Overview

The Hacker News MCP server for Slack gives you instant access to trending tech stories, discussions, and community insights directly within your workspace. This integration allows you to stay informed about the latest developments in technology without leaving your conversation flow.

Accessing Top Stories

To retrieve the most popular stories currently trending on Hacker News, simply ask your AI assistant in Slack with natural language. For example, "Show me the top stories on Hacker News" will return a curated list of highly-voted submissions that have risen to the front page.

The server provides comprehensive information for each story, including:

• Story title and source URL
• Current score (upvotes)
• Author username
• Submission time
• Number of comments

This structured data makes it easy to quickly scan what's capturing the tech community's attention and decide which stories warrant deeper investigation.

Filtering by Story Type

Hacker News organizes content into different feeds based on community engagement and recency. You can request specific types of stories to match your interests:

New Stories: Access the latest submissions as they arrive, perfect for discovering emerging topics before they hit the mainstream. Ask for "new stories from Hacker News" to see what's just been posted.

Best Stories: Retrieve submissions that have demonstrated lasting value and sustained community interest. These represent high-quality content that has proven worthwhile over time.

Top Stories: Get the current front page featuring the most actively discussed and upvoted submissions.

Combining with Comments and Analysis

Once you've identified interesting stories, you can dive deeper by requesting comment threads. Ask to "show me the comments on story [ID]" to access community discussion, expert insights, and technical perspectives that often provide as much value as the original submission.

This capability is particularly useful during team discussions in Slack channels, where you can quickly pull relevant Hacker News conversations to inform decision-making or provide additional context.

Practical Applications

Use this integration to monitor trending topics relevant to your team's work, discover technical resources vetted by the community, or track discussions about specific technologies or companies. The real-time nature of the data ensures you're always working with current information, making it valuable for staying ahead of industry developments.