# Hacker News Tech Stories Scraper (`w3crawler/hackernews-tech-stories-scraper`) Actor

Extracts public technology-focused Hacker News stories from Algolia with rich ranking, highlights and optional comments.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/w3crawler/hackernews-tech-stories-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [w3crawler](https://apify.com/w3crawler) (community)
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $2.99 / 1,000 technology stories

This Actor is paid per event and usage. You are charged both the fixed price for specific events and for Apify platform usage.

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 Tech Stories Scraper

Searches public Hacker News stories through the Algolia HN search API, using a configurable technology query such as `technology`, `AI`, `programming`, or `open source`. Records include stable story IDs, titles, authors, normalized timestamps, points, comment counts, canonical HTTPS Hacker News URLs, optional HTTPS story URLs, domains, story text, query/rank metadata, tags, Algolia highlights, child IDs, and optional real top-level Firebase comments.

### Input

```json
{
  "query": "technology",
  "maxItems": 25,
  "sortByDate": false,
  "includeComments": true,
  "maxCommentsPerStory": 2
}
```

Requests are bounded, retried and delayed; deleted or incomplete comments are omitted, insecure story URLs are not followed or emitted, and no search result is fabricated. Search failures are represented by a fail-closed diagnostic row instead of an unstructured process error. Optional comment failures remain attached to the affected story and mark the run `partial`.

### Output

Each dataset item contains a stable `recordId` and `recordType` (`story` or `diagnostic`). Story items contain Algolia story identity, title, author, timestamps, points, comment count, a canonical Hacker News URL, an optional HTTPS story URL, domain, text, query and rank metadata, tags, highlights, child IDs, and optional Firebase `topComments`. Diagnostic items contain `found: false`, `dataAvailable: false`, and structured access/availability details.

Example input: {"query":"technology","maxItems":10,"sortByDate":false,"includeComments":true,"maxCommentsPerStory":2}

Example output: {"storyId":"12345678","titleText":"Example technology story","author":"example-user","points":180,"commentCount":32,"storyUrl":"https://example.com/story","searchQuery":"technology","searchRank":1,"tags":\["story","author\_example-user"],"hackerNewsUrl":"https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12345678"}

### Key-value store

The exact `OUTPUT` key contains the JSON run summary, including status, requested and stored counts, duplicate/skipped counts, public source URL, and comment-enrichment metrics.

### Cost and limits

The main cost is one Algolia request plus up to four bounded Firebase comment requests per story. Keep maxItems and maxCommentsPerStory modest.

### Local run

```bash
apify run --purge --entrypoint src/main.js --input '{"query":"technology","maxItems":5,"includeComments":true,"maxCommentsPerStory":2}'
npm run validate
```

The validator checks stable IDs, typed records, HTTPS evidence URLs, timestamps, null-free output, duplicate story identities, comment diagnostics, and consistency between the dataset and `OUTPUT`.

QA validated locally and on Apify Cloud with a bounded live technology-story search. Generated by Codex with GPT-5.6 Sol.

# Actor input Schema

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

Public Algolia query used to find technology stories.

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

Maximum unique technology stories to emit.

## `sortByDate` (type: `boolean`):

Use Algolia's chronological search endpoint instead of relevance ranking.

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

Enrich each story with a bounded set of real Firebase comments.

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

Maximum comments to fetch per story.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "query": "technology",
  "maxItems": 25,
  "sortByDate": false,
  "includeComments": true,
  "maxCommentsPerStory": 2
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `dataset` (type: `string`):

Technology-focused Hacker News search records.

## `runSummary` (type: `string`):

JSON summary stored under the exact OUTPUT key in the default key-value store.

# 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 = {};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("w3crawler/hackernews-tech-stories-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 = {}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("w3crawler/hackernews-tech-stories-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 '{}' |
apify call w3crawler/hackernews-tech-stories-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,w3crawler/hackernews-tech-stories-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/sJrzIdN1qfnFMZOmt/builds/8d5yeGFtmyle6hL6m/openapi.json