# HN Show HN Tracker (`flashlan32/hn-show-hn-tracker`) Actor Scrapes Show HN, Ask HN, and Launch HN posts from Hacker News. Filter by date range, score, keywords. Outputs title, URL, author, points, comments, HN link. Powered by the free Algolia HN Search API — no login required. - **URL**: https://apify.com/flashlan32/hn-show-hn-tracker.md - **Developed by:** [Igor K](https://apify.com/flashlan32) (community) - **Categories:** Jobs - **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, NaN 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 ## HN Show HN Tracker Track and scrape **Show HN**, **Ask HN**, and **Launch HN** posts from [Hacker News](https://news.ycombinator.com/) — the most active technical product launch community on the internet. --- ### What Does This Actor Do? Every day, hundreds of founders, engineers, and makers post their projects on Hacker News under "Show HN: ..." — effectively one of the most signal-rich product launch feeds available. This actor lets you: - **Scrape all Show HN posts** within any date range (days, weeks, months, years) - **Filter by minimum score / comments** to focus on breakout hits - **Search by keyword** (e.g., AI, SaaS, open-source, Python) - **Track Ask HN** discussions or **Launch HN** (Y Combinator company launches) - Get clean structured JSON output: title, URL, author, points, comments, HN link Powered by the [Algolia HN Search API](https://hn.algolia.com/api) — free, official, no authentication required. --- ### Use Cases - **Competitive intelligence**: track what new products are being launched in your niche - **Trend research**: identify emerging technologies and tools from community signal - **Lead generation**: find founders launching products (early-stage sales opportunities) - **VC/investor deal flow**: discover early-stage projects before they become known - **Content research**: find high-signal discussions for newsletters or blogs - **Building datasets**: collect historical HN launch data for analysis --- ### Input Parameters | Parameter | Type | Description | Default | |-----------|------|-------------|---------| | `postType` | string | `show_hn`, `ask_hn`, or `launch_hn` | `show_hn` | | `dateFrom` | string | Start date (YYYY-MM-DD). Empty = 7 days ago | `""` | | `dateTo` | string | End date (YYYY-MM-DD). Empty = today | `""` | | `minPoints` | integer | Minimum upvote score (0 = all) | `0` | | `minComments` | integer | Minimum comment count (0 = all) | `0` | | `keywords` | array | Filter titles containing any of these keywords | `[]` | | `maxResults` | integer | Max posts to return (0 = unlimited) | `500` | | `sortBy` | string | Sort by `date`, `points`, or `comments` | `date` | #### Example Input ```json { "postType": "show_hn", "dateFrom": "2026-05-01", "dateTo": "2026-05-31", "minPoints": 50, "minComments": 10, "keywords": ["AI", "open source"], "maxResults": 100, "sortBy": "points" } ```` *** ### Output Format Each item in the dataset: ```json { "hn_id": "48297555", "title": "Show HN: cuSBF – Faster GPU Bloom Filter for Sequence Data", "url": "https://github.com/tdortman/cuSBF", "hn_url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48297555", "author": "tdortman", "points": 312, "num_comments": 47, "created_at": "2026-05-27T17:30:53Z", "created_at_ts": 1779903053, "tags": ["story", "show_hn", "author_tdortman", "story_48297555"] } ``` *** ### Performance & Limits - Typical run: **<30 seconds** for 500 posts - Large date ranges (months of data): **1–3 minutes** - The Algolia API serves up to 1,000 results per query. For larger datasets, the actor automatically paginates. - Rate limiting: polite 200ms delay between pages; Algolia's API is public and stable. *** ### Pricing (Pay-Per-Event) This actor uses **Pay-Per-Event** pricing: - **$0.01 per post extracted** A run extracting 500 Show HN posts costs ~$5. Fetching just the top 50 posts of the week costs $0.50. No platform compute overhead — runs fast and lightweight. *** ### Data Source [Algolia HN Search API](https://hn.algolia.com/api) — the official search index provided by HN/Y Combinator. Free, open, no authentication, extremely stable. *** ### FAQ **Does this require login or API keys?** No. The Algolia HN Search API is fully public and free. **How far back can I search?** The full HN history is indexed (back to 2006). Date ranges are only limited by your `maxResults` setting. **How often does the data update?** Algolia indexes HN in near-real-time (typically < 1 minute lag). **Does this scrape HN directly?** No. It uses the official [Algolia HN Search API](https://hn.algolia.com/api), which is specifically provided for this use case. # Actor input Schema ## `postType` (type: `string`): Which HN special posts to track. 'show\_hn' = 'Show HN:' posts (product launches), 'ask\_hn' = 'Ask HN:' posts, 'launch\_hn' = 'Launch HN:' posts (Y Combinator companies). Default: show\_hn. ## `dateFrom` (type: `string`): Start date for the search range (inclusive). Leave empty to use the last 7 days. Format: YYYY-MM-DD. Example: '2026-05-01'. ## `dateTo` (type: `string`): End date for the search range (inclusive). Leave empty to use today. Format: YYYY-MM-DD. Example: '2026-05-31'. ## `minPoints` (type: `integer`): Only return posts with at least this many upvotes. 0 = no minimum. Use 10+ to filter out low-quality posts, 100+ for breakout hits. ## `minComments` (type: `integer`): Only return posts with at least this many comments. 0 = no minimum. ## `keywords` (type: `array`): Only return posts whose title contains at least one of these keywords (case-insensitive). Leave empty to return all posts. Example: \['AI', 'open source', 'Python']. ## `maxResults` (type: `integer`): Maximum number of posts to return. 0 = no limit (may be slow for large date ranges). ## `sortBy` (type: `string`): How to sort the output. 'date' = newest first (default), 'points' = highest score first, 'comments' = most discussed first. ## Actor input object example ```json { "postType": "show_hn", "dateFrom": "", "dateTo": "", "minPoints": 0, "minComments": 0, "keywords": [], "maxResults": 500, "sortBy": "date" } ``` # 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 = { "keywords": [] }; // Run the Actor and wait for it to finish const run = await client.actor("flashlan32/hn-show-hn-tracker").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 = { "keywords": [] } # Run the Actor and wait for it to finish run = client.actor("flashlan32/hn-show-hn-tracker").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 '{ "keywords": [] }' | apify call flashlan32/hn-show-hn-tracker --silent --output-dataset ``` ## MCP server setup ```json { "mcpServers": { "apify": { "command": "npx", "args": [ "mcp-remote", "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=flashlan32/hn-show-hn-tracker", "--header", "Authorization: Bearer " ] } } } ``` ## OpenAPI specification ```json { "openapi": "3.0.1", "info": { "title": "HN Show HN Tracker", "description": "Scrapes Show HN, Ask HN, and Launch HN posts from Hacker News. Filter by date range, score, keywords. Outputs title, URL, author, points, comments, HN link. Powered by the free Algolia HN Search API — no login required.", "version": "1.0", "x-build-id": "YwiN2BhAsddERH1ei" }, "servers": [ { "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2" } ], "paths": { "/acts/flashlan32~hn-show-hn-tracker/run-sync-get-dataset-items": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-flashlan32-hn-show-hn-tracker", "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/flashlan32~hn-show-hn-tracker/runs": { "post": { "operationId": "runs-sync-flashlan32-hn-show-hn-tracker", "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/flashlan32~hn-show-hn-tracker/run-sync": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-flashlan32-hn-show-hn-tracker", "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": { "postType": { "title": "Post type", "enum": [ "show_hn", "ask_hn", "launch_hn" ], "type": "string", "description": "Which HN special posts to track. 'show_hn' = 'Show HN:' posts (product launches), 'ask_hn' = 'Ask HN:' posts, 'launch_hn' = 'Launch HN:' posts (Y Combinator companies). Default: show_hn.", "default": "show_hn" }, "dateFrom": { "title": "Date from (YYYY-MM-DD)", "type": "string", "description": "Start date for the search range (inclusive). Leave empty to use the last 7 days. Format: YYYY-MM-DD. Example: '2026-05-01'.", "default": "" }, "dateTo": { "title": "Date to (YYYY-MM-DD)", "type": "string", "description": "End date for the search range (inclusive). Leave empty to use today. Format: YYYY-MM-DD. Example: '2026-05-31'.", "default": "" }, "minPoints": { "title": "Minimum points (score)", "minimum": 0, "maximum": 10000, "type": "integer", "description": "Only return posts with at least this many upvotes. 0 = no minimum. Use 10+ to filter out low-quality posts, 100+ for breakout hits.", "default": 0 }, "minComments": { "title": "Minimum comments", "minimum": 0, "maximum": 10000, "type": "integer", "description": "Only return posts with at least this many comments. 0 = no minimum.", "default": 0 }, "keywords": { "title": "Filter by keywords", "type": "array", "description": "Only return posts whose title contains at least one of these keywords (case-insensitive). Leave empty to return all posts. Example: ['AI', 'open source', 'Python'].", "default": [], "items": { "type": "string" } }, "maxResults": { "title": "Max results", "minimum": 0, "maximum": 10000, "type": "integer", "description": "Maximum number of posts to return. 0 = no limit (may be slow for large date ranges).", "default": 500 }, "sortBy": { "title": "Sort results by", "enum": [ "date", "points", "comments" ], "type": "string", "description": "How to sort the output. 'date' = newest first (default), 'points' = highest score first, 'comments' = most discussed first.", "default": "date" } } }, "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 } } } } } } } } } } ```