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Advanced Queries: Finding Specific Items and Filtering Results
Understanding Query Patterns
The Hacker News MCP Server supports several query patterns to help you find exactly what you're looking for. Whether you need a specific story, want to filter by category, or search for user activity, understanding these patterns will help you work more efficiently with Hacker News data.
Retrieving Specific Items
Every story, comment, and poll on Hacker News has a unique numeric identifier. When you know the ID of an item you want to retrieve, you can request it directly. For example, asking for "item 12345" will fetch that specific story or comment with all its associated metadata including title, URL, author, score, and timestamp.
This approach is particularly useful when following links from other sources, tracking specific discussions over time, or investigating items referenced in other conversations.
Filtering by Story Type
Rather than browsing all content, you can filter results by requesting specific story categories:
Top Stories returns the most highly-voted items currently on the front page, giving you immediate insight into what the community considers most valuable right now.
New Stories provides the latest submissions as they arrive, perfect for monitoring breaking news or catching emerging discussions before they trend.
Best Stories surfaces content that has demonstrated sustained value, combining factors like score, time, and engagement to identify particularly noteworthy submissions.
These filters help you focus on content that matches your specific needs, whether you're looking for trending topics, fresh perspectives, or proven quality.
Accessing User-Specific Data
To find content from specific contributors, request user profiles by username. This returns their complete submission history, comments, karma score, and profile information. This filtering method is invaluable for following thought leaders, researching expert opinions, or analyzing individual contribution patterns.
Exploring Comment Threads
When investigating discussions, you can filter by requesting comments on specific stories. The server retrieves complete comment trees, allowing you to explore nested discussions and understand how conversations develop. This is essential for gathering community perspectives or finding technical insights buried in discussion threads.
Practical Tips
Combine multiple queries to narrow your focus. Start with a story feed, identify interesting items, then drill down into specific stories, comment threads, or user profiles. This layered approach helps you navigate from broad trends to specific insights efficiently.
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