provides access to multiple story feeds that reflect different aspects of community activity. Each feed serves a distinct purpose and helps you discover content based on specific criteria.

Top Stories represent submissions that have gained significant traction through community voting. These are the articles and discussions that appear on Hacker News' front page, having earned their position through upvotes and engagement. When you request top stories, you'll receive a curated list of what the community currently considers most valuable or interesting.

New Stories gives you access to the latest submissions as they arrive on the platform. This feed is ideal for monitoring breaking news, discovering fresh content before it gains widespread attention, or tracking specific topics in real-time. New stories haven't yet been filtered by community voting, so you'll see everything as it's submitted.

Best Stories showcases submissions that have demonstrated sustained value over time. This feed uses Hacker News' algorithm to identify stories that have performed exceptionally well, making it useful for finding consistently high-quality content.

Retrieving Stories

To access these feeds through the MCP server, simply make natural language requests to your AI assistant. You might ask questions like "What are the current top stories on Hacker News?" or "Show me the latest new submissions." The server processes these requests and returns structured data including story titles, URLs, scores, submission times, and author information.

Each story comes with metadata that helps you understand its context and significance. The score indicates community appreciation through upvotes, while the timestamp tells you when it was submitted. Author information lets you identify who shared the content, and if comments are available, you'll know how active the discussion has become.

Working with Story Data

Once you've retrieved stories, you can explore them further by accessing their comment threads, checking the submitter's profile, or analyzing patterns across multiple stories. The server makes it easy to drill down from high-level feeds into specific discussions and details.

For ongoing monitoring, you can periodically request story feeds to track how topics evolve and what gains community attention over time. This approach works well for trend analysis, content discovery, or staying current with technology discussions.