Hacker News MCP Server for LlamaIndex 3 tools — connect in under 2 minutes
LlamaIndex specializes in data-aware AI agents that connect LLMs to structured and unstructured sources. Add Hacker News as an MCP tool provider through Vinkius and your agents can query, analyze, and act on live data alongside your existing indexes.
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Vinkius supports streamable HTTP and SSE.
import asyncio
from llama_index.tools.mcp import BasicMCPClient, McpToolSpec
from llama_index.core.agent.workflow import FunctionAgent
from llama_index.llms.openai import OpenAI
async def main():
# Your Vinkius token. get it at cloud.vinkius.com
mcp_client = BasicMCPClient("https://edge.vinkius.com/[YOUR_TOKEN_HERE]/mcp")
mcp_tool_spec = McpToolSpec(client=mcp_client)
tools = await mcp_tool_spec.to_tool_list_async()
agent = FunctionAgent(
tools=tools,
llm=OpenAI(model="gpt-4o"),
system_prompt=(
"You are an assistant with access to Hacker News. "
"You have 3 tools available."
),
)
response = await agent.run(
"What tools are available in Hacker News?"
)
print(response)
asyncio.run(main())
* Every MCP server runs on Vinkius-managed infrastructure inside AWS - a purpose-built runtime with per-request V8 isolates, Ed25519 signed audit chains, and sub-40ms cold starts optimized for native MCP execution. See our infrastructure
About Hacker News MCP Server
Connect to Hacker News (Y Combinator) and take full control of your tech news consumption, discussion auditing, and trend tracking through natural conversation.
LlamaIndex agents combine Hacker News tool responses with indexed documents for comprehensive, grounded answers. Connect 3 tools through Vinkius and query live data alongside vector stores and SQL databases in a single turn. ideal for hybrid search, data enrichment, and analytical workflows.
What you can do
- Front Page Orchestration — Fetch current Top stories to retrieve popular social links, titles, scores, and author metadata natively within your chat
- Real-time Submission Tracking — Iterate through chronological submissions to discover cutting-edge tech updates and new project launches flawlessly
- Detailed Item Auditing — Read the full contents of specific HN items (stories, comments, or polls) by their numeric IDs to extract exact textual context
- Clean Comment Retrieval — Retrieve discussion threads with HTML comments converted cleanly into Markdown, allowing your AI agent to reason with structured conversations limitlessly
- Story Metadata Inspection — Analyze specific node blocks identifying submission times, URL references, and total comment counts synchronously
- Trend Discovery — Identify high-ranking tech discussions and gather required IDs to browse and discover ongoing community debates natively
The Hacker News MCP Server exposes 3 tools through the Vinkius. Connect it to LlamaIndex in under two minutes — no API keys to rotate, no infrastructure to provision, no vendor lock-in. Your configuration, your data, your control.
How to Connect Hacker News to LlamaIndex via MCP
Follow these steps to integrate the Hacker News MCP Server with LlamaIndex.
Install dependencies
Run pip install llama-index-tools-mcp llama-index-llms-openai
Replace the token
Replace [YOUR_TOKEN_HERE] with your Vinkius token
Run the agent
Save to agent.py and run: python agent.py
Explore tools
The agent discovers 3 tools from Hacker News
Why Use LlamaIndex with the Hacker News MCP Server
LlamaIndex provides unique advantages when paired with Hacker News through the Model Context Protocol.
Data-first architecture: LlamaIndex agents combine Hacker News tool responses with indexed documents for comprehensive, grounded answers
Query pipeline framework lets you chain Hacker News tool calls with transformations, filters, and re-rankers in a typed pipeline
Multi-source reasoning: agents can query Hacker News, a vector store, and a SQL database in a single turn and synthesize results
Observability integrations show exactly what Hacker News tools were called, what data was returned, and how it influenced the final answer
Hacker News + LlamaIndex Use Cases
Practical scenarios where LlamaIndex combined with the Hacker News MCP Server delivers measurable value.
Hybrid search: combine Hacker News real-time data with embedded document indexes for answers that are both current and comprehensive
Data enrichment: query Hacker News to augment indexed data with live information before generating user-facing responses
Knowledge base agents: build agents that maintain and update knowledge bases by periodically querying Hacker News for fresh data
Analytical workflows: chain Hacker News queries with LlamaIndex's data connectors to build multi-source analytical reports
Hacker News MCP Tools for LlamaIndex (3)
These 3 tools become available when you connect Hacker News to LlamaIndex via MCP:
get_item
Read the detailed contents of a specific Hacker News item (a story, comment, or poll) by its ID. Returns HTML comments converted cleanly to Markdown
new_stories
Fetch the most recently submitted stories on Hacker News
top_stories
Fetch the current Top stories on the Hacker News front page
Example Prompts for Hacker News in LlamaIndex
Ready-to-use prompts you can give your LlamaIndex agent to start working with Hacker News immediately.
"Show me the top 5 stories on Hacker News right now"
"Get details and comments for HN item 123456"
"What are the newest submissions on tech launches?"
Troubleshooting Hacker News MCP Server with LlamaIndex
Common issues when connecting Hacker News to LlamaIndex through the Vinkius, and how to resolve them.
BasicMCPClient not found
pip install llama-index-tools-mcpHacker News + LlamaIndex FAQ
Common questions about integrating Hacker News MCP Server with LlamaIndex.
How does LlamaIndex connect to MCP servers?
Can I combine MCP tools with vector stores?
Does LlamaIndex support async MCP calls?
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Connect Hacker News to LlamaIndex
Get your token, paste the configuration, and start using 3 tools in under 2 minutes. No API key management needed.