How do I install the Hackernews skill?

Run npx skillmds@latest add modbender/hackernews in your terminal (requires Node.js), paste this page's agent-chat prompt into Claude, Cursor, or any MCP-connected agent, or download the SKILL.md file and copy it into your agent's skills directory.

Is Hackernews safe to use?

This skill has not completed SkillMD's automated safety review yet. Independent scanners report: SkillSpector: PASS, Skill Scanner: PASS. Capability flags: executes scripts. SkillMD never runs a skill's scripts for you; review the SKILL.md before installing.

Which AI agents work with Hackernews?

This skill is tagged as working with Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex. SKILL.md is an open format, so most agents that read a skills directory can load it too.

Is Hackernews free to use?

Yes. Installing skills from SkillMD is free, and the skill stays under its author's original license.

Who published Hackernews?

modbender (@modbender) published this skill. Their other Agent Skills are listed on their SkillMD profile.

Hackernews by modbender — Agent Skill

Name: Hackernews
Rating: 4.666666666666667 (3 reviews)
Author: modbender

Hackernews

Browse and search Hacker News. Fetch top, new, best, Ask HN, Show HN stories and job postings. View item details, comments, and user profiles. Search stories and comments via Algolia. Find "Who is hiring?" threads. Use for any HN-related queries like "what's trending on HN?", "search HN for AI", "show comments on story X", "who is hiring?", "latest Ask HN posts".

modbender Updated Sep 9, 2026 12 repo stars

File contents

Hacker News

CLI tool for the Hacker News API. No authentication required.

CLI Usage

Run scripts/hn.sh <command>. All commands support --json for raw JSON output.

Browse Stories

# Top/trending stories (default 10)
scripts/hn.sh top
scripts/hn.sh top --limit 20

# Other lists
scripts/hn.sh new --limit 5     # newest
scripts/hn.sh best --limit 10   # highest rated
scripts/hn.sh ask                # Ask HN
scripts/hn.sh show               # Show HN
scripts/hn.sh jobs               # job postings

View Item Details & Comments

# Full item details (story, comment, job, poll)
scripts/hn.sh item 12345678

# Top comments on a story
scripts/hn.sh comments 12345678
scripts/hn.sh comments 12345678 --limit 10 --depth 2

User Profiles

scripts/hn.sh user dang

Search

# Basic search
scripts/hn.sh search "rust programming"

# With filters
scripts/hn.sh search "LLM" --type story --sort date --period week --limit 5
scripts/hn.sh search "hiring remote" --type comment --period month

Who is Hiring

# Latest "Who is hiring?" job postings
scripts/hn.sh whoishiring
scripts/hn.sh whoishiring --limit 20

Common Workflows

User asks	Command
"What's trending on HN?"	`scripts/hn.sh top`
"Latest Ask HN posts"	`scripts/hn.sh ask`
"Search HN for X"	`scripts/hn.sh search "X"`
"Show me comments on story Y"	`scripts/hn.sh comments Y`
"Who is hiring?"	`scripts/hn.sh whoishiring`
"Tell me about HN user Z"	`scripts/hn.sh user Z`

Notes

Story lists use parallel fetching for speed
HTML in comments/bios is auto-converted to plain text
Timestamps shown as relative time ("2h ago", "3d ago")
For API details, see references/api.md

---name: hackernewsdescription: Browse and search Hacker News. Fetch top, new, best, Ask HN, Show HN stories and job postings. View item details, comments, and user profiles. Search stories and comments via Algolia. Find "Who is hiring?" threads. Use for any HN-related queries like "what's trending on HN?", "search HN for AI", "show comments on story X", "who is hiring?", "latest Ask HN posts".--- # Hacker News CLI tool for the Hacker News API. No authentication required. ## CLI Usage Run `scripts/hn.sh <command>`. All commands support `--json` for raw JSON output. ### Browse Stories ```bash # Top/trending stories (default 10) scripts/hn.sh top scripts/hn.sh top --limit 20 # Other lists scripts/hn.sh new --limit 5 # newest scripts/hn.sh best --limit 10 # highest rated scripts/hn.sh ask # Ask HN scripts/hn.sh show # Show HN scripts/hn.sh jobs # job postings ``` ### View Item Details & Comments ```bash # Full item details (story, comment, job, poll) scripts/hn.sh item 12345678 # Top comments on a story scripts/hn.sh comments 12345678 scripts/hn.sh comments 12345678 --limit 10 --depth 2 ``` ### User Profiles ```bash scripts/hn.sh user dang ``` ### Search ```bash # Basic search scripts/hn.sh search "rust programming" # With filters scripts/hn.sh search "LLM" --type story --sort date --period week --limit 5 scripts/hn.sh search "hiring remote" --type comment --period month ``` ### Who is Hiring ```bash # Latest "Who is hiring?" job postings scripts/hn.sh whoishiring scripts/hn.sh whoishiring --limit 20 ``` ## Common Workflows | User asks | Command | |---|---| | "What's trending on HN?" | `scripts/hn.sh top` | | "Latest Ask HN posts" | `scripts/hn.sh ask` | | "Search HN for X" | `scripts/hn.sh search "X"` | | "Show me comments on story Y" | `scripts/hn.sh comments Y` | | "Who is hiring?" | `scripts/hn.sh whoishiring` | | "Tell me about HN user Z" | `scripts/hn.sh user Z` | ## Notes - Story lists use parallel fetching for speed - HTML in comments/bios is auto-converted to plain text - Timestamps shown as relative time ("2h ago", "3d ago") - For API details, see [references/api.md](references/api.md)

Frequently asked questions