# Hacker News Scraper (`centspy/hackernews-scraper`) Actor Search and scrape Hacker News stories, comments, Show HN and Ask HN via the public API. No proxy, no browser. - **URL**: https://apify.com/centspy/hackernews-scraper.md - **Developed by:** [brandon nadeau](https://apify.com/centspy) (community) - **Categories:** News, Developer tools - **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks - **User rating**: No ratings yet ## Pricing $1.00 / 1,000 item scrapeds 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 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 ## Hacker News Scraper Search and extract **Hacker News** content at scale — stories, comments, Show HN, Ask HN, and polls. Filter by keyword, points, and comment count. Perfect for tech trend monitoring, competitor and brand tracking, lead generation, and content research. This scraper reads the **public Algolia search API** that powers Hacker News search (`hn.algolia.com/api/v1`). That means: - **No proxies needed** — the API is happy to serve datacenter requests, so runs are cheap and reliable. - **No browser** — fast and lightweight. - **No auth, no broken selectors** — it reads a stable, documented JSON API. ### What it does Give it a search query (or just a tag like `front_page`) and it returns matching HN items as clean, structured rows — with points, comment counts, authors, timestamps, and direct links to both the external URL and the HN thread. ### Input | Field | Type | Description | |-------|------|-------------| | `query` | string | Keyword(s) to search. Leave blank to fetch latest/front-page items by tag. | | `tags` | string | Item type: `story`, `comment`, `poll`, `show_hn`, `ask_hn`, or `front_page`. Default `story`. | | `sortByDate` | boolean | On = newest first. Off = relevance/popularity. Default `false`. | | `minPoints` | integer | Only items with at least this many points. `0` = no minimum. | | `minComments` | integer | Only items with at least this many comments. `0` = no minimum. | | `maxResults` | integer | Max items to return. `0` = as many as the API returns. Default `100`. | #### Example input ```json { "query": "open source AI", "tags": "story", "sortByDate": false, "minPoints": 50, "maxResults": 200 } ```` ### Output ```json { "id": "39842011", "type": "story", "title": "Show HN: I built an open-source AI tool", "url": "https://example.com/my-tool", "hnUrl": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39842011", "author": "janedoe", "points": 412, "numComments": 137, "createdAt": "2026-04-02T14:21:00.000Z", "text": null, "storyTitle": null } ``` Export to **CSV, JSON, Excel, or HTML**, or pull via the Apify API. ### Pricing This Actor uses **pay-per-event** pricing — a small charge per item scraped, platform usage included. A run returning 1,000 items costs roughly the per-item price × 1,000. ### Use cases - **Brand & competitor monitoring** — track every HN mention of a product or company. - **Lead generation** — find people discussing a problem your product solves. - **Trend research** — surface the top stories on a topic by points over time. - **Show HN tracking** — monitor new product launches in your space. ### Notes & limitations - Relevance search returns up to roughly 1,000 results per query. To go deeper, narrow with `query`, `minPoints`, or run separate date-windowed searches with `sortByDate` on. - Timestamps are in UTC. # Actor input Schema ## `query` (type: `string`): Keyword(s) to search for. Leave blank to fetch the latest/front-page items by tag. ## `tags` (type: `string`): What to fetch: story, comment, poll, show\_hn, ask\_hn, or front\_page. ## `sortByDate` (type: `boolean`): On = newest first. Off = sort by relevance/popularity. ## `minPoints` (type: `integer`): Only include items with at least this many points. 0 = no minimum. ## `minComments` (type: `integer`): Only include items with at least this many comments. 0 = no minimum. ## `maxResults` (type: `integer`): Maximum number of items to return. 0 = as many as the API will return. ## Actor input object example ```json { "query": "claude anthropic", "tags": "story", "sortByDate": false, "minPoints": 0, "minComments": 0, "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("centspy/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 '' with your token. client = ApifyClient("") # Prepare the Actor input run_input = {} # Run the Actor and wait for it to finish run = client.actor("centspy/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 '{}' | apify call centspy/hackernews-scraper --silent --output-dataset ``` ## MCP server setup ```json { "mcpServers": { "apify": { "command": "npx", "args": [ "mcp-remote", "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=centspy/hackernews-scraper", "--header", "Authorization: Bearer " ] } } } ``` ## OpenAPI specification ```json { "openapi": "3.0.1", "info": { "title": "Hacker News Scraper", "description": "Search and scrape Hacker News stories, comments, Show HN and Ask HN via the public API. No proxy, no browser.", "version": "0.0", "x-build-id": "2rKN7XCfxas591L6X" }, "servers": [ { "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2" } ], "paths": { "/acts/centspy~hackernews-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-centspy-hackernews-scraper", "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": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } }, "/acts/centspy~hackernews-scraper/runs": { "post": { "operationId": "runs-sync-centspy-hackernews-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$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": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema" } } } } } } }, "/acts/centspy~hackernews-scraper/run-sync": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-centspy-hackernews-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$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": { "query": { "title": "Search query", "type": "string", "description": "Keyword(s) to search for. Leave blank to fetch the latest/front-page items by tag.", "default": "" }, "tags": { "title": "Item type", "enum": [ "story", "comment", "poll", "show_hn", "ask_hn", "front_page" ], "type": "string", "description": "What to fetch: story, comment, poll, show_hn, ask_hn, or front_page.", "default": "story" }, "sortByDate": { "title": "Sort by date (newest first)", "type": "boolean", "description": "On = newest first. Off = sort by relevance/popularity.", "default": false }, "minPoints": { "title": "Minimum points", "minimum": 0, "type": "integer", "description": "Only include items with at least this many points. 0 = no minimum.", "default": 0 }, "minComments": { "title": "Minimum comments", "minimum": 0, "type": "integer", "description": "Only include items with at least this many comments. 0 = no minimum.", "default": 0 }, "maxResults": { "title": "Max results", "minimum": 0, "type": "integer", "description": "Maximum number of items to return. 0 = as many as the API will return.", "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 } } } } } } } } } } ```