Hacker News MCP Server

A read-only MCP (Model Context Protocol) server for Hacker News. Enables Claude Desktop, Claude Code, and other MCP clients to browse stories, read comments, search posts, and view user profiles. No authentication required.

Features

• Story Listings: Browse top, new, best, ask, show, and job stories
• Comments: View full comment threads with nesting
• Search: Full-text search via Algolia
• User Profiles: View user info and submission history

Installation

Prerequisites

• Node.js >= 18.0.0

From Source

1. Clone this repository
2. Install dependencies:

   npm install
   

3. Build the project:

   npm run build
   

Configuration

Environment Variables

Variable	Required	Default	Description
HN_USERNAME	No	—	Optional HN username for context
HN_API_BASE_URL	No	https://hacker-news.firebaseio.com/v0	Firebase API endpoint
HN_ALGOLIA_BASE_URL	No	https://hn.algolia.com/api/v1	Algolia search endpoint

No credentials needed. All data is publicly accessible.

Usage with Claude Desktop

Add to your claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "hackernews": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/path/to/hackernews-mcp/build/index.js"]
    }
  }
}

Usage with Claude Code

claude mcp add hackernews -- node /path/to/hackernews-mcp/build/index.js

Available Tools

Tool	Description
list_stories	List stories by type (top, new, best, ask, show, job)
get_item	Get a specific item (story, comment, job)
get_comments	Get full comment thread with nesting
search	Full-text search via Algolia
get_user	View a user's profile
get_user_submissions	List a user's posts

Development

• npm run dev — Watch mode with TypeScript compilation
• npm run build — Build the project
• npm start — Start the built server

License

MIT