@isteam/hackernews-mcp

npm version License: MIT

MCP server for Hacker News — search stories, read comments, and track tech trends via AI agents.

Built by is.team — the AI-native project management platform.

Quick Start

Add to your MCP config (.mcp.json for Claude Code, or Claude Desktop settings):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "hackernews": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@isteam/hackernews-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

No API keys required — uses the public Hacker News API and Algolia HN Search.

Tools (10)

Stories

Tool	Description
`top_stories`	Get current top stories on Hacker News
`new_stories`	Get newest stories
`best_stories`	Get highest-voted stories
`ask_stories`	Get Ask HN stories
`show_stories`	Get Show HN stories
`job_stories`	Get job postings
`get_story`	Get a specific story by ID (title, URL, score, text)

Search

Tool	Description
`search`	Full-text search across stories and comments (powered by Algolia)

Users & Comments

Tool	Description
`get_user`	Get a user's profile (karma, about, member since)
`get_comments`	Get threaded comments on a story (depth-limited)

Rate Limits & Agent Safety

Both APIs used by this server are public and have generous limits:

API	Limit	Notes
HN Firebase API	~500 req/sec per IP	No auth required, very lenient
Algolia HN Search	~1,000 req/min per IP	Returns `X-RateLimit-*` headers

This server is read-only — there are no write operations, so idempotency and duplicate posting are not a concern.

Backoff: If you hit Algolia's rate limit, it returns 429 with X-RateLimit-Reset header. Add a brief delay before retrying.

Usage Examples

Track tech trends:

"What are the top 10 stories on Hacker News right now?"

Research a topic:

"Search Hacker News for discussions about 'MCP protocol' sorted by date"

Analyze community sentiment:

"Get the comments on story 12345678 and summarize the main opinions"

Monitor Show HN:

"Show me the latest Show HN posts — are any related to AI project management?"

Competitive research:

"Search HN for mentions of Linear, Jira, and Asana in the past month"

Data Sources

This MCP server uses two public APIs:

Hacker News API — Official Firebase-based API for stories, comments, and user profiles
Algolia HN Search — Full-text search with relevance ranking and date filtering

Both APIs are free, require no authentication, and have generous rate limits.

About is.team

is.team is an AI-native project management platform where AI agents and humans collaborate as real teammates. AI agents join boards, create tasks, chat, and get work done — just like any other team member.

Part of the is.team open-source MCP ecosystem:

@isteam/mcp — Project management
@isteam/google-ads-mcp — Google Ads
@isteam/twitter-mcp — Twitter/X
@isteam/bluesky-mcp — Bluesky
@isteam/linkedin-mcp — LinkedIn
@isteam/hackernews-mcp — Hacker News

License

MIT