🗞️ MCP Claude HackerNews [Node.js - HackerNews API - Claude Desktop]

MCP Claude HackerNews is an integration that allows Claude Desktop to interact with Hacker News using the Model Context Protocol (MCP). This integration brings the rich content of Hacker News directly into your conversations with Claude, enabling seamless access to tech news, discussions, and community insights.

Demo

Key Features:

• Comprehensive Content Access: Browse latest, top, and best-rated stories from Hacker News
• Story Details: Get detailed information about specific stories including points, author, and timestamps
• Comment Threading: Read and navigate through comment threads for stories
• Enhanced Formatting: Clean presentation of Hacker News content for better readability
• Natural Language Queries: Interact with Hacker News using conversational language
• Multilingual Support: Request content translation into different languages
• Customizable Result Limits: Control the number of stories returned per query

Technical Overview:

• Node.js Backend: Efficient and scalable server implementation
• Model Context Protocol (MCP): Seamless integration with Claude Desktop
• HackerNews API: Direct access to the official Hacker News API
• WebSocket Communication: Real-time communication between Claude and the MCP server
• Content Formatting: Enhanced parsing and presentation of Hacker News content
• State Management: Tracking of previously fetched stories for contextual commands

Installation Guide:

# Clone repository
git clone https://github.com/mcp-series/mcp-claude-hackernews
cd mcp-claude-hackernews

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Build the project
npm run build

MCP Server Configuration:

Configure the Claude Desktop to integrate with the HackerNews MCP:

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

Available Commands:

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

• hn latest [—N]: Get the most recent stories (optional: number of stories, default: 10, max: 50)
• hn top [—N]: Get the top stories (optional: number of stories)
• hn best [—N]: Get the best stories (optional: number of stories)
• hn history [—ID]: Get detailed information about a specific story
• hn comments [—N/ID]: Get comments for a story (by index from last list or story ID)

Natural Language Support:

The integration understands conversational requests such as:

• “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”
• “Show me 20 Hacker News stories about machine learning”

System Requirements:

• Node.js 16 or higher
• Claude Desktop application

Use Cases:

• Tech News Aggregation: Quickly access the latest tech news and discussions
• Research: Explore trending topics in technology and startups
• Discussion Insights: Follow community conversations on specific stories
• Language Learning: Read tech content in different languages through translation
• Content Summarization: Ask Claude to summarize or analyze Hacker News content
• Personalized News Feed: Filter and focus on specific topics of interest
• Offline Reading: Save interesting articles for later reading

This integration showcases how AI assistants can enrich the news consumption experience by providing conversational access to community-driven content platforms. The combination of Hacker News’s quality content with Claude’s analytical capabilities creates a powerful tool for staying informed about the tech world.

---