Hacker News "Who Is Hiring?" Scraper — Jobs, Salary, Tech Stack & Email (No API Key)

Turn the internet's most trusted job board — Hacker News "Ask HN: Who is Hiring?" — into a clean, structured dataset. This Actor reads the monthly hiring threads through the public Algolia HN API, parses every job comment, and returns company, role, location, salary, remote policy, tech stack, visa sponsorship, apply URL and contact email for hundreds of jobs per month, going back years. No AI, no API key, no proxy, no login, no browser.

🏆 Why this Hacker News jobs scraper?

17 structured fields per job · 400–900 real jobs per monthly thread · up to 24 months of history in one run · direct JSON (no browser, no Playwright) · no proxy, no API key. The unofficial Hacker News jobs API alternative for job seekers, recruiters, salary research and hiring-trend analysis — export to JSON / CSV / Excel.

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✨ What this Actor does / Key features

• 🧵 Three scrape modes — hiring (monthly "Who is Hiring?" threads), thread (any HN thread by ID), or search (full-text keyword search across all of HN).
• 🏢 Structured field parsing — pulls company, role, location, salary, remote policy, tech stack, visa info, apply URL and contact email out of free-form comment text.
• 🛠️ 40+ tech-stack keywords detected — Python, Go, Rust, TypeScript, React, Kubernetes, PostgreSQL, AWS, LLMs and more, returned per posting.
• 🏝️ Remote policy classification — distinguishes Remote / Hybrid / Onsite from natural-language mentions, plus a one-click remote-only filter.
• 💸 Salary extraction — captures $120k–$160k, $200k/yr and similar formats straight from the posting.
• 🛂 Visa sponsorship detection — flags "visa sponsorship available", H1B mentions and "no visa sponsorship".
• 🔎 Include / exclude keyword filters — narrow to exactly the roles, cities or funding stages you want.
• 🗓️ Multi-month history — scrape up to 24 monthly threads (a 2-year archive) in a single run.
• ⚡ Direct JSON, no browser — reads the public Algolia HN API with native fetch; no Playwright, no Cheerio, no proxy.
• 🔓 No API key, no login — the Algolia HN index is public and free.

🚀 Quick start (3 steps)

1. Configure — pick a mode (start with hiring), set how many months to scrape, and add optional filterKeywords / remoteOnly to focus the results.
2. Run — click Start. The Actor discovers the threads, fetches every comment, parses it into structured fields and streams jobs into your dataset.
3. Get your data — open the Output tab and export to JSON, CSV, Excel, XML or JSONL, or pull it via the Apify API.

📥 Input

The only thing you really choose is the mode. Everything else is optional and mode-dependent.

Example — latest "Who is Hiring?" thread, all jobs

{
  "mode": "hiring",
  "months": 1,
  "maxResults": 0,
  "remoteOnly": false
}

Example — remote Python or Go jobs from the last 3 months

{
  "mode": "hiring",
  "months": 3,
  "filterKeywords": ["Python", "Go", "Golang"],
  "excludeKeywords": ["blockchain", "web3", "crypto"],
  "remoteOnly": true,
  "maxResults": 200
}

Example — a specific thread by ID (e.g. "Who wants to be hired?")

{
  "mode": "thread",
  "threadIds": ["43574497", "41822152"],
  "maxResults": 500
}

Field	Type	Description
mode	string	hiring (monthly job threads), search (keyword across all HN), or thread (specific thread IDs). Default hiring.
months	integer	(mode hiring) How many recent monthly threads to scrape, 1–24. Each thread ≈ 400–900 jobs. Default 1.
threadIds	array	(mode thread) HN item IDs to scrape all top-level comments from (find the number in item?id=…).
searchQuery	string	(mode search) Keyword or phrase to search across all HN posts & comments via the Algolia index.
filterKeywords	array	Keep only postings whose full text contains at least one of these (case-insensitive). Empty = keep all.
excludeKeywords	array	Drop postings whose full text contains any of these (case-insensitive).
remoteOnly	boolean	When true, keep only postings mentioning remote work (REMOTE, fully remote, remote-friendly, hybrid…). Default false.
maxResults	integer	Max total job records to save across all threads. 0 = unlimited.

Finding a thread ID: open any HN thread in your browser — the ID is the number in the URL, e.g. news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43574497 → threadId = "43574497". Use mode: "thread" for "Who wants to be hired?", "Freelancer? Seeking Freelancer?" or older archived hiring threads.

📤 Output

One row per parsed job posting (top-level comment) — 17 fields, exportable to JSON, CSV, Excel, XML or JSONL. Here is a trimmed sample record:

{
  "commentId": "43812345",
  "threadId": "43800001",
  "threadTitle": "Ask HN: Who is Hiring? (May 2026)",
  "threadMonth": "May 2026",
  "author": "jane_at_acme",
  "company": "Acme AI",
  "role": "Senior Backend Engineer",
  "location": "San Francisco, Remote",
  "remote": "Remote",
  "salary": "$160k–$200k",
  "techStack": "Python, Go, PostgreSQL, Kubernetes, AWS",
  "visa": "Visa sponsorship available",
  "applyUrl": "https://acmeai.io/careers",
  "email": "jobs@acmeai.io",
  "fullText": "Acme AI | Senior Backend Engineer | Remote | $160k–$200k\n\nWe're building the next generation of AI infrastructure...",
  "postedAt": "2026-05-01T10:22:05.000Z",
  "hnUrl": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43812345",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-07-06T14:00:00.000Z"
}

Detected tech-stack keywords

Each posting is scanned for 40+ technologies across languages, frameworks, databases, cloud and AI/ML:

• Languages: Python, JavaScript, TypeScript, Go / Golang, Rust, Java, Kotlin, Swift, C++, C#, Ruby, PHP, Scala, Elixir, Clojure, Haskell
• Frontend: React, Vue, Angular, Next.js, Svelte
• Backend: Node.js, Express, Django, FastAPI, Flask, Rails, Spring, Laravel
• Databases: PostgreSQL, MySQL, MongoDB, Redis, Elasticsearch, Cassandra, DynamoDB
• Cloud & DevOps: AWS, GCP, Azure, Kubernetes, Docker, Terraform, Ansible
• APIs & messaging: GraphQL, REST, gRPC, Kafka, RabbitMQ, Celery
• AI / ML: TensorFlow, PyTorch, LLM, OpenAI, ML, AI
• Mobile: iOS, Android, React Native, Flutter

💡 Use cases

• Job hunting at scale — filter thousands of HN listings by tech stack, remote policy or salary without reading every comment.
• Salary benchmarking — run months: 12 with no filters, then pivot the salary column by techStack for a year of self-reported comp from actual hiring managers.
• Recruiter & talent-market intel — monitor who is hiring for which roles and track competitors' hiring activity month over month.
• Trending-tech signals — count techStack frequency over 6+ months to see what the HN startup ecosystem is actually building with.
• Candidate sourcing — point mode: "thread" at the latest "Who wants to be hired?" thread to extract structured candidate profiles.
• Job-alert bots & pipelines — schedule months: 1 with your keyword filters and feed the dataset into Notion, Airtable or a custom alert.

👥 Who uses it

Job seekers filtering by stack, salary and remote policy · recruiters & HR teams tracking the HN talent market · researchers & analysts studying tech-hiring and salary trends · founders & investors mapping who is scaling · data engineers building historical job-market datasets · builders wiring HN jobs into Notion, Airtable and alert bots.

💰 Pricing

This Actor runs on a simple pay-per-result model — you pay for the job records you extract, with no separate Apify platform fees to calculate. Compute cost is negligible (native fetch, no browser). Try it on the free tier first, then scale up. See the Pricing tab on this page for the current rate.

❓ Frequently Asked Questions

Is it legal to scrape Hacker News? The Actor only collects publicly available comments from public HN threads via the public Algolia index. You are responsible for using the data in compliance with Hacker News' terms and applicable laws such as GDPR (some postings contain a contact email).

Is this a Hacker News jobs API alternative?

Effectively yes. Hacker News has no official jobs API, so this Actor acts as an unofficial HN jobs API: it reads the public "Who is Hiring?" threads through the Algolia HN index and returns clean, structured job records on demand — no API key required.

Can I scrape Hacker News "Who is Hiring?" without an API key or login?

Yes. This is a no-login, no-proxy, no-API-key export tool. It uses only the public Algolia HN API, so no HN account, no API token and no browser are needed to extract the job, salary and email data.

How do I export Hacker News job listings to CSV or JSON?

Run any mode, then download the dataset from the Apify Console (or API) as CSV, JSON, Excel, XML or JSONL. CSV serializes techStack as a comma-joined string for Excel or Google Sheets; JSON keeps it as a native array.

How much data can I get?

A single monthly thread yields roughly 400–900 job postings. With months: 24 you can pull a two-year archive of 10,000–20,000+ postings in one run; search mode paginates the Algolia index up to your maxResults.

How often is the "Who is Hiring?" thread posted? On the first weekday of every month, by the HN moderator whoishiring — one of the platform's most consistent monthly events, running for over a decade.

Do I need a proxy? No. The Algolia HN API is public and rate-limit-generous, so no proxy is required for normal scraping volumes.

Why are company and role null for some records? Some commenters write a paragraph instead of the standard Company | Role first line, so those fields can't be parsed. The fullText field always contains the complete original posting.

Can I scrape older threads from 2020, 2021 or earlier? Yes — use mode: "thread" with the specific thread IDs from those years (find them via HN search or the Algolia API). The months parameter only looks back from the current date.

What's the difference between filterKeywords and searchQuery? searchQuery (mode search) queries the Algolia index server-side before any data is fetched. filterKeywords is a client-side filter applied after parsing and works in all three modes on the fullText of downloaded comments.

How do I find remote jobs on Hacker News "Who is Hiring?"

Set mode: "hiring" and enable remoteOnly; the Actor returns only remote-friendly postings from the selected threads, with role, salary and tech stack, as CSV or JSON.

Can I filter Hacker News jobs by tech stack like Python or Rust?

Yes. Use filterKeywords with values such as Python or Rust to keep only postings mentioning those technologies, then export to CSV, JSON or Excel.

🔗 More job scrapers by logiover

Building a cross-platform hiring dataset? Pair the HN thread with the rest of the jobs suite:

Source	Actor
🌐 Remote	RemoteOK Scraper · Remotive Scraper · Jobicy Scraper · Himalayas Scraper
🇩🇪 Germany	Stepstone.de Scraper · Arbeitnow Scraper
🇮🇳 India	Naukri Scraper · Internshala Scraper · Hirist Tech Scraper
🇦🇺 Australia	Seek Jobs Scraper
🇺🇸 USA	Indeed Jobs Scraper · USAJobs Scraper
🧰 ATS boards	Greenhouse Scraper · Lever Scraper · The Muse Scraper · Welcome to the Jungle Scraper

👉 Browse all logiover scrapers on Apify Store — 180+ actors across real estate, jobs, crypto, social media & B2B data.

⏰ Scheduling & integration

Schedule this Actor on Apify to capture each month's new "Who is Hiring?" thread automatically. Export results to JSON, CSV or Excel, sync to Google Sheets, or push to your database, BI tools and webhooks through the Apify API. Connect it to Make, n8n or Zapier to build a job-alert bot or feed a hiring-trends dashboard.

⭐ Support & feedback

Found a bug or need an extra field? Open an issue on the Issues tab — response is usually fast. If this Actor saves you time, a ★★★★★ review on the Store page genuinely helps and is hugely appreciated. 🙏

When reporting an issue, include the thread ID or search query, your full input configuration, and the run ID so it can be diagnosed quickly.

⚖️ Legal

This Actor extracts only publicly available data and is intended for legitimate research, recruiting and job-search use. You are responsible for complying with Hacker News' terms of service, GDPR and any applicable local laws — especially for records that include a contact email.

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📝 Changelog

2026-07-06

• ✨ README overhaul: keyword-rich title & badges, value-prop callout, named example scenarios, collapsible full field reference, jobs-suite cross-links, and refreshed FAQ.

2026-07-01

• Maintenance pass: re-verified end-to-end on live data and confirmed successful runs within the 5-minute quality window on the default input.
• Sharpened Store metadata (SEO title & description) and expanded the FAQ with high-intent, long-tail questions for easier discovery in Google and Apify Store search.
• Added ready-to-run example tasks that cover common real-world use cases.

2026-06-15

• Reliability pass: re-verified end-to-end on live data with real-world inputs. Routine maintenance build.

2026-06-07

• Docs: added coverage for using the Actor as a Hacker News jobs API alternative, exporting HN job listings to CSV/JSON, and scraping Who is Hiring without an API key or login.

2026-06-05

• 🛡️ Reliability fix: results are no longer dropped by strict output validation — runs now complete cleanly even at high volume (thousands of results).
• ⚡ Stability & performance hardening; fresh rebuild.

2026-06-04

• Verified live & refreshed build — reliability/maintenance pass.

2026-06-01

• Maintenance & reliability pass: pulled the latest source and rebuilt the Actor on the current base image; build verified.

2026-05-25

• Maintenance & reliability pass: pulled the latest source and rebuilt the Actor on the current base image; build verified.

2026-05-20

• Maintenance pass: reviewed the input schema and default values for a smooth one-click start, and rebuilt on the latest base image.

v1.0

• Initial release. Three modes: hiring (monthly threads), thread (by ID), search (full-text Algolia).
• Structured field extraction: company, role, location, remote, salary, tech stack, visa, apply URL, email.
• 40+ tech-keyword detection; remote policy classification (Remote / Hybrid / Onsite); salary range extraction; visa sponsorship detection.
• filterKeywords, excludeKeywords and remoteOnly client-side filters; up to 24 months of history.
• No proxy, no API key, no browser required.