# Indie Launch Radar — Show HN Early-Traction Scanner (`agency-shift/indie-launch-radar-show-hn-early-traction-scanner`) Actor Scan Hacker News Show HN for early traction signals. Find indie products that just launched, analyze upvotes and comments. Perfect for competitor intelligence and inspiration. - **URL**: https://apify.com/agency-shift/indie-launch-radar-show-hn-early-traction-scanner.md - **Developed by:** [Valdeir Lima](https://apify.com/agency-shift) (community) - **Categories:** Developer tools, AI, News - **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks - **User rating**: No ratings yet ## Pricing Pay per usage This Actor is paid per platform usage. The Actor is free to use, and you only pay for the Apify platform usage, which gets cheaper the higher subscription plan you have. Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-usage ## What's an Apify Actor? Actors are a software tools running on the Apify platform, for all kinds of web data extraction and automation use cases. 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. In JavaScript/TypeScript projects, use official [JavaScript/TypeScript client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js.md): ```bash npm install apify-client ``` In Python projects, use official [Python client library](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python.md): ```bash pip install apify-client ``` In shell scripts, use [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): ````bash # MacOS / Linux curl -fsSL https://apify.com/install-cli.sh | bash # Windows irm https://apify.com/install-cli.ps1 | iex ```bash In AI frameworks, you might use the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/mcp.md). If your project is in a different language, use 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 ## Indie Launch Radar — Show HN Early-Traction Scanner Find early-stage SaaS and indie products **gaining real organic traction** on Hacker News — before they hit everyone's radar. This Actor scans **Show HN** launches and ranks them by a **traction score** that rewards *velocity* (points per hour) and *genuine discussion* (comment-to-point ratio), not just raw vote counts. It's built for indie hackers, scouts, and investors who want signal, not noise. ### What it does - Pulls Show HN launches from the last *N* days via the public Hacker News (Algolia) API - Filters out low-signal posts (configurable minimum points & comments) - Optional keyword filter (e.g. `ai`, `b2b`, `developer tools`) - Scores each launch 0–10 on organic traction and sorts best-first No proxy, no login, no API key required. ### Input | Field | Type | Default | Description | |---|---|---|---| | `daysBack` | integer | `7` | How many days of launches to scan (1–30) | | `minPoints` | integer | `20` | Discard launches below this many points | | `minComments` | integer | `3` | Discard launches below this many comments | | `keywords` | array | `[]` | Keep only titles matching a keyword (empty = all) | | `maxResults` | integer | `100` | Cap on launches returned | #### Example input ```json { "daysBack": 7, "minPoints": 30, "minComments": 5, "keywords": ["ai", "saas", "b2b"], "maxResults": 50 } ```` ### Output Each item in the dataset: ```json { "title": "MyTool – open-source X for Y", "url": "https://mytool.com", "points": 142, "numComments": 38, "ageHours": 19.2, "tractionScore": 7.4, "author": "janedoe", "hnUrl": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=00000000", "createdAt": "2026-06-01T10:00:00.000Z" } ``` A `SUMMARY` record is also saved to the key-value store with scan counts and the top launch. ### How the traction score works `tractionScore` (0–10) blends three organic signals: - **Velocity** (40%) — points per hour since posting. The strongest early signal. - **Discussion** (30%) — comments per point. Real engagement, hard to fake. - **Volume** (30%) — log-scaled point floor so tiny posts can't top the list. ### Use cases - Spot indie SaaS launches in their first 24–72h window - Build a weekly "launch radar" newsletter or dashboard - Source deals or competitive intel by keyword/category # Actor input Schema ## `daysBack` (type: `integer`): How many days of Show HN launches to scan (1-30). ## `minPoints` (type: `integer`): Discard launches below this many HN points. ## `minComments` (type: `integer`): Discard launches below this many comments. ## `keywords` (type: `array`): Only keep launches whose title matches at least one keyword (case-insensitive). Leave empty for all. ## `maxResults` (type: `integer`): Cap the number of launches returned. ## Actor input object example ```json { "daysBack": 7, "minPoints": 20, "minComments": 3, "keywords": [], "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 '' with your token const client = new ApifyClient({ token: '', }); // Prepare Actor input const input = {}; // Run the Actor and wait for it to finish const run = await client.actor("agency-shift/indie-launch-radar-show-hn-early-traction-scanner").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 '' with your token. client = ApifyClient("") # Prepare the Actor input run_input = {} # Run the Actor and wait for it to finish run = client.actor("agency-shift/indie-launch-radar-show-hn-early-traction-scanner").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 agency-shift/indie-launch-radar-show-hn-early-traction-scanner --silent --output-dataset ``` ## MCP server setup ```json { "mcpServers": { "apify": { "command": "npx", "args": [ "mcp-remote", "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=agency-shift/indie-launch-radar-show-hn-early-traction-scanner", "--header", "Authorization: Bearer " ] } } } ``` ## OpenAPI specification ```json { "openapi": "3.0.1", "info": { "title": "Indie Launch Radar — Show HN Early-Traction Scanner", "description": "Scan Hacker News Show HN for early traction signals. Find indie products that just launched, analyze upvotes and comments. Perfect for competitor intelligence and inspiration.", "version": "0.0", "x-build-id": "N7z22ySxPDHycP18f" }, "servers": [ { "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2" } ], "paths": { "/acts/agency-shift~indie-launch-radar-show-hn-early-traction-scanner/run-sync-get-dataset-items": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-agency-shift-indie-launch-radar-show-hn-early-traction-scanner", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for its completion, and returns Actor's dataset items in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } }, "/acts/agency-shift~indie-launch-radar-show-hn-early-traction-scanner/runs": { "post": { "operationId": "runs-sync-agency-shift-indie-launch-radar-show-hn-early-traction-scanner", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK", "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema" } } } } } } }, "/acts/agency-shift~indie-launch-radar-show-hn-early-traction-scanner/run-sync": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-agency-shift-indie-launch-radar-show-hn-early-traction-scanner", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } } }, "components": { "schemas": { "inputSchema": { "type": "object", "properties": { "daysBack": { "title": "Days back", "minimum": 1, "maximum": 30, "type": "integer", "description": "How many days of Show HN launches to scan (1-30).", "default": 7 }, "minPoints": { "title": "Minimum points", "minimum": 0, "type": "integer", "description": "Discard launches below this many HN points.", "default": 20 }, "minComments": { "title": "Minimum comments", "minimum": 0, "type": "integer", "description": "Discard launches below this many comments.", "default": 3 }, "keywords": { "title": "Keyword filter (optional)", "type": "array", "description": "Only keep launches whose title matches at least one keyword (case-insensitive). Leave empty for all.", "default": [], "items": { "type": "string" } }, "maxResults": { "title": "Max results", "minimum": 1, "maximum": 1000, "type": "integer", "description": "Cap the number of launches returned.", "default": 100 } } }, "runsResponseSchema": { "type": "object", "properties": { "data": { "type": "object", "properties": { "id": { "type": "string" }, "actId": { "type": "string" }, "userId": { "type": "string" }, "startedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "finishedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "status": { "type": "string", "example": "READY" }, "meta": { "type": "object", "properties": { "origin": { "type": "string", "example": "API" }, "userAgent": { "type": "string" } } }, "stats": { "type": "object", "properties": { "inputBodyLen": { "type": "integer", "example": 2000 }, "rebootCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "restartCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "resurrectCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "computeUnits": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "options": { "type": "object", "properties": { "build": { "type": "string", "example": "latest" }, "timeoutSecs": { "type": "integer", "example": 300 }, "memoryMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 1024 }, "diskMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 2048 } } }, "buildId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultKeyValueStoreId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultDatasetId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultRequestQueueId": { "type": "string" }, "buildNumber": { "type": "string", "example": "1.0.0" }, "containerUrl": { "type": "string" }, "usage": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 1 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "usageTotalUsd": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "usageUsd": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } } } } } } } } } ```