MCP Claude Hacker News

An integration that allows Claude Desktop to interact with Hacker News using the Model Context Protocol (MCP).

Features

• Browse latest stories from Hacker News
• View top and best-rated stories
• Get story details
• Read comments for stories
• Clean formatting of Hacker News content for better readability

Demo

<p> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmPD6MLifJo"> <img src="public/assets/preview.png" width="600" alt="Claude Spotify Integration Demo"> </a> </p>

Requirements

• Node.js 16 or higher
• Claude Desktop
• Internet connection to access Hacker News API

Installation

Installing Manually

1. Clone or download this repository:

git clone https://github.com/imprvhub/mcp-claude-hackernews
cd mcp-claude-hackernews

2. Install dependencies:

npm install

3. Build the project:

npm run build

Running the MCP Server

There are two ways to run the MCP server:

Option 1: Running manually

1. Open a terminal or command prompt
2. Navigate to the project directory
3. Run the server directly:

node build/index.js

Keep this terminal window open while using Claude Desktop. The server will run until you close the terminal.

Option 2: Auto-starting with Claude Desktop (recommended for regular use)

The Claude Desktop can automatically start the MCP server when needed. To set this up:

Configuration

The Claude Desktop configuration file is located at:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
• Linux: ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

Edit this file to add the Hacker News MCP configuration. If the file doesn't exist, create it:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "hackerNews": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["ABSOLUTE_PATH_TO_DIRECTORY/mcp-claude-hackernews/build/index.js"]
    }
  }
}

Important: Replace ABSOLUTE_PATH_TO_DIRECTORY with the complete absolute path where you installed the MCP

• macOS/Linux example: /Users/username/mcp-claude-hackernews
• Windows example: C:\\Users\\username\\mcp-claude-hackernews

If you already have other MCPs configured, simply add the "hackerNews" section inside the "mcpServers" object. Here's an example of a configuration with multiple MCPs:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "otherMcp1": {
      "command": "...",
      "args": ["..."]
    },
    "otherMcp2": {
      "command": "...",
      "args": ["..."]
    },
    "hackerNews": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": [
        "ABSOLUTE_PATH_TO_DIRECTORY/mcp-claude-hackernews/build/index.js"
      ]
    }
  }
}

The MCP server will automatically start when Claude Desktop needs it, based on the configuration in your claude_desktop_config.json file.

Usage

1. Restart Claude Desktop after modifying the configuration
2. In Claude, use the hn command to interact with Hacker News
3. The MCP server runs as a child process managed by Claude Desktop

Available Commands

The Hacker News MCP provides a single tool named hn with several commands:

Command	Description	Parameters	Example
latest	Get the most recent stories from Hacker News	param: Optional number of stories (default: 10, max: 50)	hn latest --50
top	Get the top stories from Hacker News	param: Optional number of stories (default: 10, max: 50)	hn top --20
best	Get the best stories from Hacker News	param: Optional number of stories (default: 10, max: 50)	hn best --30
history	Get detailed information about a specific story	param: Required story ID	hn history --12345678
comments	Get comments for a story	param: Required index from last list or story ID	hn comments --3 or hn comments --12345678

Example Usage

Here are various examples of how to use the Hacker News MCP with Claude:

Direct Commands:

hn latest --50
hn top --20
hn best --30
hn history --29384756
hn comments --5

Natural Language Queries:

You can also interact with the MCP using natural language. Claude will interpret these requests and use the appropriate commands:

• "Show me the top 30 stories on Hacker News today"
• "What are the 40 latest posts on Hacker News?"
• "I'd like to see the 20 best articles from Hacker News"
• "Can you fetch me 30 recent tech news stories from Hacker News?"
• "Tell me what's the top 50 trending topics on Hacker News"
• "Show me 20 Hacker News stories about machine learning"
• "Get me the 40 most recent Hacker News headlines"
• "What are the 30 most active discussions on Hacker News right now?"
• "I'm interested in reading the 40 most popular Hacker News articles this week"
• "Show me a list of 20 best programming articles from Hacker News"

Language Translation Requests:

You can request Hacker News content to be translated into different languages:

• "Show me the top 30 stories on Hacker News today in Spanish"
• "Get the 20 latest Hacker News posts and translate them to French"
• "I'd like to see the 40 best articles from Hacker News in German"
• "Show me 30 recent Hacker News stories translated to Japanese"
• "Get the top 20 Hacker News articles and present them in Portuguese"

Troubleshooting

"Server disconnected" error

If you see the error "MCP Hacker News: Server disconnected" in Claude Desktop:

1. Verify the server is running:

   • Open a terminal and manually run node build/index.js from the project directory
   • If the server starts successfully, use Claude while keeping this terminal open

2. Check your configuration:

   • Ensure the absolute path in claude_desktop_config.json is correct for your system
   • Double-check that you've used double backslashes (\\) for Windows paths
   • Verify you're using the complete path from the root of your filesystem

3. Try the auto-start option:

   • Set up the auto-start script for your operating system as described in the "Setting up auto-start scripts" section
   • This ensures the server is always running when you need it

Tools not appearing in Claude

If the Hacker News tools don't appear in Claude:

• Make sure you've restarted Claude Desktop after configuration
• Check the Claude Desktop logs for any MCP communication errors
• Ensure the MCP server process is running (run it manually to confirm)
• Verify that the MCP server is correctly registered in the Claude Desktop MCP registry

Checking if the server is running

To check if the server is running:

• Windows: Open Task Manager, go to the "Details" tab, and look for "node.exe"
• macOS/Linux: Open Terminal and run ps aux | grep node

If you don't see the server running, start it manually or use the auto-start method.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

License

This project is licensed under the Mozilla Public License 2.0 - see the LICENSE file for details.

Related Links

• Model Context Protocol
• Hacker News API
• Claude Desktop