Hacker News MCP. Track the pulse of developer culture instantly.
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Hacker News provides direct access to stories, comments, and user profiles from Hacker News using your AI client. You can pull current top articles, job listings, or ask-specific discussions on demand.
This MCP lets you analyze community sentiment and track tech trends without leaving your development environment.
What your AI agents can do
Get ask stories
Retrieves up to 200 of the latest questions posted on Ask HN.
Get best stories
Fetches a list containing up to 500 of the highest-rated stories.
Get item
Gets detailed information for one specific Hacker News story, comment, or poll ID.
Fetch lists of the best-read or most recent stories across various specialized topics.
Get full metadata, comment counts, and point totals for any single Hacker News item ID.
Check a public username’s history to see their total karma score and submission count.
Track recent updates, including new items and profile modifications across the whole site.
Ask AI about this MCP
Supported MCP Clients
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Hacker News Alternative MCP: 10 Tools
These tools give you specific access to various streams of data, including job listings, top stories, and individual user profiles.
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Start using Hacker News on Vinkius019e38a5get ask stories
Retrieves up to 200 of the latest questions posted on Ask HN.
019e38a5get best stories
Fetches a list containing up to 500 of the highest-rated stories.
019e38a5get item
Gets detailed information for one specific Hacker News story, comment, or poll ID.
019e38a5get job stories
Retrieves up to 200 of the latest job postings from the community.
019e38a5get max item
Returns the current largest item ID number used on the platform for historical reference.
019e38a5get new stories
Fetches up to 500 stories that were posted most recently.
019e38a5get show stories
Retrieves up to 200 of the latest posts showing off new projects (Show HN).
019e38a5get top stories
Gets a list containing up to 500 stories that are currently at their peak popularity.
019e38a5get updates
Shows recent item and profile changes, useful for tracking what's trending right now.
019e38a5get user
Retrieves detailed account information and metadata for any public Hacker News user.
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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.
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Works with Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, and more
The Model Context Protocol standardizes how applications expose capabilities to LLMs. Instead of operating in isolation, your AI gains direct access to external platforms, live data, and real-world actions through secure, standardized connections.
This server provides 10 capabilities that interface natively with Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, and any MCP client. No middleware. No custom integration required.
Sifting through endless article feeds for signal versus noise is exhausting.
Today, checking tech news means opening the browser, scrolling past dozens of headlines, and clicking into multiple articles to gather key data points. You’re constantly copying IDs, cross-referencing user names on different tabs, and manually determining if a post is genuinely new or just getting recycled content.
With this MCP, your agent handles all that grunt work. Instead of endless scrolling, you ask for exactly what you need—like the latest job postings from `get_job_stories`—and get clean, structured data points instantly.
Getting a full picture of an article with `get_item`
Manually, if you see an interesting headline and want to know the context—who posted it, how many people liked it, what the main point was—you have to open the link, scroll through the comments, and check the user's profile separately. It takes clicks, time, and mental effort.
Now, use `get_item`. You feed the tool a single item ID, and it returns all that context—the score, the comment count, the full title, and the author’s metadata—in one clean package.
What you can do with this MCP connector
Need to know what the dev world is talking about right now? Your agent can connect directly to Hacker News, pulling in structured data instead of just a messy webpage scrape. You get feeds for top stories, new launches, or specific job postings—all filtered and ready to read. It’s basically an instant intelligence layer over the entire tech conversation.
If you're tracking industry shifts, this MCP lets your AI client pull deep details on any item or user profile, giving you context that’s hard to find otherwise. When you connect it via Vinkius, you get access to this stream of data right alongside thousands of other services in one place.
019e38a5-29b6-7394-b53a-360c14bdb79e 
How Hacker News MCP Works
- 1 Tell your AI client exactly what you need—for example, 'Give me the top 5 jobs posted today' or 'What are the latest Ask HN questions?'
- 2 The MCP routes that request to the correct internal tool (like
get_job_stories), which hits the Hacker News API. - 3 Your agent receives clean, structured data containing titles, authors, and IDs, ready for you to analyze.
The bottom line is your AI client handles the messy web scraping; you just ask for the specific insight.
Who Is Hacker News MCP For?
This MCP serves developers who need immediate market context, researchers tracking tech buzzwords, and product managers monitoring industry adoption rates. It’s for anyone whose day involves synthesizing information from fragmented online sources.
Checking community interest in a new framework or library before writing boilerplate code.
Monitoring job listings and 'Show HN' posts to validate product-market fit for a niche feature.
Analyzing user profile histories and comment trends to gauge sentiment around specific technologies or competitors.
What Changes When You Connect
- Instantly check job market sentiment. Use
get_job_storiesto compile a list of open roles, helping you assess industry demand for specific skills without visiting multiple career sites. - Deep dive into content context. If you find an interesting article ID, use
get_itemto pull all the metadata—points, comments, and source links—for immediate analysis. - Gauge community interest in new tech. Running
get_show_storieslets you see what projects are currently getting attention, giving you a quick read on emerging trends. - Monitor user reputation. Use
get_userto check a contributor's history and karma score. This helps filter out low-effort noise when tracking high-value industry voices. - Catch up on the absolute latest news. Running
get_new_storiesorget_top_storiesensures your agent has the most current, relevant data points to analyze right now.
Real-World Use Cases
Assessing a competitor's interest.
A Product Manager wants to see if competitors are discussing their new feature set. They ask their agent to run get_ask_stories and filter results for keywords like 'blockchain' or 'react'. The agent provides the top 10 questions, allowing the PM to scope out the market conversation.
Building a talent pipeline.
A recruiter needs quick insights into developer skill sets. They use get_user to look up key contributors' profiles and then cross-reference those users with recent postings from get_job_stories to find the best candidates.
Tracking a viral launch.
A tech journalist wants to see the immediate community reaction to an announcement. They check the item ID on the original post using get_item and then run get_updates to monitor comment volume spikes over the last hour.
Comparing job market stability.
A career counselor wants a quick overview of different tech sectors. They ask for both get_job_stories and compare those results against general top stories from get_top_stories to see what technologies are driving hiring.
The Tradeoffs
Asking for 'all tech news'
A user asks their agent, 'What's all happening on Hacker News?' This results in a massive dump of 500 stories and profile data that is unusable noise.
→
Don't ask generally. Be specific. If you want the best articles, use get_top_stories. If you only care about new developments, run get_new_stories instead.
Confusing 'best' and 'most popular'
A user asks for 'the most popular stories,' but the agent pulls from a feed that is already historical or archived.
→
Use get_top_stories if you mean generally highly rated content. If you want what's currently spiking in popularity, check get_updates to see real-time changes.
Ignoring user context
A developer only searches for a topic but forgets which specific item ID they were talking about.
→
If you need details on one article, don't search generally. Grab the unique integer ID and use get_item to pull everything you need.
When It Fits, When It Doesn't
Use this MCP if your core task is analyzing public developer sentiment or tracking industry trends over time. It’s ideal for researchers who need structured data on community discussions, not just surface-level news summaries.
Don't use it if you are looking for a general source of entertainment or random browsing material; the data here is highly technical and focused. Furthermore, don't rely on it to tell you which story will go viral; it only shows what's trending now or what was popular in the past.
If your need is simply 'What did I read yesterday?' use get_updates for a chronological view. If you just want to see if a company posted a job, run get_job_stories. Never assume that searching by topic implies reading every single story; always specify if you need the top stories (get_top_stories), new ones (get_new_stories), or specific types like jobs.
Common Questions About Hacker News MCP
How do I find job openings using get_job_stories? +
You simply ask your agent to run get_job_stories. It pulls the latest 200 listings, allowing you to analyze specific roles and companies without leaving your terminal.
Can I check a user’s entire history with get_user? +
Yes, get_user retrieves detailed metadata for any public username. You can see their total karma count and how many items they've submitted over time.
What is the difference between get_top_stories and get_best_stories? +
While both show highly rated content, get_top_stories generally refers to stories at their current peak of popularity. get_best_stories pulls a fixed list designed to showcase historically high-quality or evergreen posts.
Do I need an API key for get_item? +
No, this MCP uses the public Hacker News API endpoints, so no personal keys are needed. Just provide the unique integer ID of the story you want details on.
Are there any rate limits when using get_updates? +
No strict API rate limit exists, but we recommend calling it every minute or so. If you need continuous monitoring, check the documentation for best practices on handling high-frequency requests.
What data structure does get_item return? +
It returns all item details in a clean JSON format that your AI client can easily parse. This includes points, comment counts, and the full text body for context.
How should I use get_max_item to find new or historical content? +
Use this tool to retrieve the highest item ID currently indexed on the platform. You can then work backward from that number to walk through site history or check for newly added content.
Can I use both get_ask_stories and get_show_stories together? +
Yes, your AI agent handles this by executing sequential calls. This lets you gather a combined feed of questions and new projects into a single analysis context.
How can I get the full text of a specific Hacker News comment or story? +
Use the get_item tool with the unique integer ID of the item. The agent will return the title, text, author, and other metadata associated with that ID.
Can I see the latest projects launched by the community? +
Yes! Use the get_show_stories tool to retrieve the latest 'Show HN' posts where developers share their recent work and projects.
Is there a way to track what has changed recently on the site? +
The get_updates tool provides a list of recently changed items and user profiles, allowing you to stay on top of the latest activity.
Use it with your favorite AI tools
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