# Hacker News Monitor & Who's-Hiring Leads (`hichemdev/hn-monitor`) Actor

Monitor Hacker News for keywords and brand mentions, track Show HN launches, and extract job posts from the monthly 'Ask HN: Who is hiring?' threads. Structured, fast, and reliable - great for brand monitoring, market research, and developer lead generation.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/hichemdev/hn-monitor.md
- **Developed by:** [Hichem Ben Moussa](https://apify.com/hichemdev) (community)
- **Categories:** News, Jobs, Developer tools
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $2.00 / 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.

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/docs.md):

```bash
npm install apify-client
```

In Python projects, use official [Python client library](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.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/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 Monitor & Who's-Hiring Leads 🟠

**Search and monitor Hacker News** for keywords, brand mentions, and Show HN launches — and extract structured **job posts** from the monthly *"Ask HN: Who is hiring?"* threads. Built on the free Algolia HN API, so it's fast and reliable.

### 🔎 Modes

- **`search`** — find stories and comments by keyword, filter by type (`story`, `comment`, `ask_hn`, `show_hn`, `front_page`), sort by popularity or date, and restrict to a recent window. Great for **brand monitoring**, **market research**, and **lead/pain-point mining**.
- **`whoishiring`** — automatically finds the latest *"Ask HN: Who is hiring?"* thread and returns every job post as a structured row. Optional keyword filter (e.g. `remote`, `python`).
- **`user`** — pull a specific user's recent stories and comments.

### 🎯 Use cases

- **Founders & marketers** — get alerted when your product, company, or competitors are mentioned on HN.
- **Recruiters & developers** — turn "Who is hiring?" threads into a clean, filterable job/lead list.
- **Market & trend research** — track how often a topic or technology is discussed over time.
- **Sales / lead gen** — mine comments for companies and pain points to reach out to.
- **Content teams** — find the highest-signal stories in your niche.

### 📥 Input

- `mode` — `search`, `whoishiring`, or `user`.
- `query` — keyword(s).
- `tags` — item-type filter for `search`.
- `sortBy` — `popularity` or `date`.
- `sinceDays` — only items newer than N days (0 = no limit).
- `author` — for `user` mode.
- `maxItems` — result cap.

### 📤 Output (search example)

```json
{
  "objectID": "40123456",
  "type": "story",
  "title": "Show HN: I built a web scraping tool",
  "url": "https://example.com",
  "author": "pg",
  "points": 342,
  "numComments": 128,
  "createdAt": "2026-07-10T14:22:00.000Z",
  "hnUrl": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40123456"
}
````

### 🔌 Integrations & scheduling

- **Schedule** it daily to monitor mentions and get a fresh feed of matches.
- Export to **CSV, Excel, JSON, or Google Sheets**, or pull via the Apify API.
- Pipe matches to **Slack/Zapier/Make** for instant brand-mention alerts.

### ❓ FAQ

**Where does the data come from?** The free, public Algolia Hacker News Search API — fast and generous.

**Can it find every job in "Who is hiring?"** It pulls the top-level comments (job posts) from the latest thread, and you can filter by keyword like `remote` or `react`.

**How is it priced?** Pay per result — per story, comment, or job post returned. No subscription.

### 🗺️ Roadmap

- Scheduled monitoring with new-match alerts (webhook/Slack)
- Sentiment tagging of mentions
- Email/contact extraction from Who's-Hiring posts

# Actor input Schema

## `mode` (type: `string`):

"search" finds stories/comments by keyword. "whoishiring" extracts job posts from the latest 'Ask HN: Who is hiring?' thread. "user" pulls a user's recent activity.

## `query` (type: `string`):

Search keyword(s) for 'search' mode. Optional keyword filter for 'whoishiring' (e.g. 'remote', 'python').

## `tags` (type: `array`):

Filter by HN item type: story, comment, ask\_hn, show\_hn, front\_page. Empty = stories + comments.

## `sortBy` (type: `string`):

Order search results by popularity or by newest first.

## `sinceDays` (type: `integer`):

Restrict to items created within this many days. 0 = no limit.

## `author` (type: `string`):

Hacker News username to pull activity for (user mode).

## `maxItems` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of items to return.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "mode": "search",
  "query": "web scraping",
  "tags": [
    "story"
  ],
  "sortBy": "popularity",
  "sinceDays": 0,
  "maxItems": 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 '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "query": "web scraping",
    "tags": [
        "story"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("hichemdev/hn-monitor").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 = {
    "query": "web scraping",
    "tags": ["story"],
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("hichemdev/hn-monitor").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 '{
  "query": "web scraping",
  "tags": [
    "story"
  ]
}' |
apify call hichemdev/hn-monitor --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "mcp-remote",
                "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=hichemdev/hn-monitor",
                "--header",
                "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_API_TOKEN>"
            ]
        }
    }
}

```

## OpenAPI specification

```json
{
    "openapi": "3.0.1",
    "info": {
        "title": "Hacker News Monitor & Who's-Hiring Leads",
        "description": "Monitor Hacker News for keywords and brand mentions, track Show HN launches, and extract job posts from the monthly 'Ask HN: Who is hiring?' threads. Structured, fast, and reliable - great for brand monitoring, market research, and developer lead generation.",
        "version": "0.1",
        "x-build-id": "3OcsGUE27f1vvB7lg"
    },
    "servers": [
        {
            "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2"
        }
    ],
    "paths": {
        "/acts/hichemdev~hn-monitor/run-sync-get-dataset-items": {
            "post": {
                "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-hichemdev-hn-monitor",
                "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": {
                                "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                "parameters": [
                    {
                        "name": "token",
                        "in": "query",
                        "required": true,
                        "schema": {
                            "type": "string"
                        },
                        "description": "Enter your Apify token here"
                    }
                ],
                "responses": {
                    "200": {
                        "description": "OK"
                    }
                }
            }
        },
        "/acts/hichemdev~hn-monitor/runs": {
            "post": {
                "operationId": "runs-sync-hichemdev-hn-monitor",
                "x-openai-isConsequential": false,
                "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.",
                "tags": [
                    "Run Actor"
                ],
                "requestBody": {
                    "required": true,
                    "content": {
                        "application/json": {
                            "schema": {
                                "$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": {
                                    "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema"
                                }
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        },
        "/acts/hichemdev~hn-monitor/run-sync": {
            "post": {
                "operationId": "run-sync-hichemdev-hn-monitor",
                "x-openai-isConsequential": false,
                "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.",
                "tags": [
                    "Run Actor"
                ],
                "requestBody": {
                    "required": true,
                    "content": {
                        "application/json": {
                            "schema": {
                                "$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",
                "required": [
                    "mode"
                ],
                "properties": {
                    "mode": {
                        "title": "Mode",
                        "enum": [
                            "search",
                            "whoishiring",
                            "user"
                        ],
                        "type": "string",
                        "description": "\"search\" finds stories/comments by keyword. \"whoishiring\" extracts job posts from the latest 'Ask HN: Who is hiring?' thread. \"user\" pulls a user's recent activity.",
                        "default": "search"
                    },
                    "query": {
                        "title": "Query",
                        "type": "string",
                        "description": "Search keyword(s) for 'search' mode. Optional keyword filter for 'whoishiring' (e.g. 'remote', 'python')."
                    },
                    "tags": {
                        "title": "Tags (search mode)",
                        "type": "array",
                        "description": "Filter by HN item type: story, comment, ask_hn, show_hn, front_page. Empty = stories + comments.",
                        "items": {
                            "type": "string"
                        }
                    },
                    "sortBy": {
                        "title": "Sort by",
                        "enum": [
                            "popularity",
                            "date"
                        ],
                        "type": "string",
                        "description": "Order search results by popularity or by newest first.",
                        "default": "popularity"
                    },
                    "sinceDays": {
                        "title": "Only items newer than (days)",
                        "minimum": 0,
                        "type": "integer",
                        "description": "Restrict to items created within this many days. 0 = no limit.",
                        "default": 0
                    },
                    "author": {
                        "title": "Author (user mode)",
                        "type": "string",
                        "description": "Hacker News username to pull activity for (user mode)."
                    },
                    "maxItems": {
                        "title": "Max items",
                        "minimum": 1,
                        "type": "integer",
                        "description": "Maximum number of items to 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
                                    }
                                }
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }
}
```