The mcp-hn server is a Hacker News API wrapper that allows you to:
Fetch stories: Get top, new, Ask HN, or Show HN stories
Search stories: Find stories by text query
Retrieve story details: Access detailed information about specific stories, including comments
Access user information: Get user profiles and their submitted stories
Allows web scraping and browser automation, enabling the AI to browse articles mentioned on Hacker News and gather additional context beyond the HN comments.
Click on "Install Server".
Wait a few minutes for the server to deploy. Once ready, it will show a "Started" state.
In the chat, type
@followed by the MCP server name and your instructions, e.g., "@mcp-hnshow me the top stories from today"
That's it! The server will respond to your query, and you can continue using it as needed.
Here is a step-by-step guide with screenshots.
Hacker News MCP Server
A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that provides tools for fetching information from Hacker News.
Tools
get_storiesFetching (top, new, ask_hn, show_hn) storiesget_story_infoFetching comments associated with a storysearch_storiesSearching for stories by queryget_user_infoFetching user info
Related MCP server: MCP Hub Tools
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 commentsA 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 commentsQuickstart
Installing via Smithery
To install Hacker News MCP Server for Claude Desktop automatically via Smithery:
npx -y @smithery/cli install mcp-hn --client claudeClaude 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"]
}
}
}Resources
Looking for Admin?
Admins can modify the Dockerfile, update the server description, and track usage metrics. If you are the server author, to access the admin panel.