# HN Who Wants to Be Hired Scraper (`nerotools/hn-who-wants-to-be-hired`) Actor

Structured candidate rows from Ask HN: Who wants to be hired? Official HN Firebase/Algolia only. Leave input empty to auto-select the latest monthly thread. Top-level comments; heuristic fields; no login.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/nerotools/hn-who-wants-to-be-hired.md
- **Developed by:** [NERO Tools](https://apify.com/nerotools) (community)
- **Categories:** Jobs, Lead generation, Developer tools
- **Features:** Limited permissions
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 94.7% runs succeeded, 0 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/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-usage

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
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.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## 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.

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 examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

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`).

# README

## Hacker News Who Wants to Be Hired

Apify Actor that turns one monthly **Ask HN: Who wants to be hired?** thread into **structured candidate rows** (location, remote, skills, contact when published, etc.).

> **Zero setup: just click Start.** Leave every field empty and the Actor automatically picks the **latest** monthly thread. Pass a `storyId` only if you want an older month.

### What it does

1. Uses the latest monthly thread by default, or the `storyId` / `storyUrl` you pass.
2. Loads the story and top-level comment ids from the **official Hacker News Firebase API**.
3. Fetches each top-level comment (nested replies are skipped).
4. Parses common free-text fields with simple regex/keywords (`Location`, `Remote`, `Willing to relocate`, `Technologies` / `Tech`, `Email`).
5. Pushes one dataset item per candidate comment.

Uncertain fields stay `null`. **No LLM / AI API calls.** No login. No private messages.

### Data source

- **Official API only:** [Hacker News Firebase API](https://hacker-news.firebaseio.com/v0/) — docs: [github.com/HackerNews/API](https://github.com/HackerNews/API)
- Endpoints used: `item/{id}.json` for the story and each top-level kid
- Optional discovery (not required at runtime): [HN Algolia Search API](https://hn.algolia.com/api) to find monthly thread ids

This Actor does **not** scrape G2, Etsy, Meta, Indeed, or other third-party boards.

### Input

| Field | Type | Required | Default | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `storyId` | integer | one of | — | HN item id of the monthly thread |
| `storyUrl` | string | one of | — | e.g. `https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49922568` |
| `maxComments` | integer | no | `150` | Cap on top-level kids fetched |
| `requestsPerSecond` | number | no | `4` | Polite rate limit (stay ≤ ~5) |

Example (also in `.actor/INPUT_EXAMPLE.json`):

```json
{
  "storyId": 49922568,
  "storyUrl": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49922568",
  "maxComments": 150,
  "requestsPerSecond": 4
}
```

Either `storyId` or `storyUrl` is enough; if both are set, `storyId` wins.

### Output

Each dataset row:

| Field | Type | Notes |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `username` | string | null | HN `by` |
| `commentId` | integer | |
| `commentUrl` | string | Link to the comment |
| `storyId` | integer | Parent thread |
| `storyUrl` | string | |
| `rawText` | string | HTML stripped, entities decoded |
| `location` | string | null | From `Location:` |
| `remote` | boolean | null | From `Remote:` |
| `willingRelocate` | boolean | null | From `Willing to relocate` / `Relocate` |
| `skills` | string\[] | From `Technologies` / `Tech` / `Skills` |
| `emailOrContact` | string | null | **Only if explicitly written** in the comment |
| `postedAt` | string | null | ISO-8601 from HN `time` |

See `SAMPLE_OUTPUT.json` for real rows from a local run.

### Sample run (local)

- Thread: [Ask HN: Who wants to be hired? (October 2026)](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49922568) (`storyId` **49922568**)
- Cap: `maxComments=150` of 799 top-level kids
- Result: **140** structured rows (`commentsFetched=150`, `skipped=10`, `errors=0`)
- Artifacts: `SAMPLE_OUTPUT.json`, `RUN_LOG.txt`

### Pricing (pay-per-event)

**Intended Store pricing: $2 per 100 structured candidate records → $0.02 per dataset item.**

PPE event prices are configured in **Apify Console** (not in `actor.json`). See `PRICING.md` for the console TODO:

- Prefer synthetic event **`apify-default-dataset-item`** at **$0.02** (charges automatically on each `Actor.pushData()` to the default dataset)
- Optionally keep **`apify-actor-start`** at the Apify default

### Limitations

- Top-level comments only (no nested replies)
- Heuristic parsing; free-form posts may leave fields null
- Space-separated skill lists without commas may stay as one token
- `maxComments` caps volume for rate/cost safety
- Does not verify emails or contact candidates

### Legal / ToS note

Uses **public Hacker News data through the official Firebase API** ([HackerNews/API](https://github.com/HackerNews/API)). Respect polite rate limits. Contact details appear only when authors publish them in their own comments; handle under applicable privacy and anti-spam rules. Do not use this Actor to spam or harass posters.

### Local development

```bash
npm install
## edit storage/key_value_stores/default/INPUT.json or copy .actor/INPUT_EXAMPLE.json
npm start
## dataset → storage/datasets/default/
```

With Apify CLI (after login, later): `apify run` then `apify push`.

Memory limits for platform runs: 256–1024 MB (see `.actor/actor.json`).

### License

MIT

# Changelog

This Actor's version history is a separate document: https://apify.com/nerotools/hn-who-wants-to-be-hired/changelog.md

# Actor input Schema

## `storyId` (type: `integer`):

Hacker News item id of an Ask HN: Who wants to be hired? post. Leave empty (with Story URL empty) to auto-select the latest monthly thread.

## `storyUrl` (type: `string`):

Full HN URL, e.g. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49922568. Optional; leave empty to auto-select the latest thread.

## `maxComments` (type: `integer`):

Cap on top-level kids fetched (MVP safety). Nested replies are never fetched.

## `requestsPerSecond` (type: `number`):

Polite rate limit against the official Firebase API (recommended 3–5).

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "storyId": 49922568,
  "storyUrl": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49922568",
  "maxComments": 50,
  "requestsPerSecond": 4
}
```

# 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 = {
    "storyId": 49922568,
    "maxComments": 50
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("nerotools/hn-who-wants-to-be-hired").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 = {
    "storyId": 49922568,
    "maxComments": 50,
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("nerotools/hn-who-wants-to-be-hired").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "storyId": 49922568,
  "maxComments": 50
}' |
apify call nerotools/hn-who-wants-to-be-hired --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,nerotools/hn-who-wants-to-be-hired"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/FruBILZYGrLkTOgLD/builds/mYJZzhrx0yGBUSXVs/openapi.json