Understanding User Profiles

The Hacker News MCP Server provides comprehensive access to user profile data, allowing you to explore individual contributor histories and engagement patterns. Each user profile contains valuable information including their karma score, account creation date, biographical details, and complete submission and comment history.

To query a user profile, simply ask your AI assistant about a specific Hacker News user by their username. For example, you might request "Show me the profile for user 'pg'" or "What's the karma score for user 'tptacek'?" The server will retrieve the user's public profile information and present it in a structured, easy-to-read format.

Accessing Activity History

User activity history represents one of the most powerful features of this server. You can explore everything a user has submitted or commented on throughout their time on Hacker News. This includes:

• Submissions: All stories and links the user has posted to Hacker News
• Comments: The complete history of their contributions to discussions
• Timestamps: When each activity occurred, helping you understand engagement patterns
• Scores: Community feedback on their contributions through upvotes

To access activity history, ask questions like "What has user 'dang' posted recently?" or "Show me the comment history for user 'edw519'." The server will retrieve the relevant data and present it chronologically or as specified in your request.

Practical Applications

Querying user profiles and activity serves several valuable purposes:

Expert Identification: Find knowledgeable contributors in specific technical domains by examining their submission and comment history. If someone consistently participates in discussions about distributed systems or machine learning, they may be a valuable source of expertise.

Community Research: Understand how active community members engage with topics over time. Track thought leaders, observe discussion patterns, or identify influential voices within particular technology niches.

Historical Context: Access past contributions to understand how discussions evolved or how particular users have addressed similar topics previously.

Best Practices

When working with user data, remember that you're accessing public information from real people. Focus on constructive uses like research, learning, and understanding community dynamics. The server respects Hacker News's data access patterns, ensuring you retrieve information efficiently without overwhelming their systems.

Start with basic profile queries to familiarize yourself with the data structure, then expand to more complex activity history analysis as you become comfortable with the capabilities available.