MCP Claude Hacker News

What is MCP Claude Hacker News about?

Provides Claude Desktop with five specialized tools that fetch the latest, top, and best stories from Hacker News, retrieve individual story details, and obtain comments. The integration formats the retrieved content for easy consumption within Claude.

How to use MCP Claude Hacker News?

Install Node.js ≥ 16, clone the repository, run npm install and npm run build.
Start the MCP server either manually with node build/index.js or by adding an auto‑start entry to claude_desktop_config.json (the mcpServers section) so Claude launches the server on demand.
Interact in Claude using natural‑language prompts or explicit tool calls such as hn_latest, hn_top, hn_best, hn_story, and hn_comments.

Key Features

Retrieve the most recent, top‑ranked, or best‑rated Hacker News stories (configurable limit 1‑50).
Get detailed metadata for a specific story by ID.
Pull comments for a story via ID or list index.
Clean, readable formatting of titles, URLs, scores, and comment bodies.
Supports multilingual output through Claude’s translation capabilities.

Use Cases

Quickly scan trending tech news while working with Claude.
Pull story summaries for research briefs or newsletters.
Extract discussion threads for sentiment analysis or community insights.
Translate Hacker News headlines into other languages for international audiences.
Automate daily digests of top stories within Claude workflows.

FAQ

Q: I see “Server disconnected” in Claude. A: Verify the server is running (node build/index.js). Check the absolute path in claude_desktop_config.json and use double backslashes on Windows. Consider using the auto‑start configuration.

Q: The Hacker News tools are missing in Claude. A: Restart Claude after editing the config file, ensure the MCP server process is active, and review Claude’s logs for communication errors.

Q: How do I know if the server is running? A: On Windows, look for node.exe in Task Manager. On macOS/Linux, run ps aux | grep node.

Q: Can I limit the number of stories returned? A: Yes, each list tool accepts an optional limit parameter (1‑50, default 10).

Q: Do I need an API key? A: No external API key is required; the integration uses the public Hacker News API.

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

Requirements

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

Installation

Installing Manually

Clone or download this repository:

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

Install dependencies:

npm install

Build the project:

npm run build

Running the MCP Server

There are two ways to run the MCP server:

Option 1: Running manually

Open a terminal or command prompt
Navigate to the project directory
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

Restart Claude Desktop after modifying the configuration
In Claude, use the Hacker News tools to interact with Hacker News
The MCP server runs as a child process managed by Claude Desktop

Available Tools

The Hacker News MCP provides 5 specialized tools for different functions:

Tool	Description	Parameters	Example Usage
`hn_latest`	Get the most recent stories from Hacker News	`limit`: Optional number of stories (1-50, default: 10)	Get 20 latest stories
`hn_top`	Get the top-ranked stories from Hacker News	`limit`: Optional number of stories (1-50, default: 10)	Get 15 top stories
`hn_best`	Get the best stories from Hacker News	`limit`: Optional number of stories (1-50, default: 10)	Get 25 best stories
`hn_story`	Get detailed information about a specific story	`story_id`: Required story ID (number)	Get story details by ID
`hn_comments`	Get comments for a story	`story_id`: Story ID (number) OR `story_index`: Index from last list (1-based)	Get comments by story ID or index

Tool Parameters Details

`hn_latest`, `hn_top`, `hn_best`

limit (optional): Number of stories to fetch
- Type: Number
- Range: 1-50
- Default: 10

`hn_story`

story_id (required): The ID of the story to fetch
- Type: Number
- Example: 12345678

`hn_comments`

story_id (optional): The ID of the story to get comments for
- Type: Number
- Example: 12345678
story_index (optional): The index of the story from the last fetched list
- Type: Number (1-based)
- Example: 3 (for the 3rd story in the last list)

Note: For hn_comments, you must provide either story_id OR story_index

Example Usage

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

Direct Tool Usage:

"Use hn_latest to get 20 recent stories"
"Use hn_top with limit 15 to get top stories"
"Use hn_best to get 25 best stories"
"Use hn_story with story_id 29384756 to get story details"
"Use hn_comments with story_index 3 to get comments for the 3rd story"
"Use hn_comments with story_id 12345678 to get comments for that story"

Natural Language Queries:

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

"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"
"Get the comments for story number 5 from the last list"
"Show me the details of story ID 12345678"

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:

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
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
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.

MCP Claude Hacker News