Get Posts by Author

Instructions

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();
  }