# Hacker News

Hacker News is a tech-focused news aggregator by Y Combinator, featuring user-submitted stories and discussions on startups, programming, and emerging trends

- **Category:** news & lifestyle
- **Auth:** NO_AUTH
- **Composio Managed App Available?** N/A
- **Tools:** 16
- **Triggers:** 0
- **Slug:** `HACKERNEWS`
- **Version:** 20260312_00

## Tools

### Get Ask HN Story IDs

**Slug:** `HACKERNEWS_GET_ASK_STORIES`

Get up to 200 latest Ask HN story IDs from Hacker News. Returns an array of item IDs for Ask HN posts in ranked order.

#### Input Parameters

| Parameter | Type | Required | Description |
|-----------|------|----------|-------------|
| `print` | string ("pretty") | No | Output format for JSON response. |

#### Output

| Parameter | Type | Required | Description |
|-----------|------|----------|-------------|
| `data` | string | Yes | Data from the action execution |
| `error` | string | No | Error if any occurred during the execution of the action |
| `successful` | boolean | Yes | Whether or not the action execution was successful or not |

### Get Best HackerNews Stories

**Slug:** `HACKERNEWS_GET_BEST_STORIES`

Get up to 500 best story IDs from HackerNews ranked by score. Returns story IDs only. Use the returned IDs with get_item_with_id action to fetch full story details.

#### Input Parameters

| Parameter | Type | Required | Description |
|-----------|------|----------|-------------|
| `print` | string ("pretty") | No | Output formatting options for the API response. |

#### Output

| Parameter | Type | Required | Description |
|-----------|------|----------|-------------|
| `data` | string | Yes | Data from the action execution |
| `error` | string | No | Error if any occurred during the execution of the action |
| `successful` | boolean | Yes | Whether or not the action execution was successful or not |

### Get Hacker News Item

**Slug:** `HACKERNEWS_GET_ITEM`

Tool to get a Hacker News item by its unique ID from the Firebase API. Use when you need to retrieve details about a specific story, comment, job, poll, or pollopt.

#### Input Parameters

| Parameter | Type | Required | Description |
|-----------|------|----------|-------------|
| `id` | integer | Yes | The unique integer ID of the item (story, comment, job, poll, or pollopt) to retrieve from Hacker News. |

#### Output

| Parameter | Type | Required | Description |
|-----------|------|----------|-------------|
| `data` | string | Yes | Data from the action execution |
| `error` | string | No | Error if any occurred during the execution of the action |
| `successful` | boolean | Yes | Whether or not the action execution was successful or not |

### Get Hackernews Item

**Slug:** `HACKERNEWS_GET_ITEM_WITH_ID`

Get a specific item from Hacker News using its ID. Limits response size to prevent context overflow.

#### Input Parameters

| Parameter | Type | Required | Description |
|-----------|------|----------|-------------|
| `item_id` | string | Yes | The unique numeric ID of the Hacker News item (story, comment, job, poll, or pollopt). Can be obtained from other HN API endpoints like search or front page. |
| `max_depth` | integer | No | Maximum depth of nested comment replies to include. 0 means no children, 1 means direct replies only, 2 means replies to replies, etc. Default is 2. |
| `max_children` | integer | No | Maximum number of direct child comments to include in the response. Higher values return more comments but increase response size. Default is 10. |
| `truncate_text` | boolean | No | Whether to truncate long text content (comments, story text) to 500 characters. Set to False to get full text. Default is True to prevent context overflow. |

#### Output

| Parameter | Type | Required | Description |
|-----------|------|----------|-------------|
| `data` | string | Yes | Data from the action execution |
| `error` | string | No | Error if any occurred during the execution of the action |
| `successful` | boolean | Yes | Whether or not the action execution was successful or not |

### Get Job Story IDs

**Slug:** `HACKERNEWS_GET_JOB_STORIES`

Get up to 200 latest job story IDs from Hacker News. Returns an array of item IDs for job postings that can be used to fetch full job details.

#### Input Parameters

| Parameter | Type | Required | Description |
|-----------|------|----------|-------------|
| `print_format` | string | No | Set to 'pretty' for formatted JSON output. If not specified, returns compact JSON. |

#### Output

| Parameter | Type | Required | Description |
|-----------|------|----------|-------------|
| `data` | string | Yes | Data from the action execution |
| `error` | string | No | Error if any occurred during the execution of the action |
| `successful` | boolean | Yes | Whether or not the action execution was successful or not |

### Get Latest Hackernews Posts

**Slug:** `HACKERNEWS_GET_LATEST_POSTS`

Get the latest posts from Hacker News based on optional filters. Results can be limited using the size parameter.

#### Input Parameters

| Parameter | Type | Required | Description |
|-----------|------|----------|-------------|
| `page` | integer | No | Page number for pagination (0-indexed). Default is 0. |
| `size` | integer | No | Maximum number of results to return. Default is 5. Set to 0 or None to return all results from the page (up to 20 per page). |
| `tags` | array | No | Tags to filter posts. Multiple tags are ANDed. Available tags: story, comment, poll, pollopt, show_hn, ask_hn, front_page, author_<USERNAME>, story_<ID>. Example: ['story'] for stories only, ['comment', 'story_12345'] for comments on story 12345. |

#### Output

| Parameter | Type | Required | Description |
|-----------|------|----------|-------------|
| `data` | string | Yes | Data from the action execution |
| `error` | string | No | Error if any occurred during the execution of the action |
| `successful` | boolean | Yes | Whether or not the action execution was successful or not |

### Get Max Item ID

**Slug:** `HACKERNEWS_GET_MAX_ITEM_ID`

Tool to get the current largest item ID from Hacker News. Use when you need to discover the most recent items or iterate through all items in the system by walking backward from this ID.

#### Input Parameters

| Parameter | Type | Required | Description |
|-----------|------|----------|-------------|
| `print` | string | No | Set to 'pretty' for formatted JSON output. Leave unset for compact JSON. |

#### Output

| Parameter | Type | Required | Description |
|-----------|------|----------|-------------|
| `data` | string | Yes | Data from the action execution |
| `error` | string | No | Error if any occurred during the execution of the action |
| `successful` | boolean | Yes | Whether or not the action execution was successful or not |

### Get New Hacker News Stories

**Slug:** `HACKERNEWS_GET_NEW_STORIES`

Get up to 500 newest story IDs from Hacker News. Returns an array of item IDs sorted by recency (most recent first). Use these IDs with the Get Item action to retrieve full story details.

#### Input Parameters

| Parameter | Type | Required | Description |
|-----------|------|----------|-------------|
| `print_format` | string | No | Set to 'pretty' for formatted JSON output. Leave empty for compact JSON. |

#### Output

| Parameter | Type | Required | Description |
|-----------|------|----------|-------------|
| `data` | string | Yes | Data from the action execution |
| `error` | string | No | Error if any occurred during the execution of the action |
| `successful` | boolean | Yes | Whether or not the action execution was successful or not |

### Get Show HN Stories

**Slug:** `HACKERNEWS_GET_SHOW_STORIES`

Tool to retrieve up to 200 latest Show HN story IDs from Hacker News. Use when you need to find recent Show HN posts where people share their projects, products, or creations.

#### Input Parameters

| Parameter | Type | Required | Description |
|-----------|------|----------|-------------|
| `print_format` | string | No | Set to 'pretty' for formatted JSON output. Leave empty for compact JSON. |

#### Output

| Parameter | Type | Required | Description |
|-----------|------|----------|-------------|
| `data` | string | Yes | Data from the action execution |
| `error` | string | No | Error if any occurred during the execution of the action |
| `successful` | boolean | Yes | Whether or not the action execution was successful or not |

### Get Top HackerNews Stories

**Slug:** `HACKERNEWS_GET_TOP_STORIES`

Get up to 500 top story IDs from HackerNews including jobs. Returns story IDs sorted by front page position. Use the returned IDs with get_item_with_id action to fetch full story details.

#### Input Parameters

| Parameter | Type | Required | Description |
|-----------|------|----------|-------------|
| `print` | string ("pretty") | No | Output formatting options for the API response. |

#### Output

| Parameter | Type | Required | Description |
|-----------|------|----------|-------------|
| `data` | string | Yes | Data from the action execution |
| `error` | string | No | Error if any occurred during the execution of the action |
| `successful` | boolean | Yes | Whether or not the action execution was successful or not |

### Get Hacker News Updates

**Slug:** `HACKERNEWS_GET_UPDATES`

Get recently changed items and user profiles from Hacker News. Use this to monitor recent activity or updates on the platform.

#### Input Parameters

| Parameter | Type | Required | Description |
|-----------|------|----------|-------------|
| `print` | string | No | Set to 'pretty' for formatted JSON output. Leave unset for compact output. |

#### Output

| Parameter | Type | Required | Description |
|-----------|------|----------|-------------|
| `data` | string | Yes | Data from the action execution |
| `error` | string | No | Error if any occurred during the execution of the action |
| `successful` | boolean | Yes | Whether or not the action execution was successful or not |

### Get Hacker News User

**Slug:** `HACKERNEWS_GET_USER`

Retrieve a Hacker News user's public profile by their username. Returns the user's username, karma score, and optional bio/about text. Use this to look up information about HN community members.

#### Input Parameters

| Parameter | Type | Required | Description |
|-----------|------|----------|-------------|
| `username` | string | Yes | The case-sensitive username of the Hacker News user to retrieve (e.g., 'pg', 'dang'). |

#### Output

| Parameter | Type | Required | Description |
|-----------|------|----------|-------------|
| `data` | string | Yes | Data from the action execution |
| `error` | string | No | Error if any occurred during the execution of the action |
| `successful` | boolean | Yes | Whether or not the action execution was successful or not |

### Get HackerNews User by Username

**Slug:** `HACKERNEWS_GET_USER_BY_USERNAME`

Tool to get a user profile by their case-sensitive username from the HackerNews Firebase API. Use when you need detailed user information including creation date, karma, bio, and submission history. Only users with public activity are available.

#### Input Parameters

| Parameter | Type | Required | Description |
|-----------|------|----------|-------------|
| `username` | string | Yes | The case-sensitive username of the Hacker News user to retrieve. Only users with public activity (comments or story submissions) are available. |

#### Output

| Parameter | Type | Required | Description |
|-----------|------|----------|-------------|
| `data` | string | Yes | Data from the action execution |
| `error` | string | No | Error if any occurred during the execution of the action |
| `successful` | boolean | Yes | Whether or not the action execution was successful or not |

### Search Hackernews Posts

**Slug:** `HACKERNEWS_SEARCH_POSTS`

Search Hacker News posts using full-text search powered by Algolia. Use this action to find stories, comments, and discussions on Hacker News matching specific keywords. Supports filtering by post type (story, comment, show_hn, ask_hn) and by author.

#### Input Parameters

| Parameter | Type | Required | Description |
|-----------|------|----------|-------------|
| `page` | integer | No | Page number for pagination (0-indexed). |
| `size` | integer | No | Maximum number of results to return. Default is 5. Set to None or 0 to return all results from the page (up to 20). |
| `tags` | array | No | Filter by tag type. Use comma-separated tags for AND logic. Available tags: story, comment, poll, pollopt, show_hn, ask_hn, front_page, author_<USERNAME> (e.g., author_pg), story_<ID> (e.g., story_123456). |
| `query` | string | Yes | Full-text search query. Supports AND, OR, NOT operators. |

#### Output

| Parameter | Type | Required | Description |
|-----------|------|----------|-------------|
| `data` | string | Yes | Data from the action execution |
| `error` | string | No | Error if any occurred during the execution of the action |
| `successful` | boolean | Yes | Whether or not the action execution was successful or not |