How to Use the Hacker News MCP in Claude

Bring Hacker News threads into Claude Desktop to get real-time engineering context without leaving your chat window.

See Vinkius in Action

Works with every AI agent you already use

…and any MCP-compatible client

MCP Servers - Free for Subscribers

Connect Hacker News MCP to Claude Desktop

Create your Vinkius account to connect Hacker News to Claude Desktop and route execution through our secure gateway. The platform manages server hosting, runtime updates, and security layers. Configuration requires no manual server provisioning.

GDPR Free for Subscribers

Setup Hacker News with Claude Desktop

Ask AI about this MCP

ChatGPT

Claude

Perplexity

Fetch front-page discussions in Claude Desktop

Use `top_stories` to pull the latest front-page links directly into your conversation. You get the current pulse of the industry without opening a browser tab. Your agent parses the list of IDs and presents the most relevant threads. It saves you from manual context switching when you need to reference a trending technical debate.

Read deep technical threads via Claude Desktop

The `get_item` tool pulls the full content of any story or comment thread. It converts messy HTML into clean Markdown that your agent can actually read and summarize. Stop digging through nested comment trees manually. You can ask your agent to extract specific arguments or code snippets from a thread and dump them straight into your notes.

Track new submissions in Claude Desktop

Call `new_stories` to see what just landed on the site. This is how you catch breaking tech news before it hits the main page. It works by grabbing the most recent submission IDs. You'll have an edge on emerging projects or security disclosures as they happen.

Setup guide

Set up Hacker News MCP in Claude Web or Desktop

1

Open Claude Settings

Go to claude.ai, click your profile icon, then navigate to Customize → Connectors.
2

Add Custom Connector

Click the "+" button and select Add custom connector. Paste your Vinkius endpoint URL: https://edge.vinkius.com/[YOUR_TOKEN_HERE]/mcp Replace [YOUR_TOKEN_HERE] with your token from cloud.vinkius.com. For OAuth-protected servers, expand Advanced settings to add credentials.
3

Start a conversation

Open a new chat. The Hacker News MCP tools are available immediately — no restart needed.

Endpoint URL

https://edge.vinkius.com/[YOUR_TOKEN_HERE]/mcp

No configuration file needed — paste the URL directly in the Claude web interface.

Available on Free (1 connector), Pro, Max, Team, and Enterprise plans.

Prerequisites

Claude Desktop installed (macOS or Windows)
Active Vinkius subscription with a valid endpoint token

1

Open Claude Desktop Settings

Click the menu icon at the top-left corner, go to Settings → Developer → Edit Config. This opens claude_desktop_config.json in your default text editor.
2

Paste the Hacker News MCP configuration

Copy the JSON snippet on the right into the mcpServers object. Replace [YOUR_TOKEN_HERE] with your endpoint token from cloud.vinkius.com.
3

Restart Claude Desktop

Close and reopen the application. Claude needs a full restart to load new MCPs — refreshing a conversation is not enough.
4

Verify the connection

Open a new conversation. Click the 🔌 icon at the bottom of the message input. You should see tools listed under hacker-news-mcp.

json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "hacker-news-mcp": {
      "url": "https://edge.vinkius.com/[YOUR_TOKEN_HERE]/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Get your connection token →

Independent Platform Disclaimer: Vinkius is an independent platform and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by, verified by, or otherwise authorized by Hacker News. All third-party trademarks, logos, and brand names are the property of their respective owners. Their use on this website is strictly for informational purposes to identify service compatibility and interoperability.

Why Choose Vinkius

Vinkius connects your tools to AI with real-time monitoring and automatic cost savings — all from one dashboard.

Connect Hacker News now

Real-time monitoring

Live

visibility into every interaction

Connect your favorite tools to your AI and see exactly what's happening — every request, every response, in real time.

Built-in savings

60%

lower AI costs

Vinkius compresses data between your apps and your AI automatically. Lower bills every month — no configuration required.

Single dashboard

One

place for every integration

Every tool your AI connects to, managed from a single screen. One account, complete control.

Common questions about Hacker News MCP in Claude Desktop

No. Your interaction history stays on your machine. This MCP Server only touches the public API to fetch story metadata and comment text.

This server is read-only. It provides access to public data and does not have write permissions for your account.

The server fetches data on demand based on your prompts. If you hit the API hard, the upstream provider will throttle the connection.

Yes. Only the item IDs and text content you request are sent to the AI client. No personal browsing data is shared.

No key is needed. The API is public, and the server works as soon as you add it to your configuration file.

Use it with your favorite AI tools

Connect this server to Cursor, Claude, VS Code, and more.

OpenAI Agents SDK sdk-python

Google ADK sdk-python

Pydantic AI sdk-python

Vercel AI SDK sdk-typescript

Mastra AI sdk-typescript

Start using the Hacker News MCP today

We host it, we monitor it, we maintain it. You just paste one token.

Get started