# Hacker News Scraper (`leftwinglautus/hacker-news-scraper`) Actor

Scrape Hacker News stories and users via the HN Firebase API and Algolia search API. Supports search, top, new, best, and user modes.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/leftwinglautus/hacker-news-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Moeeze Hassan](https://apify.com/leftwinglautus) (community)
- **Categories:** News, Developer tools
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $0.50 / 1,000 results

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

## Hacker News Scraper

Scrape [Hacker News](https://news.ycombinator.com/) stories and users via the HN Firebase API and the Algolia HN search API. The actor supports five modes — `search`, `top`, `new`, `best`, and `user` — and returns structured story records ready for downstream analysis.

### Features

- **Search mode** — keyword search via the Algolia HN search API
- **Top / New / Best modes** — fetch front-page story lists from the Firebase API
- **User mode** — retrieve a user's submitted stories
- Point and story-type filtering applied to all Firebase modes

### Input Fields

| Field | Type | Required | Default | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `mode` | string (enum) | ✅ | `top` | Scraping mode: `search`, `top`, `new`, `best`, or `user`. |
| `query` | string | ❌ | `""` | Search query (for `search` mode) or username (for `user` mode). |
| `numResults` | integer | ❌ | `30` | Maximum number of results to return (1–500). |
| `minPoints` | integer | ❌ | `0` | Only return stories with at least this many points (applied to story modes). |
| `storiesOnly` | boolean | ❌ | `true` | If `true`, only return story items (excludes comments, polls, etc.). Applies to Firebase modes. |

### Output Fields

Each pushed dataset item is a story record with the following fields:

| Field | Type | Description |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `id` | string | HN item ID. |
| `title` | string | Story title. |
| `url` | string | External story URL (empty for text/self posts). |
| `points` | integer | Story score. |
| `author` | string | Username of the submitter. |
| `date` | string | Submission date (ISO-8601). |
| `commentsCount` | integer | Number of comments. |
| `hnUrl` | string | Direct link to the HN thread. |
| `type` | string | Item type (typically `story`). |

### Usage Example

#### Fetch the top 50 stories with at least 100 points

```json
{
    "mode": "top",
    "numResults": 50,
    "minPoints": 100,
    "storiesOnly": true
}
```

#### Search Hacker News for "rust async"

```json
{
    "mode": "search",
    "query": "rust async",
    "numResults": 30
}
```

#### Get stories submitted by a specific user

```json
{
    "mode": "user",
    "query": "pg",
    "numResults": 20
}
```

#### Run via the Apify CLI

```bash
apify run hacker-news-scraper --input '{"mode":"top","numResults":50,"minPoints":100}'
```

### Data Sources

- **Firebase API** (`hacker-news.firebaseio.com`) — used for `top`, `new`, `best`, and `user` modes.
- **Algolia Search API** (`hn.algolia.com`) — used for `search` mode.

# Actor input Schema

## `mode` (type: `string`):

Scraping mode: search (Algolia), top, new, best, or user (Firebase).

## `query` (type: `string`):

Search query (for search mode) or username (for user mode).

## `numResults` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of results to return.

## `minPoints` (type: `integer`):

Filter stories with at least this many points (applied to story modes).

## `storiesOnly` (type: `boolean`):

If true, only return story items (excludes comments, polls, etc.). Applies to Firebase modes.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "mode": "top",
  "query": "",
  "numResults": 30,
  "minPoints": 0,
  "storiesOnly": true
}
```

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("leftwinglautus/hacker-news-scraper").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("leftwinglautus/hacker-news-scraper").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print("💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"])
for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{}' |
apify call leftwinglautus/hacker-news-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "mcp-remote",
                "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=leftwinglautus/hacker-news-scraper",
                "--header",
                "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_API_TOKEN>"
            ]
        }
    }
}

```

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/hOBAII2qqVlxVlntF/builds/wkh9sDUKkgMT81Heg/openapi.json