Hacker News MCP integration for AI agents.
Connect AI agents to Hacker News through 14 structured actions, including get ask stories, get best stories, and get item. Review authentication, inputs, wor…
- ACTION CONTRACTS
- 14
- AUTHENTICATION
- No account authorization
- SOURCE STATUS
- Provider-backed
CATALOG SOURCE REVIEWED AUGUST 23, 2026 / ACTION NAMES AND SCHEMAS DERIVED FROM WORKING MACHINES PROVIDER SOURCE
CAPABILITY PROFILE
What the Hacker News integration exposes
The Hacker News Agent App exposes 14 provider-backed actions for social work. Its current contract lets an authorized agent get the latest ask hn story ids from hacker news, get the best story ids from hacker news ranked by score, and get a hacker news item by its numeric id. These operations are called through Working Machines as typed capabilities rather than through browser navigation or copied UI steps.
A connection uses No account authorization. Before execution, the agent can inspect the selected action, its required fields, declared scopes, and expected output contract. Provider credentials remain inside the Working Machines runtime; the calling agent receives the capability and its structured result, not the underlying secret.
For reliable operation, start with the narrowest action that satisfies the task, resolve stable provider identifiers before changing state, and validate the returned object or status after execution. Availability still depends on the connected Hacker News account, granted provider permissions, workspace policy, region, plan, and upstream API behavior.
VERIFIED ACTION SAMPLE
Real Hacker News capabilities.
Showing 12 of 14 actions. Risk labels are conservative signals based on operation names, not substitutes for provider documentation or runtime policy.
get_ask_storiesREADGet the latest Ask HN story IDs from Hacker News.
INPUTS: print
get_best_storiesREADGet the best story IDs from Hacker News ranked by score.
INPUTS: print
get_itemREADGet a Hacker News item by its numeric ID.
INPUTS: id / print
get_item_with_idREADGet a Hacker News item with a bounded nested comment tree.
INPUTS: item_id / max_depth / max_children / truncate_text
get_job_storiesREADGet the latest job story IDs from Hacker News.
INPUTS: print
get_latest_postsREADGet the latest Hacker News posts via Algolia search_by_date.
INPUTS: page / size / tags
get_max_item_idREADGet the current largest Hacker News item ID.
INPUTS: print
get_new_storiesREADGet the newest story IDs from Hacker News.
INPUTS: print
get_show_storiesREADGet the latest Show HN story IDs from Hacker News.
INPUTS: print
get_top_storiesREADGet the top story IDs from Hacker News sorted by front page position.
INPUTS: print
get_updatesREADGet recently changed items and user profiles from Hacker News.
INPUTS: print
get_userREADGet a Hacker News user's public profile summary by username.
INPUTS: username / print
INPUT CONTRACTS
Know what the action needs before it runs.
get_ask_stories
printOPTIONAL- The pretty-print flag for Firebase responses.
get_best_stories
printOPTIONAL- The pretty-print flag for Firebase responses.
get_item
idREQUIREDprintOPTIONAL
get_item_with_id
item_idREQUIREDmax_depthREQUIRED- The maximum depth of the nested comment tree.
max_childrenREQUIRED- The maximum number of children per node.
truncate_textREQUIRED- Whether to truncate long text content.
PROVIDER-SPECIFIC WORKFLOWS
Jobs this Agent App can support
Inspect Get Ask Stories
Get the latest Ask HN story IDs from Hacker News. Use this as a bounded discovery step, retain the returned identifier, and avoid expanding the read beyond the task's stated scope.
get_ask_storiesVerify with Get Best Stories
Get the best story IDs from Hacker News ranked by score. Compare the returned provider state with the intended outcome and preserve stable IDs or canonical links in the run record.
get_best_storiesSAFETY BOUNDARY
Operate Hacker News with explicit limits
- Authorize Hacker News with No account authorization and grant only the provider access required by the selected actions.
- The current action names appear read-oriented, but returned Hacker News data may still be sensitive and should be minimized before it enters model context.
- Do not infer permission from catalog visibility. Workspace policy, connection identity, and upstream authorization still govern execution.
- No provider scope string is declared on the sampled actions. Verify the connected account's actual permissions in Hacker News rather than assuming unrestricted access.
- After a call, inspect the structured result and execution record before reporting that the Hacker News task completed successfully.
CONNECTION MODEL
No account authorization
Hacker News uses No account authorization. Connection requirements and availability are determined by the provider and the Working Machines deployment.
Working Machines stores provider credentials behind the execution boundary. An agent can use an authorized connection identity, but catalog discovery alone does not reveal OAuth tokens, API keys, or provider secrets.
- READ SIGNALS
- 14
- WRITE SIGNALS
- 0
- HIGH IMPACT
- 0
- REVIEW SIGNALS
- 0
EVIDENCE AND AVAILABILITY
Provider reference
Action names, input fields, authentication types, and counts on this page are generated from the Working Machines provider catalog. Provider behavior, quotas, object semantics, account eligibility, and regional availability remain governed by Hacker News.