Hacker News stories: an MCP database you can query from Claude Code or Cursor
Hacker News stories since 2024: points, comments, hours on the front page and best rank, with Show HN filterable.
What you can ask
- What were the highest-scoring Hacker News stories this week?
- How many times has this domain reached the front page?
- Which recent Show HN tools got the best reception?
These are example phrasings. Once connected, ask in plain language; the agent decides which table to query and how to filter.
Example: a real query and what it returned today
Your agent calls the MCP data tool like this (you never write it yourself — you just ask):
data(lib="hackernews", args="top --days 7 --limit 8")
Highest-scoring stories of the last 7 days, first 8 rows:
| date | points | comments | front_h | title | domain |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-11-05 | 2259 | 562 | 99 | sshole | sshhole.com |
| 2026-11-09 | 904 | 1024 | 38 | Claude Fable 5.2 and Mythos 5.2 | anthropic.com |
| 2026-11-09 | 876 | 524 | 7 | Claude Fable 5.2 and Mythos 5.2 | anthropic.com |
| 2026-11-09 | 825 | 134 | 51 | Fold Epic Paper Airplanes | foldableflight.com |
| 2026-11-06 | 810 | 1649 | 53 | Tesla to wind down Cybertruck production | nbcnews.com |
| 2026-11-07 | 782 | 222 | 54 | Need for Speed Underground 2 online in the browser | nfsu2.xyz |
| 2026-11-09 | 729 | 469 | 37 | Is Opus 5.5 nerfed? Thinking patterns changed on November 3 | twitter.com |
| 2026-11-08 | 689 | 424 | 39 | Goodbye Claude, hello Pi | caleb.software |
How fresh the data is
This is today’s output of coverage (row counts and date ranges per table):
| what | n | from_ | to_ | days | show_hn |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| story 只在首页快照里 | 208 | 2026-10-31 | 2026-11-11 | 11 | 8 |
| story | 235696 | 2024-01-01 | 2026-11-10 | 1045 | 89227 |
| front_snap(小时) | 263 | 2026-10-31 16:04:58+00 | 2026-11-11 15:17:01+00 | 12 | 1584 |
| story_obs | 263696 | 2026-10-31 16:04:55+00 | 2026-11-11 15:17:01+00 | 12 |
Limits: what this data cannot tell you
The HN audience skews developer; popularity here does not mean mainstream users will pay.
It is a remote MCP server: sign in with Google, paste one prompt and your agent configures itself, then ask in plain language inside your project. Free during beta: 200 queries a day, up to 50 rows each.
Install the skillOr just ask on the web →FAQ
How do I query it from Claude Code, Cursor or Codex?
It is one library inside the Stringers remote MCP server. Sign in with Google at stringers.io/en/start.html to get a personal URL, paste the prompt to your agent and it configures itself; then just ask — the agent calls the data tool with lib "hackernews".
Is it free?
Free during beta: 200 queries per account per day, up to 50 rows per query.
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