Hacker News MCP Server

Installation

1. Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/pskill9/hn-server
cd hn-server

2. Install dependencies:

npm install

3. Build the server:

npm run build

4. Configure the MCP server in your AI assistant's settings.

Configuration

The server needs to be added to your AI assistant's MCP configuration. The exact location depends on your system:

• For Claude desktop app (macOS): ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• For Claude desktop app (Windows): %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
• For VSCode Claude extension: Add to VSCode Settings JSON

Usage

Once configured, you can interact with the Hacker News MCP server using natural language. Examples:

• "Show me the top 5 stories from Hacker News"
• "What are the latest Ask HN posts?"
• "Get me the top Show HN submissions from today"

The server will fetch the requested stories and return them in a structured format with titles, URLs, points, authors, timestamps, and comment counts.

Story Types

The server supports different types of Hacker News stories:

• Top stories (default)
• New stories
• Ask HN posts
• Show HN submissions
• Job listings

Limitations

• The server can return a maximum of 30 stories per request
• The data is fetched in real-time from Hacker News, so results depend on the current state of the site
• Some stories may not have all fields populated (e.g., text posts won't have external URLs)