Overview

When browsing Hacker News through the MCP server, you'll encounter three primary story feeds: Top, New, and Best. Each serves a distinct purpose and provides different perspectives on what's happening in the tech community. Understanding these feeds will help you find the most relevant content for your needs.

Top Stories

Top stories represent the current front page of Hacker News—the submissions that are actively receiving attention and upvotes right now. This feed uses a time-decay algorithm that balances recency with popularity, meaning newer posts with strong engagement can quickly rise while older posts gradually fall even if they have high scores.

When to use Top stories:

• You want to see what the community is discussing right now
• You're looking for trending topics and breaking news
• You need content that's currently generating active conversation
• You're monitoring real-time reactions to recent events

Top stories refresh frequently as voting patterns change, making this feed ideal for staying current with the pulse of the tech community.

New Stories

New stories display the most recently submitted posts in chronological order, regardless of their score or engagement level. This feed shows everything as it arrives, giving you an unfiltered view of all submissions before the community has voted them up or down.

When to use New stories:

• You want to discover content before it becomes popular
• You're monitoring for specific topics or keywords immediately as they appear
• You prefer chronological ordering over algorithmic curation
• You're researching submission patterns or community activity

This feed moves quickly, with new posts appearing constantly. It's particularly valuable for catching emerging discussions early or ensuring you don't miss submissions about niche topics that might not make it to the front page.

Best Stories

Best stories showcase submissions that have demonstrated sustained value and quality. This feed uses a different algorithm that favors posts with consistently high engagement over longer periods, filtering out flash-in-the-pan submissions that briefly spike in popularity.

When to use Best stories:

• You're looking for high-quality, thoroughly vetted content
• You want posts that have generated substantial, meaningful discussion
• You prefer depth and lasting value over timeliness
• You're conducting research that benefits from community-validated sources

Best stories change more slowly than Top stories, providing a curated selection of the most impactful recent submissions.

Choosing the Right Feed

Select your feed based on your goals: Top for current awareness, New for comprehensive monitoring, and Best for quality-focused research. You can also combine feeds—for example, checking New for immediate alerts while using Best for weekly roundups of valuable content.