# Get the Hacker News top stories

**Use case:** 

Reads the top stories list through the official Hacker News API and returns the first 30 in ranked order, with the title, URL, score, comment count and date of each. Swap in other lists, item ids or keyword searches, and turn on comments to get whole comment trees.

## Input

```json
{
  "lists": [
    "top"
  ],
  "maxItemsPerList": 30,
  "searchTags": "story",
  "searchSort": "relevance",
  "maxResultsPerQuery": 100,
  "includeComments": false,
  "commentDepth": 2,
  "maxCommentsPerItem": 100
}
```

## Output

```json
{
  "recordType": {
    "label": "Record",
    "format": "text"
  },
  "id": {
    "label": "Id",
    "format": "number"
  },
  "title": {
    "label": "Title",
    "format": "text"
  },
  "url": {
    "label": "Link",
    "format": "link"
  },
  "score": {
    "label": "Points",
    "format": "number"
  },
  "commentCount": {
    "label": "Comments",
    "format": "number"
  },
  "createdAt": {
    "label": "Created",
    "format": "date"
  },
  "source": {
    "label": "Source",
    "format": "text"
  },
  "rank": {
    "label": "Rank",
    "format": "number"
  },
  "storyId": {
    "label": "Story id",
    "format": "number"
  },
  "depth": {
    "label": "Depth",
    "format": "number"
  },
  "text": {
    "label": "Text",
    "format": "text"
  },
  "hnUrl": {
    "label": "Hacker News page",
    "format": "link"
  },
  "error": {
    "label": "Error",
    "format": "text"
  }
}
```

## How it works

### 1. Sign up on Apify or log in

The Hacker News Scraper: stories, comments and keyword search Actor is ready to run with the inputs already set for "Get the Hacker News top stories". [Sign up or log in](https://console.apify.com/create-task-from-example/oh4KqPkOahPuwMvid) and you'll land in Apify Console with a copy of this exact task.

### 2. Start the "Get the Hacker News top stories" task

The Hacker News Scraper: stories, comments and keyword search Actor will start running based on the input automatically. You can also change all the input fields, like lists, items per list, and more, to match your specific use case.

### 3. Receive the "Get the Hacker News top stories" output

Monitor the progress in real time. You will be notified as soon as your dataset is complete and ready for review. Each result includes data such as record, id, title, and more.

### 4. Integrate into your workflow

The final output is delivered in JSON, CSV, or Excel format, ready to be plugged into your workflow. You can also [run the "Get the Hacker News top stories" task via API](https://apify.com/examsens.ai/hacker-news-scraper.md).

## About this Actor

This example demonstrates how to use [Hacker News Scraper: stories, comments and keyword search](https://apify.com/examsens.ai/hacker-news-scraper.md) with a specific input configuration. Visit the [Actor detail page](https://apify.com/examsens.ai/hacker-news-scraper.md) to learn more, explore other use cases, and run it yourself.


## How to integrate an Actor?

This Task's input is already configured above. Use it as-is rather than inventing a new one.

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 full API examples (JavaScript, Python, CLI, MCP, OpenAPI), see this Task's Actor page: https://apify.com/examsens.ai/hacker-news-scraper.md

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`).