# Hacker News Scraper - Stories, Jobs & Comments (`scrapesage/hacker-news-scraper`) Actor

Scrape Hacker News stories, jobs, Ask HN, Show HN and comments from the official HN API: title, URL, score, author, comment count, date, domain and text. Pick a list or paste item IDs. No key, no browser.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/scrapesage/hacker-news-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Scrape Sage](https://apify.com/scrapesage) (community)
- **Categories:** News, Agents, Integrations
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $0.55 / 1,000 item scrapeds

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.
Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
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.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — 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 Scraper - Stories, Jobs & Comments

Pull stories, jobs and comments from **Hacker News** using the official HN API. Pick a list - **Top**,
**Newest**, **Best**, **Ask HN**, **Show HN** or **Jobs** - or paste specific item IDs, and get clean rows
with the **title**, **link**, **score**, **author**, **comment count**, **date**, **domain** and any
**self-text**. No API key, no browser.

### What you get per item

| Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
| `title` / `url` / `hnUrl` | Headline, the external link, and the HN discussion link |
| `score` / `commentCount` | Points and number of comments (`descendants`) |
| `author` / `createdAt` | Submitter and submission time (ISO) |
| `domain` | The link's domain (e.g. `github.com`) - handy for trend analysis |
| `itemType` / `text` | `story` / `job` / `comment` / `poll`, and self-post or comment text |
| `commentIds` / `parentId` | Child comment IDs and (for comments) the parent |

### Input

```json
{ "listType": "top", "maxItems": 100 }
```

- **Story list** - `top`, `new`, `best`, `ask`, `show` or `job`.
- **Item IDs** - or paste specific IDs (the number after `id=` in a news.ycombinator.com URL) to fetch
  exact items, including comments.
- **Import from a file** - paste a whole list of IDs, or link a public `.txt`/`.csv`, a Google Sheet/Drive
  link, or an Apify key-value-store record.
- **Max items** / **Minimum score** - bound and filter the run.
- **Output fields** - tick only the columns you want.

Leave everything empty and the run returns a small free sample so you can see the shape first.

### Reliability

Reads the official [Hacker News API](https://github.com/HackerNews/API) - a public, unmetered Firebase
endpoint. No key, no proxy, no anti-bot, nothing to get blocked. A run that returns nothing bills **$0**.

### Honest limits

- **Each list is the API's ordered list** (Top/New/Best hold up to ~500 items; Ask/Show/Job are shorter).
  For more history, feed a range of item IDs.
- **Comments are fetched by ID.** Each item carries its child comment IDs (`commentIds`); to pull a full
  thread, feed those IDs back in. The actor does not auto-expand entire comment trees in one run.

### Pricing

**$0.001 per item** on the FREE tier (tiered pricing lowers it with volume). You are only charged for
items actually saved; an empty run costs nothing.

### Output views

- **Items** - title, score, comments, author, domain, date and both links.

### Use with AI assistants (MCP)

Available through the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/mcp) - an agent can
pull the current HN front page or Ask/Show HN with scores for monitoring or summarisation.

### Agent-ready: autonomous payments (x402 & Skyfire)

This actor is **agent-ready** - AI agents can discover it, run it, and **pay for it autonomously**, with no Apify account and no human in the loop. It uses [pay-per-event](https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/publishing/monetize/pay-per-event) pricing and [limited permissions](https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/development/permissions), so it qualifies for Apify's agentic-payment standards:

- **[x402](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/x402)** - an open, HTTP-native payment protocol. Agents pay per run in USDC on the Base network directly through the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/mcp) - no account, no API key.
- **[Skyfire](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/skyfire)** - agent-to-service payments for fully autonomous AI-agent workflows.

Building an AI agent, MCP tool, or autonomous data pipeline? This scraper is ready to plug in and pay as it goes.

# Actor input Schema

## `listType` (type: `string`):

Which Hacker News list to scrape. Ignored if you paste specific Item IDs below. <b>Leave everything empty and the run returns a small free sample.</b>

## `itemIds` (type: `array`):

Specific Hacker News item IDs to fetch (story, comment, job or poll) - the number after <code>id=</code> in a news.ycombinator.com URL. When set, the Story list above is ignored.

## `itemIdsFromFile` (type: `string`):

Bulk-load item IDs. Either <b>paste the whole list</b> (one per line or comma-separated), or give <b>a single link</b> to a public <code>.txt</code>/<code>.csv</code>, a Google Sheet/Drive link, or an Apify key-value-store record. A file that cannot be read says so and charges nothing.

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

How many items to fetch (from the top of the chosen list). You are only charged for items actually saved.

## `minScore` (type: `integer`):

Keep only items with at least this many points. 0 keeps everything.

## `concurrency` (type: `integer`):

How many items to fetch in parallel. The HN API is fast and unmetered; 15 is a friendly default.

## `outputFields` (type: `array`):

Pick the fields you want and every record is trimmed to exactly those - handy for lean CSV/Sheets exports.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "listType": "top",
  "maxItems": 100,
  "minScore": 0,
  "concurrency": 15
}
```

# Actor output Schema

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

Each scraped record - Hacker News items - as a JSON item in the default dataset.

# 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 = {
    "listType": "top",
    "itemIdsFromFile": ""
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("scrapesage/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 = {
    "listType": "top",
    "itemIdsFromFile": "",
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("scrapesage/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 '{
  "listType": "top",
  "itemIdsFromFile": ""
}' |
apify call scrapesage/hacker-news-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,scrapesage/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/In7vhm4b72869fkK3/builds/kyWwcAYL1yOXbp8WF/openapi.json