Hacker News MCP Server

The Hacker News MCP server is a lightweight, opinion‑driven bridge that lets AI assistants retrieve up‑to‑date news content from the Hacker News front page and its various subpages. By scraping and converting the raw HTML into a clean, structured JSON format, the server removes the need for developers to write custom parsers or rely on unofficial APIs. This capability is especially valuable in fast‑moving AI workflows where a model must answer queries about the latest tech trends, funding announcements, or community discussions without manual intervention.

At its core, the server exposes a single tool called . The tool accepts two simple parameters: the story type (, , , , or ) and a numeric limit (1‑30). When invoked, it fetches the corresponding page, parses each story’s title, URL, points, author, timestamp, comment count, and rank, then returns an array of objects. The output is deliberately schema‑friendly so that downstream components—whether a chat UI, a data pipeline, or an analytics dashboard—can consume it without additional transformation. The server’s design prioritizes reliability: it validates input, handles network or parsing failures gracefully, and returns informative error messages that can be surfaced to the user.

For developers building AI‑powered tools, this server unlocks a range of use cases. A news aggregator bot can ask an assistant to “show me the top 5 Hacker News stories” and immediately receive a ready‑to‑display list. A research assistant might query “What are the latest Ask HN posts about AI?” and obtain a curated set of questions for further exploration. In continuous integration or monitoring scenarios, an AI system could automatically surface trending topics on Hacker News and trigger alerts or reports. Because the server is built with TypeScript, the Model Context Protocol SDK, and well‑tested libraries like Axios and Cheerio, it integrates seamlessly into existing MCP‑enabled environments such as the Claude desktop app or VSCode’s Claude extension.

What sets this MCP server apart is its focus on structure and error resilience. Unlike raw HTML scraping, the tool guarantees a consistent JSON schema, making it trivial to map stories into user interfaces or downstream analytics. The ability to limit results and filter by type gives developers precise control over the data volume, which is crucial for latency‑sensitive AI interactions. Moreover, by handling all parsing and validation internally, the server frees developers from repetitive boilerplate code, allowing them to concentrate on higher‑level logic and user experience.