Understanding Story Feeds

The Hacker News MCP server provides access to multiple curated story feeds that reflect different aspects of community activity. Each feed serves a distinct purpose and helps you access the content most relevant to your needs.

Top Stories represent submissions that have risen to prominence through community voting. These are the articles and discussions currently featured on Hacker News's front page, reflecting what the community finds most valuable right now. Top stories have earned their position through a combination of upvotes, engagement, and timing.

New Stories give you access to the latest submissions as they arrive on the platform. This feed is perfect for staying ahead of trends, discovering content before it becomes widely discussed, or monitoring specific topics in real-time as they're posted.

Best Stories showcase submissions that have demonstrated sustained value and quality. These stories have not only received significant upvotes but have maintained community interest over time, making this feed ideal for finding consistently high-quality content.

Retrieving Story Feeds

To access any story feed, simply make a natural language request to your AI assistant connected to the Hacker News MCP server. You don't need to remember specific commands or API endpoints—just ask conversationally.

For example, you might say "Show me the current top stories on Hacker News" or "What are the newest submissions?" The server interprets your request and returns structured data about each story, including the title, URL, author, score, submission time, and comment count.

Each story comes with a unique identifier that you can use for deeper exploration. If a particular headline catches your attention, you can request the full comment thread, check the author's profile, or gather additional details about the submission.

Working with Story Data

Once you've retrieved a story feed, you can work with the data in numerous ways. Ask follow-up questions about specific stories, request summaries of multiple submissions, or identify patterns across the feed. The structured format makes it easy to filter stories by score, find submissions from specific time periods, or focus on particular topics.

You can also cross-reference stories with other server features. For instance, after finding an interesting submission, retrieve its comment thread to understand community reaction, or look up the author's profile to discover their other contributions.

Practical Applications

Story feeds enable various practical workflows. Monitor breaking news by checking new stories throughout the day. Research trending topics by analyzing which submissions reach the top stories feed. Discover quality resources by exploring best stories in your areas of interest. The real-time nature of these feeds ensures you're always working with current information from the Hacker News community.