Overview

The Hacker News MCP Server provides quick access to story feeds and trending content from Hacker News. Whether you're looking for the latest tech discussions or want to explore what's currently popular in the community, retrieving stories is straightforward through natural language requests to your AI assistant.

Understanding Story Feed Types

Hacker News organizes content into several distinct feeds, each serving a different purpose:

Top Stories represent the most popular and highly-voted submissions currently on the front page. These stories have gained significant community traction and typically reflect what the Hacker News community finds most valuable right now.

New Stories show the latest submissions as they arrive on the platform. This feed is ideal for discovering fresh content before it gains widespread attention or for monitoring specific topics in real-time.

Best Stories highlight submissions that have demonstrated lasting value over time. These represent particularly high-quality content that the community has consistently engaged with.

Retrieving Stories

To access any story feed, simply ask your AI assistant using natural language. The server handles all the technical details automatically and returns structured information about each story.

For example, you might ask:

• "Show me the top stories on Hacker News"
• "What are the latest new submissions?"
• "Get the best stories from Hacker News"

Each story result includes comprehensive details: the submission title, URL to the original content, current score (upvotes), author username, submission timestamp, and the number of comments. This information gives you a complete picture of each story's reach and engagement.

Working with Story Data

Once you've retrieved stories, you can interact with them in several ways. Ask for specific details about stories that interest you, request comment threads to see community discussion, or check author profiles to learn more about who submitted the content.

The server provides real-time data, so you're always seeing current information rather than cached results. This is particularly useful when monitoring breaking news or tracking how quickly stories gain attention.

Tips for Effective Use

Start with top stories to see what's currently trending, then explore new stories if you're looking for emerging topics. You can request different numbers of stories depending on your needs—ask for just a handful for a quick overview or request more for comprehensive browsing.

Combine story retrieval with comment access to gain deeper insights into community reactions and expert discussions surrounding each submission.