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mcp-hn

mcp-hn

by erithwik

Hacker News MCP Server

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that provides tools for fetching information from Hacker News.

Tools

  • get_stories Fetching (top, new, ask_hn, show_hn) stories

  • get_story_info Fetching comments associated with a story

  • search_stories Searching for stories by query

  • get_user_info Fetching user info

Related MCP server: Hacker News MCP Server

Example Usage

Use prompts like the following:

User: Get the top stories of today
  Output: Uses `get_stories` tool and returns a story about AI
User: What does the details of the story today that talks about the future of AI
  Output: Uses `get_story_info` tool based on the results of the previous tool
User: What has the user `pg` been up to?
  Output: Uses `get_user_info` tool and returns a summary of the user's activity
User: What does hackernews say about careers in AI?
  Output: Uses `search_stories` tool and returns a summary of the comments

A more detailed example with the puppeteer MCP server:

User: What are the top stories of today?
  Output: Uses `get_stories` tool and returns a story about AI
User: Can you use the puppeteer tool to read the article about <AI> and also use the hackernews tool to view the comments and give me a summary of what the main comments are about the article?
  Output: Uses puppeteer tool to read the article about AI and then uses the `get_story_info` hn tool to get the comments and returns a summary of the comments

Quickstart

Installing via Smithery

To install Hacker News MCP Server for Claude Desktop automatically via Smithery:

npx -y @smithery/cli install mcp-hn --client claude

Claude Desktop:

Update the following:

On MacOS: ~/Library/Application\ Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

On Windows: %APPDATA%/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

With the following for production:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mcp-hn": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["mcp-hn"]
    }
  }
}

Available Tools

4 tools
get_storiesA

Get stories from Hacker News. The options are top, new, ask_hn, show_hn for types of stories. This doesn't include the comments. Use get_story_info to get the comments.

Inputs: story_type, num_stories.

get_story_infoB

Get detailed story info from Hacker News, including the comments

Inputs: story_id.

get_user_infoC

Get user info from Hacker News, including the stories they've submitted

Inputs: user_name (required), num_stories.

search_storiesA

Search stories from Hacker News. It is generally recommended to use simpler queries to get a broader set of results (less than 5 words). Very targetted queries may not return any results.

Inputs: query (required), search_by_date, num_results.

Tool Schema Changelog

Recent tool additions, removals, and schema changes observed during successful MCP inspections.

Loading tool schema changelog…

    TDQS

    A3.7/5.0

    Scored across 4 tools

    Disambiguation5/5

    Each tool has a clearly distinct purpose: get_stories retrieves story lists by type, get_story_info provides detailed story data with comments, get_user_info focuses on user profiles and submissions, and search_stories handles story searches. There is no overlap or ambiguity between these functions.

    Naming Consistency5/5

    All tools follow a consistent verb_noun pattern with snake_case: get_stories, get_story_info, get_user_info, and search_stories. The naming is predictable and readable throughout the set.

    Tool Count5/5

    With 4 tools, this is well-scoped for a Hacker News server, covering core operations like listing stories, getting details, user info, and searching. Each tool earns its place without being excessive or insufficient.

    Completeness4/5

    The toolset covers the essential Hacker News domain well, including story retrieval, details, user info, and search. A minor gap is the lack of comment-specific operations (e.g., posting or voting), but the core workflows are complete and functional.

    Maintenance

    ActivityInactive
    ResponsivenessOutdated data

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