get-posts-by-author

Retrieve all posts, stories, and comments from a specific HackerNews author. Filter results by content type and manage pagination to browse user contributions efficiently.

Instructions

Get all posts (stories, comments, etc.) by a specific author

Input Schema

TableJSON Schema

Name	Required	Description
`hitsPerPage`	No	Number of results per page (default: 20)
`page`	No	Page number for pagination (default: 0)
`tags`	No	Filter by type (e.g., "story", "comment")
`username`	Yes	The username of the author

Implementation Reference

src/index.ts:351-366 (handler)

Handler function that constructs a HackerNews API search query using the 'author_USERNAME' tag combined with optional tags filter, paginates if specified, fetches from /search_by_date endpoint using shared fetchHN helper, and returns structured results.

async ({ username, tags, page, hitsPerPage }) => {
  const params = new URLSearchParams();
  const authorTag = `author_${username}`;
  const combinedTags = tags ? `${authorTag},${tags}` : authorTag;
  params.append('tags', combinedTags);
  if (page !== undefined) params.append('page', page.toString());
  if (hitsPerPage !== undefined) params.append('hitsPerPage', hitsPerPage.toString());
  
  const endpoint = `/search_by_date?${params.toString()}`;
  const result = await fetchHN(endpoint);
  
  return {
    content: [{ type: 'text', text: JSON.stringify(result, null, 2) }],
    structuredContent: result
  };
}

src/index.ts:334-349 (schema)

Input schema requires username, optional tags filter, page, hitsPerPage. Output schema defines search result structure with hits array, pagination info.

{
  title: 'Get Posts by Author',
  description: 'Get all posts (stories, comments, etc.) by a specific author',
  inputSchema: {
    username: z.string().describe('The username of the author'),
    tags: z.string().optional().describe('Filter by type (e.g., "story", "comment")'),
    page: z.number().optional().describe('Page number for pagination (default: 0)'),
    hitsPerPage: z.number().optional().describe('Number of results per page (default: 20)')
  },
  outputSchema: {
    hits: z.array(z.any()),
    nbHits: z.number(),
    nbPages: z.number(),
    page: z.number(),
    hitsPerPage: z.number()
  }

src/index.ts:331-367 (registration)

Full registration of the 'get-posts-by-author' tool on the MCP server, including name, metadata, schemas, and handler reference.

// Tool 10: Get posts by author
server.registerTool(
  'get-posts-by-author',
  {
    title: 'Get Posts by Author',
    description: 'Get all posts (stories, comments, etc.) by a specific author',
    inputSchema: {
      username: z.string().describe('The username of the author'),
      tags: z.string().optional().describe('Filter by type (e.g., "story", "comment")'),
      page: z.number().optional().describe('Page number for pagination (default: 0)'),
      hitsPerPage: z.number().optional().describe('Number of results per page (default: 20)')
    },
    outputSchema: {
      hits: z.array(z.any()),
      nbHits: z.number(),
      nbPages: z.number(),
      page: z.number(),
      hitsPerPage: z.number()
    }
  },
  async ({ username, tags, page, hitsPerPage }) => {
    const params = new URLSearchParams();
    const authorTag = `author_${username}`;
    const combinedTags = tags ? `${authorTag},${tags}` : authorTag;
    params.append('tags', combinedTags);
    if (page !== undefined) params.append('page', page.toString());
    if (hitsPerPage !== undefined) params.append('hitsPerPage', hitsPerPage.toString());
    
    const endpoint = `/search_by_date?${params.toString()}`;
    const result = await fetchHN(endpoint);
    
    return {
      content: [{ type: 'text', text: JSON.stringify(result, null, 2) }],
      structuredContent: result
    };
  }
);

src/index.ts:11-17 (helper)

Shared utility function to make HTTP requests to the HackerNews Algolia API, handles errors and JSON parsing, used by the get-posts-by-author handler.

async function fetchHN(endpoint: string): Promise<any> {
  const response = await fetch(`${HN_API_BASE}${endpoint}`);
  if (!response.ok) {
    throw new Error(`HN API error: ${response.status} ${response.statusText}`);
  }
  return await response.json();
}

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