# Hacker News Scraper — Stories & Comments (`ponderable_hydrometer/hackernews-scraper`) Actor

Search Hacker News stories & comments by keyword, author, points or date. Monitor keywords, domains & users. Free Algolia HN API, no key. For research, PR & alerts.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/ponderable\_hydrometer/hackernews-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Ponderable Hydrometer](https://apify.com/ponderable_hydrometer) (community)
- **Categories:** Developer tools, Automation, SEO tools
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $1.50 / 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 — Stories & Comments

**Turn Hacker News search into a schedulable feed — monitor a brand, keyword, domain or user across stories and comments, with the full Algolia filter surface.** Keyless, sortable by relevance or recency, with points/comment thresholds and tag filters.

Perfect for brand and keyword monitoring, PR alerts, market research, and dev-community analysis.

### What you get

Per item (story or comment):

- **Core** — `id`, `type` (`story` / `comment` / `poll` / `job`), `title`, `url`, `author`, `points`, `numComments`
- **Text** — `storyText` (self/Ask HN posts), `commentText` (for comments)
- **Threading** — `parentId`, `storyId`, `tags` (`_tags` from Algolia)
- **Timing** — `createdAt` (ISO), `createdAtTimestamp` (Unix seconds)
- **Direct link** — `hnUrl` to the item on news.ycombinator.com

### Filters & modes

- **Keyword search** — `query` across titles, URLs and text.
- **By author** — pull a user's full history with `author`.
- **By type** — `tags` filter: `story`, `comment`, `poll`, `show_hn`, `ask_hn`, `front_page` (combinable).
- **Thresholds** — `minPoints`, `minComments`, `createdAfter` (Unix timestamp), plus raw `numericFilters` clauses.
- **Sort** — `relevance` (best match) or `date` (newest first).

### Input

| Field | Type | Default | Description |
|-------|------|---------|-------------|
| `query` | string | — | Keywords in titles, URLs and text |
| `tags` | array | — | `story`, `comment`, `poll`, `show_hn`, `ask_hn`, `front_page` |
| `author` | string | — | Only items by this HN username |
| `sortBy` | string | `relevance` | `relevance` or `date` |
| `minPoints` | integer | — | Minimum points |
| `minComments` | integer | — | Minimum comments |
| `createdAfter` | integer | — | Only items at/after this Unix timestamp |
| `numericFilters` | array | — | Raw Algolia numeric clauses, e.g. `["points<500"]` |
| `maxResults` | integer | `100` | Cap on items returned |

Provide at least one of `query`, `author`, `tags`, `minPoints` or `minComments`.

### Example input

```json
{
  "query": "your brand",
  "tags": ["story", "comment"],
  "sortBy": "date",
  "maxResults": 100
}
```

High-signal stories:

```json
{ "query": "AI agents", "tags": ["story"], "minPoints": 100, "maxResults": 50 }
```

### Example output (one story)

```json
{
  "id": "40001234",
  "type": "story",
  "title": "Show HN: I built an open-source alternative to X",
  "url": "https://example.com/project",
  "author": "pg",
  "points": 342,
  "numComments": 118,
  "storyText": null,
  "commentText": null,
  "parentId": null,
  "storyId": null,
  "tags": ["story", "show_hn", "author_pg", "story_40001234"],
  "createdAt": "2026-07-11T14:22:31.000Z",
  "createdAtTimestamp": 1783736551,
  "hnUrl": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40001234"
}
```

### Why this actor

- **Full filter surface** — tags + author + point/comment thresholds + raw numeric filters + relevance/date sort, not a thin one-off.
- **Both stories and comments** — track a conversation, not just headlines.
- **Schedulable feed** — run it hourly to watch a brand, keyword, domain, or a specific user.
- **Keyless & reliable** — public Algolia HN API with retry/backoff.

### Notes

- Data is the public Algolia Hacker News Search API — no key, no anti-bot.
- Not affiliated with or endorsed by Y Combinator or Hacker News.

### Pricing

Pay per result — **$1.50 per 1,000 results**. No subscription or platform fees; you only pay for the results you get.

### Related actors

- **GitHub Search Scraper** — repos, users and issues for dev research.
- **Stack Exchange Scraper** — Q\&A across Stack Overflow and sibling sites.
- **Reddit / social monitoring actors** — pair for broader brand tracking.

# Actor input Schema

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

Keywords to search in titles, URLs and text, e.g. "rust web framework", "openai".

## `tags` (type: `array`):

Restrict item types: story, comment, poll, show\_hn, ask\_hn, front\_page. Combine e.g. \["story","show\_hn"].

## `author` (type: `string`):

Only items by this HN username, e.g. "pg".

## `sortBy` (type: `string`):

"relevance" (best match) or "date" (newest first).

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

Only items with at least this many points.

## `minComments` (type: `integer`):

Only items with at least this many comments.

## `createdAfter` (type: `integer`):

Only items created at/after this Unix timestamp (seconds).

## `numericFilters` (type: `array`):

Raw Algolia numeric filter clauses, e.g. \["points<500"]. Combined with the fields above.

## `maxResults` (type: `integer`):

Cap on number of items returned.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "query": "show hn",
  "sortBy": "relevance",
  "maxResults": 100
}
```

# 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 = {
    "query": "show hn"
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("ponderable_hydrometer/hackernews-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 = { "query": "show hn" }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("ponderable_hydrometer/hackernews-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 '{
  "query": "show hn"
}' |
apify call ponderable_hydrometer/hackernews-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

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

```

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/JnaHNREso3A13Uaei/builds/yibBLIkl6yUylEgCD/openapi.json