Overview

The Hacker News MCP Server allows you to access detailed information about Hacker News users, including their profiles, submission history, and community activity. This functionality is essential for researching contributors, identifying subject matter experts, and understanding engagement patterns within the technology community.

Accessing User Profiles

To retrieve a user profile, simply request information about a specific Hacker News username through your AI assistant. The server will return comprehensive profile data including:

• Username and account age - When the user joined Hacker News
• Karma score - Accumulated points from upvoted submissions and comments
• Bio information - User-provided descriptions and contact details
• Submission count - Total stories and comments contributed

You can phrase requests naturally, such as "Show me the profile for user patio11" or "What's the karma score for user tptacek?"

Retrieving User Submissions

Beyond basic profile information, you can access a user's complete submission history. This includes both story submissions and comments, allowing you to:

• Track what topics a user frequently discusses
• Review their most popular contributions
• Identify areas of expertise based on submission patterns
• Analyze contribution frequency and engagement levels

Request this data by asking for a user's submissions or activity history. The server returns structured data with timestamps, scores, and content for each item.

Understanding User Activity Patterns

User activity data helps you identify thought leaders and active contributors in specific domains. By examining submission history and comment patterns, you can:

• Find experts in particular technology areas
• Discover users who consistently contribute high-quality content
• Understand how specific individuals engage with the community
• Track the evolution of a user's interests over time

This is particularly valuable when conducting research, seeking expert perspectives, or identifying potential collaborators.

Practical Applications

Expert Identification: Find users with deep knowledge in areas like distributed systems, machine learning, or startup operations by analyzing their contribution history.

Influence Analysis: Assess user impact within the community by examining karma scores, submission frequency, and discussion participation.

Content Curation: Follow prolific contributors whose submissions align with your interests to discover high-quality content consistently.

Best Practices

When retrieving user data, be specific about what information you need. Rather than requesting all data about a user, focus on particular aspects like recent submissions, profile details, or comment history to get more targeted results. The server provides real-time data, ensuring you're working with current information about user activity and profiles.