Understanding Story Feeds

The Hacker News MCP Server provides access to multiple story feeds that reflect different views of community activity. Each feed serves a distinct purpose and updates in real-time as users submit and vote on content.

Top Stories represent submissions that have achieved high visibility through community upvotes and engagement. These are the posts you'd see on the Hacker News front page, ranked by a combination of points, time, and velocity. Top stories typically represent the most significant discussions happening right now.

New Stories show the latest submissions as they arrive, regardless of votes or comments. This feed is ideal for discovering emerging content before it gains widespread attention or monitoring specific topics as they're posted.

Best Stories highlight submissions that have demonstrated sustained value over time. The algorithm considers various factors beyond raw votes to identify content with lasting impact and engagement quality.

Retrieving Story Feeds

To access any story feed, simply ask your AI assistant in natural language. For example:

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

The server automatically processes your request and returns structured data including story titles, URLs, authors, scores, submission times, and comment counts. You don't need to memorize commands or syntax—conversational requests work seamlessly.

Working with Story Data

Each story returned by the server includes comprehensive metadata. You'll receive the submission title, a link to the original content, the username of the submitter, the current point score, when it was posted, and how many comments it has generated.

This structured data enables various workflows. You might scan titles to identify relevant topics, follow URLs to read articles that interest you, or dive into comment threads to explore community discussion. The comment count serves as a useful indicator of engagement—highly commented stories often contain valuable technical debates or diverse perspectives.

Filtering and Analysis

Once you've retrieved a story feed, you can ask follow-up questions to narrow your focus. Request stories about specific technologies, filter by score thresholds, or identify submissions from particular time periods. Your AI assistant can analyze the results, summarize trends, or extract stories matching your criteria.

For deeper investigation, you can request full details about individual stories, including their complete comment threads and user information, enabling comprehensive research into topics that matter to your work.