# 📰 Hacker News Intelligence - Tech Trends & Stories (`benthepythondev/hacker-news-intelligence`) Actor

Extract trending tech stories, job postings, startup launches (Show HN), discussions (Ask HN) from Hacker News with AI engagement scoring (0-100). Monitor tech trends, recruit developers, discover startups. Filter by score, comments, time, keywords.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/benthepythondev/hacker-news-intelligence.md
- **Developed by:** [Ben](https://apify.com/benthepythondev) (community)
- **Categories:** AI, Jobs, News
- **Stats:** 28 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $14.40 / 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.
Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have.

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

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
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.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## 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.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## 📰 Hacker News Intelligence — Tech Trends, Startups & Jobs with AI Engagement Scoring

Extract **stories, discussions and job posts from Hacker News** — Top, New, Best,
Ask HN, Show HN and Who's Hiring jobs — as clean, structured data with an **AI
engagement score** on every item. It's the fastest way to turn the front page into
a dataset: spot trending tools before they go mainstream, discover new startup
launches, track what developers are talking about, and source tech talent. Export
to JSON/CSV/Excel, run on a schedule, call via API, or connect to Make, Zapier or n8n.

### 🧠 What is the Hacker News Intelligence Scraper?

It turns any Hacker News feed into a structured, filterable dataset. Pick which
story types to pull (Top, New, Best, Ask, Show, Job), set thresholds for upvotes,
comments, time range or keywords, and it returns every matching story with its
score, comment count, author, timestamp and a 0–100 engagement score that ranks the
hottest discussions first — so trend analysts, investors, recruiters and content
curators see what matters without refreshing the homepage all day. It reads the
official Hacker News API, so the data is fresh and reliable.

#### What data does it extract?

- **Title** and the **story URL** (plus the Hacker News discussion link)
- **Story type** — story, Ask HN, Show HN or job post
- **Score (upvotes)** and **comment count** (`descendants`)
- **Author** and **timestamp** (raw + ISO-formatted)
- **Text/body** for Ask HN, Show HN and job posts
- **Top 5 comments** per story (optional)
- **AI engagement score (0–100)** ranking discussion heat

### ⬇️ Input

Choose which feeds to pull and how to filter them:

| Field | Description |
|-------|-------------|
| `storyTypes` | Any of `top`, `new`, `best`, `ask`, `show`, `job` |
| `maxResults` | Maximum number of stories to return (1–500) |
| `minScore` | Only stories with at least this many upvotes |
| `minComments` | Only stories with at least this many comments |
| `timeRange` | `all`, `24h`, `week`, or `month` |
| `keywords` | Only stories whose title or text contains these terms |
| `includeEngagementScore` | Toggle the 0–100 AI engagement score |
| `fetchComments` | Include the top 5 comments for each story |

#### Example input

```json
{
  "storyTypes": ["top", "show"],
  "maxResults": 100,
  "minScore": 50,
  "minComments": 10,
  "timeRange": "week",
  "keywords": ["AI", "rust", "startup"],
  "includeEngagementScore": true,
  "fetchComments": false
}
```

### ⬆️ Output

Every story is one clean row (view as a **table**, or export **JSON / CSV / Excel**):

```json
{
  "id": 38765432,
  "title": "Show HN: I built an open-source alternative to Notion",
  "url": "https://github.com/example/project",
  "hn_url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38765432",
  "type": "story",
  "by": "janedev",
  "author": "janedev",
  "score": 412,
  "descendants": 168,
  "comment_count": 168,
  "time": 1716800000,
  "time_formatted": "2026-06-26T15:30:00",
  "text": "",
  "kids": [38765500, 38765512, 38765540],
  "dead": false,
  "deleted": false,
  "engagement_score": 88
}
```

### 💡 Use cases

- **📈 Tech trend monitoring:** track what's climbing the front page — filter by keywords like `AI` or `rust` and sort by engagement to catch tools before they go mainstream.
- **🚀 Startup & investor discovery:** pull Show HN launches and high-engagement stories to find new products and founders early for sourcing or competitive intelligence.
- **🧑‍💻 Developer recruiting:** scrape the `job` feed and Who's Hiring threads to surface hiring companies and roles, then build a targeted outreach list.
- **📨 Content curation & newsletters:** grab the day's or week's highest-scoring stories with one run and feed them straight into a tech newsletter or dashboard.

### 🧮 How the engagement score works

A transparent 0–100 score combining **score/upvotes** (up to 40 points, with 500+
counting as viral), **comment count** (up to 30 points), **recency** (up to 20
points — fresher stories rank higher) and **story type** (jobs and stories weighted
highest). Use it to sort feeds and surface the discussions with the most momentum
right now.

### ❓ FAQ

**How do I scrape Hacker News stories?** Choose your `storyTypes` (e.g. `top` and
`show`), set optional filters for score, comments, time range or keywords, then Run.
You get structured stories with score, comments, author, timestamp and an engagement
score.

**Can I get Show HN and Ask HN posts?** Yes — add `show` and/or `ask` to
`storyTypes`. The body text of those posts is included in the `text` field.

**Can I find tech jobs and Who's Hiring posts?** Yes — add `job` to `storyTypes` to
pull the Hacker News jobs feed, ideal for recruiting and sourcing.

**Can I filter by keyword or topic?** Yes — pass `keywords` (e.g. `["AI", "rust"]`)
and only stories whose title or text contains one of them are returned.

**Can I get the comments too?** Yes — enable `fetchComments` to include the top 5
comments (author, text, timestamp) for each story.

**How do I get only the trending stories?** Set a `minScore` and/or `minComments`
threshold, choose a `timeRange` like `24h` or `week`, and sort the output by
`engagement_score`.

**Do I need an API key?** No. It reads the public Hacker News (Firebase) API — no
key, token or login required.

**Can I run it on a schedule or via API?** Yes — schedule recurring runs in Apify,
call it via the API/SDK, or connect it to Make, Zapier or n8n to push fresh stories
into your stack automatically.

**Is scraping Hacker News legal?** It reads publicly available data from the
official Hacker News API. Use it responsibly for research and monitoring, and follow
applicable laws and Y Combinator's terms.

### 🔗 You might also like

- **[Dev.to Articles Intelligence](https://apify.com/benthepythondev/devto-articles-intelligence)** — trending developer articles
- **[GitHub Repository Intelligence](https://apify.com/benthepythondev/github-repository-intelligence)** — trending repos and project data

***

**Keywords:** Hacker News scraper, Hacker News API, tech news scraper, Show HN, Ask HN, Who's Hiring, startup discovery, tech trends monitoring, developer recruiting, YC startups, trending tools, engagement score, content curation, tech newsletter, competitive intelligence, HN stories, upvotes and comments data.

# Actor input Schema

## `storyTypes` (type: `array`):

Types of stories to scrape from Hacker News

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

Maximum number of stories to return

## `minScore` (type: `integer`):

Filter stories with score (upvotes) greater than or equal to this value

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

Filter stories with comment count greater than or equal to this value

## `timeRange` (type: `string`):

Filter stories by time range

## `keywords` (type: `array`):

Filter stories containing these keywords in title or text (optional)

## `includeEngagementScore` (type: `boolean`):

Calculate and include AI-powered engagement score (0-100) based on score, comments, recency, and type

## `fetchComments` (type: `boolean`):

Include top 5 comments for each story (increases runtime)

## `storyIds` (type: `array`):

Fetch specific public HN items instead of a story feed. Use this for monthly Who is hiring threads.

## `maxCommentsPerStory` (type: `integer`):

Maximum top-level comments to fetch when fetchComments is enabled. Deleted and dead comments are omitted.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "storyTypes": [
    "top"
  ],
  "maxResults": 100,
  "minScore": 0,
  "minComments": 0,
  "timeRange": "all",
  "includeEngagementScore": true,
  "fetchComments": false,
  "maxCommentsPerStory": 5
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

No description

# 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("benthepythondev/hacker-news-intelligence").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("benthepythondev/hacker-news-intelligence").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).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 benthepythondev/hacker-news-intelligence --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,benthepythondev/hacker-news-intelligence"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/NmSxLlhaYNdpiiKAT/builds/nYMZNlz3pD7T5RTsY/openapi.json