Click on "Deploy 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., "@Hacker News MCP Server Show me the top stories on Hacker News"
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.
A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for Hacker News, enabling LLMs to browse stories, inspect items, and look up user profiles via the official HN Firebase API.
Story Feeds: Fetch Top, New, Best, Ask HN, Show HN, and Job stories.
Detailed Inspection: Get full details for any item (story, comment, job, poll) and user profiles.
Live Updates: Access recently changed items and the current max item ID.
Optimized for LLMs:
Responses formatted in clear Markdown (or JSON when needed).
Built-in character limit to prevent context overflow.
Pagination (limit / offset) on all list-based tools.
Modern Stack: TypeScript + official MCP SDK + Zod schema validation.
Related MCP server: mcp-virustotal
Tool | Description |
| Top stories (paginated) |
| Newest stories (paginated) |
| Best stories (paginated) |
| Ask HN stories (paginated) |
| Show HN stories (paginated) |
| Job stories (paginated) |
| Full details for a specific item ID |
| User profile by username |
| Recently updated item & profile IDs |
| Current largest item ID on HN |
All list tools accept limit (1–500, default 20), offset (default 0), and response_format (markdown or json).
Node.js 18+ or Bun
# npx
npx -y @fritzprix/hn-mcp
# bunx
bunx @fritzprix/hn-mcpnpm install -g @fritzprix/hn-mcp
hn-mcpgit clone https://github.com/fritzprix/hn-mcp.git
cd hn-mcp
npm install
npm run build
npm startAdd to claude_desktop_config.json:
macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
{
"mcpServers": {
"hackernews": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "@fritzprix/hn-mcp"]
}
}
}{
"mcpServers": {
"hackernews": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "@fritzprix/hn-mcp"]
}
}
}npm run dev # run with tsx (no build needed)
npm run build # compile TypeScript → dist/
npm run watch # watch modeMIT
Retrieve IDs of the latest Ask HN stories.
Inputs: limit, offset, response_format.
Retrieve IDs of the best stories on Hacker News.
Inputs: limit, offset, response_format.
Get detailed information about a single Hacker News item (story, comment, job, poll, etc.) by its ID.
Inputs: id (required), response_format.
Retrieve IDs of the latest Job stories.
Inputs: limit, offset, response_format.
Get the current largest item ID on Hacker News.
Inputs: no named parameters.
Retrieve IDs of the newest stories on Hacker News.
Inputs: limit, offset, response_format.
Retrieve IDs of the latest Show HN stories.
Inputs: limit, offset, response_format.
Retrieve IDs of the current top stories on Hacker News.
Inputs: limit, offset, response_format.
Retrieve recently updated item and profile IDs.
Inputs: response_format.
Retrieve details for a Hacker News user profile by username.
Inputs: id (required), response_format.
Recent tool additions, removals, and schema changes observed during successful MCP inspections.
Loading tool schema changelog…
Scored across 10 tools
Each tool targets a distinct data source: different story lists (top, new, best, ask, show, job), item details, user profiles, updates, and max item ID. No two tools have overlapping purposes.
All tools follow a consistent 'hn_get_<resource>' pattern, making it easy to predict tool names. No mixing of naming conventions.
With 10 tools, the set covers the main read operations of the Hacker News API without being bloated. Each tool serves a clear purpose.
The tool set covers major read operations (stories, items, users, updates) but lacks search or submission capabilities. For a typical agent use case, it is mostly complete.
Browse Hacker News feeds, threads, and user profiles with full-text search.
Hacker News stories, search and Who is Hiring jobs via the official API. Runs on Apify.
Browse Hacker News from chat: top stories, search, read comment threads, and post or upvote when yo…
Hacker News MCP — search and retrieve stories from Hacker News