# Hacker News Scraper (`rsiddiq95/hacker-news-scraper`) Actor

Search Hacker News stories, Show HN, Ask HN and comments by keyword and date, with points, comment counts and links, using the official HN search API.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/rsiddiq95/hacker-news-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Rafiullah Siddiq](https://apify.com/rsiddiq95) (community)
- **Categories:** News, Developer tools, AI
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $0.30 / 1,000 story or comments

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/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## 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 Scraper

Search Hacker News by keyword and date and export **stories, Show HN, Ask HN, polls and comments** with points, comment counts, authors and links. Grab the current front page, or collect full comment threads, using the official Hacker News search API.

### What can this Hacker News scraper do?

- 🔎 **Keyword search** across all of Hacker News history.
- 📅 **Date ranges** and **minimum points** to find what mattered in a period.
- 🚀 **Show HN, Ask HN, polls, comments**, or everything.
- 🏠 **Current front page** with one click (leave search empty, choose "Current front page").
- 💬 **Comment threads.** Every comment under each story, with nesting depth.

### Who uses it?

- **Founders and marketers** tracking mentions of their product or competitors.
- **Researchers** studying tech discussions and trends.
- **Developers** building datasets or newsletters from HN.

### How to scrape Hacker News

1. Add **search queries** (or leave empty to list everything matching the filters).
2. Choose **Content type** and **Sort by**.
3. Optionally set **From date**, **To date**, **Minimum points** and **Include comments**.
4. Click **Start** and download the results.

### Input example

```json
{
    "searchQueries": ["web scraping", "apify"],
    "contentType": "story",
    "sortBy": "date",
    "dateFrom": "2026-01-01",
    "minPoints": 20,
    "maxItemsPerQuery": 200,
    "includeComments": true,
    "maxCommentsPerStory": 50
}
```

### Output example

```json
{
    "resultType": "story",
    "query": "web scraping",
    "id": "22180559",
    "type": "story",
    "title": "Congrats! Web scraping is legal! (US precedent)",
    "url": "https://parsers.me/us-court-fully-legalized-website-scraping-and-technically-prohibited-it/",
    "author": "ehurynovich",
    "points": 1057,
    "numComments": 388,
    "createdAt": "2020-01-29T14:06:37Z",
    "isShowHN": false,
    "isAskHN": false,
    "hnUrl": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22180559"
}
```

Comment rows (`resultType: "comment"`) include `text`, `author`, `storyId`, `parentId` and `depth`.

### Use it from AI agents (Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor)

AI assistants can run this Actor as a tool through [Apify's MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/mcp). Add this server URL to any MCP client:

```
https://mcp.apify.com?tools=rsiddiq95/hacker-news-scraper
```

Then just ask, for example: *"What were the top Hacker News stories about AI agents this week?"* Agent runs cost the same per result as runs from the console.

### How much does it cost?

Pay per story or comment collected. See the **Pricing** tab. Searches with no results are free.

### Limitations

- The HN search API returns at most **1,000 results per search**. For more, split by date range.

### FAQ

**Is this an official source?**
Yes. It uses the Hacker News search API run by Algolia, the same one behind hn.algolia.com.

**Something isn't working.**
Open an issue on the **Issues** tab with your input.

# Actor input Schema

## `searchQueries` (type: `array`):

Keywords to search on Hacker News. Leave empty to list everything that matches the filters, for example the current front page.

## `contentType` (type: `string`):

What to search.

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

Most relevant (with popular items first) or newest first.

## `dateFrom` (type: `string`):

Only items posted on or after this date.

## `dateTo` (type: `string`):

Only items posted on or before this date.

## `minPoints` (type: `integer`):

Only stories with at least this many points.

## `maxItemsPerQuery` (type: `integer`):

The HN search API returns at most 1,000 results per search. Narrow dates for more.

## `includeComments` (type: `boolean`):

Also collect each story's comments (one extra request per story).

## `maxCommentsPerStory` (type: `integer`):

How many comments to collect from each story's thread.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "searchQueries": [
    "web scraping"
  ],
  "contentType": "story",
  "sortBy": "relevance",
  "dateFrom": "",
  "dateTo": "",
  "minPoints": 0,
  "maxItemsPerQuery": 30,
  "includeComments": false,
  "maxCommentsPerStory": 50
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

No description

# 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 = {
    "searchQueries": [
        "web scraping"
    ],
    "maxItemsPerQuery": 30
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("rsiddiq95/hacker-news-scraper").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 = {
    "searchQueries": ["web scraping"],
    "maxItemsPerQuery": 30,
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("rsiddiq95/hacker-news-scraper").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 '{
  "searchQueries": [
    "web scraping"
  ],
  "maxItemsPerQuery": 30
}' |
apify call rsiddiq95/hacker-news-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,rsiddiq95/hacker-news-scraper"
        }
    }
}
```

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/eMjjFEr8rvHUF61hD/builds/AKh7Pp7lukRocl1M1/openapi.json