Understanding Item IDs in Hacker News

Every piece of content on Hacker News—whether it's a story, comment, poll, or job posting—has a unique numerical identifier called an item ID. These IDs are assigned sequentially as content is added to the platform, making them a reliable way to reference specific pieces of content directly.

Why Query by ID?

Querying items by their specific ID is useful in several scenarios:

• Direct access: When you know exactly which story or comment you need, retrieving it by ID is the fastest method
• Tracking specific discussions: Monitor particular threads or stories over time by saving their IDs
• Following references: When users mention specific items (like "see item 12345678"), you can retrieve them directly
• Building upon previous queries: After discovering interesting content through broader searches, you can return to specific items using their IDs

How to Query Items by ID

To retrieve a specific item, simply ask your AI assistant to fetch the Hacker News item with the corresponding ID number. For example:

"Get Hacker News item 35892345"

"Show me the details for item 35901234"

"Retrieve the content of Hacker News post 35888000"

The server will return comprehensive information about that item, including its type (story, comment, poll, etc.), author, timestamp, score, and content.

What Information You'll Receive

When querying an item by ID, you'll receive different data depending on the item type:

For stories: You'll get the title, URL (if it's a link post), score, author, submission time, number of comments, and the item ID itself.

For comments: The response includes the comment text, author, timestamp, parent item ID (to understand the conversation context), and any child comment IDs for replies.

For other types: Polls include voting options and results, while job postings contain job descriptions and company information.

Working with Retrieved Items

Once you've retrieved an item, you can explore related content:

• Access comment threads: Use the comment IDs returned with a story to dive into specific discussions
• Navigate conversation trees: Follow parent and child comment IDs to understand the full context of a discussion
• Track user activity: Use the author information to query that user's profile and other contributions

Tips for Effective ID Queries

Item IDs are permanent and never change, making them excellent bookmarks for content you want to revisit. Keep a note of IDs for particularly valuable discussions or stories you may want to reference later. Remember that higher ID numbers represent newer content, since IDs are assigned sequentially.