hacker-news-scraper
Search Hacker News stories and comments using the free Algolia API. No Apify token needed. Use when you need to find HN discussions, track mentions, discover Show HN launches, or monitor tech community sentiment.
Best use case
hacker-news-scraper is best used when you need a repeatable AI agent workflow instead of a one-off prompt.
Search Hacker News stories and comments using the free Algolia API. No Apify token needed. Use when you need to find HN discussions, track mentions, discover Show HN launches, or monitor tech community sentiment.
Teams using hacker-news-scraper should expect a more consistent output, faster repeated execution, less prompt rewriting.
When to use this skill
- You want a reusable workflow that can be run more than once with consistent structure.
When not to use this skill
- You only need a quick one-off answer and do not need a reusable workflow.
- You cannot install or maintain the underlying files, dependencies, or repository context.
Installation
Claude Code / Cursor / Codex
Manual Installation
- Download SKILL.md from GitHub
- Place it in
.claude/skills/hacker-news-scraper/SKILL.mdinside your project - Restart your AI agent — it will auto-discover the skill
How hacker-news-scraper Compares
| Feature / Agent | hacker-news-scraper | Standard Approach |
|---|---|---|
| Platform Support | Not specified | Limited / Varies |
| Context Awareness | High | Baseline |
| Installation Complexity | Unknown | N/A |
Frequently Asked Questions
What does this skill do?
Search Hacker News stories and comments using the free Algolia API. No Apify token needed. Use when you need to find HN discussions, track mentions, discover Show HN launches, or monitor tech community sentiment.
Where can I find the source code?
You can find the source code on GitHub using the link provided at the top of the page.
SKILL.md Source
# Hacker News Scraper
Search Hacker News using the free [Algolia HN Search API](https://hn.algolia.com/api). No Apify token or API key needed.
## Quick Start
Only dependency: `pip install requests`.
```bash
# Stories about AI content marketing in last week
python3 skills/hacker-news-scraper/scripts/search_hn.py \
--query "AI content marketing" --days 7
# Show HN posts in last month (summary view)
python3 skills/hacker-news-scraper/scripts/search_hn.py \
--query "" --tags show_hn --days 30 --output summary
# Comments mentioning a specific tool
python3 skills/hacker-news-scraper/scripts/search_hn.py \
--query "LangChain" --tags comment --days 14 --max-results 20
```
## How the Script Works
1. Queries the Algolia HN Search API (`search_by_date` endpoint)
2. Uses `numericFilters=created_at_i>{unix_timestamp}` for server-side date filtering
3. Paginates until max-results reached
4. Normalizes results to a consistent schema
5. Applies optional keyword filtering (client-side)
6. Sorts by points (descending) and outputs JSON or summary
## CLI Reference
| Flag | Default | Description |
|------|---------|-------------|
| `--query` | *required* | Search query |
| `--days` | 7 | How many days back to search |
| `--tags` | story | Item type: `story`, `comment`, `ask_hn`, `show_hn` |
| `--max-results` | 50 | Max results to return |
| `--keywords` | none | Additional filter keywords (comma-separated, OR logic) |
| `--output` | json | Output format: `json` or `summary` |
## Output Format
```json
{
"id": "12345678",
"title": "Show HN: My new tool",
"url": "https://example.com",
"author": "username",
"points": 42,
"num_comments": 15,
"created_at": "2026-02-18T12:00:00.000Z",
"hn_url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12345678",
"text": ""
}
```
## Cost
**Free.** No API key, no rate limits (within reason), no Apify credits.Related Skills
twitter-scraper
Search and scrape Twitter/X posts using Apify. Use when you need to find tweets, track brand mentions, monitor competitors on Twitter, or analyze Twitter discussions. Uses Twitter native search syntax (since:/until:) for reliable date filtering.
review-scraper
Scrape product reviews from G2, Capterra, and Trustpilot using Apify. Single script with platform dispatch. Use when you need to monitor competitor reviews, track product sentiment, or gather customer feedback from review sites.
reddit-scraper
Scrape and search Reddit posts using Apify. Use when you need to find Reddit discussions, track competitor mentions, monitor product feedback, discover pain points, or analyze subreddit content. Supports keyword filtering, time-based searches, and subreddit-specific queries.
newsletter-sponsorship-finder
Find newsletters relevant to a target audience/industry for sponsorship opportunities. Discovers newsletters through web search, newsletter directories, and industry research. Returns newsletter name, author, estimated audience, topic focus, sponsorship rates (if available), and contact info.
meta-ad-scraper
Scrape competitor ads from Meta's Ad Library (Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, Threads, WhatsApp). Search by company name, Facebook Page URL, or keyword. Returns ad creatives, spend estimates, reach, impressions, and campaign details. Use for competitive ad research, messaging analysis, and creative inspiration.
blog-scraper
Scrape blog posts via RSS feeds (free, no API key) with Apify fallback for JS-heavy sites. Use when you need to monitor competitor blogs, track industry content, or aggregate blog posts by keyword.
sponsored-newsletter-finder
Discover newsletters in a target niche relevant to your ICP, evaluate audience fit, estimate reach and CPM, and output a ranked shortlist of sponsorship opportunities. Uses web search to find newsletters, then scores each against ICP alignment criteria. Use when a marketing team wants to reach an existing engaged audience for less than the cost of building their own, or when testing a new channel before committing.
newsletter-signal-scanner
Subscribe to and scan industry newsletters for buying signals, competitor mentions, ICP pain-point language, and market shifts. Parses incoming newsletter emails via AgentMail, matches against keyword campaigns, and delivers a weekly digest of actionable signals. Use when a marketing team wants to turn newsletter subscriptions into an ongoing intelligence feed without manual reading.
newsletter-monitor
Scan an AgentMail inbox for newsletter signals using configurable keyword campaigns. Extracts matched keywords, context snippets, and company mentions from incoming emails. Use for monitoring accounting industry newsletters for buying signals like acquisitions, migrations, and staffing news.
news-signal-outreach
End-to-end news-triggered signal composite. Takes any piece of news — an article, LinkedIn post, tweet, announcement, event, trend, regulation, product launch, acquisition, layoff, expansion, or any other public event — and evaluates whether the companies or people mentioned are ICP fits. If yes, identifies the connection between the news and your product, finds the right people to contact, and drafts personalized outreach using the news as the hook. Tool-agnostic. Accepts both company-level and person-level news triggers. AUTO-TRIGGER: Load this composite whenever a user shares a URL (LinkedIn post, article, tweet, blog post) or mentions a company/person they "came across", "saw", or "found" from any external source and asks about relevance, fit, ICP match, or whether to reach out. The user does NOT need to explicitly say "outreach" — any signal evaluation request from an external source triggers this.
web-archive-scraper
Search the Wayback Machine for archived versions of websites. Extract cached pages, customer lists, testimonials, and partner directories from sites that have changed or gone offline. Uses the free CDX API — no API key needed.
review-site-scraper
Scrape product reviews from G2, Capterra, and Trustpilot using Apify. Single script with platform dispatch. Use when you need to monitor competitor reviews, track product sentiment, or gather customer feedback from review sites.