Hacker News stories
Returns stories from Hacker News, taken from the ranked front-page lists, a keyword search or one user's submissions, with optional top-level comments. Useful for following tech community discussion around a product, company or topic.
What you get
- Story title and linked URL
- Hacker News discussion link and story ID
- Score (points)
- Author username
- Comment count
- Post time
- Story type and text for Ask HN and similar posts
- Top-level comments with author, text and time (optional)
What it can do
- Read the ranked front-page lists, including new stories, Ask HN, Show HN and job posts
- Search all stories by keyword, sorted by relevance or date
- Fetch the stories a given user has submitted
- Attach top-level comments to each story
Limits
- Up to 1937 results per run
- The max_results setting returns at most 500 stories per run
- Only top-level comments are included; nested replies are not
- Keyword search applies only in search mode, and username only in user mode
- Only publicly visible data
Input options
| Field | What it does |
|---|---|
| mode | Where stories come from: a ranked front-page list, Ask HN, Show HN, jobs, search or a user. |
| query | Keyword to search for in search mode. |
| username | Hacker News username whose submissions to fetch in user mode. |
| search_sort | Sort search results by relevance or date. |
| max_results | Maximum number of stories to return. |
| include_comments | Also fetch the top-level comments for each story. |
Example
Ask your AI for the data in plain words and it picks this source. Developers can also call source procli_hackernews_a directly through the REST API or MCP with an input like this:
{
"max_results": 100,
"mode": "top",
"query": "openai",
"request_timeout": 30,
"search_sort": "relevance",
"username": "pg"
}How to use it
- Create an account at prolevelmax.com. New users receive $1 in sign-up credit after verifying their email (one per person). No card required.
- Connect your AI. In the Dashboard, open Get started → Coding tools and API → Generate setup instructions and paste the instructions into your AI (Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, Codex and others). You can also add the MCP server
https://prolevelmax.com/mcpor call the REST API. - Request data. Your AI selects a source, quotes the price and runs it only after you confirm. Results are returned as structured JSON that the AI can format as a table or report.
FAQ
How is this source billed?
Per result: $0.0046/result + $0.001/run, min $0.02/run. Your AI quotes the price first, and you are never charged more than the quote.
Do I need a Hacker News account or API key?
No. You only need a ProLevelMax account. One balance and one connection cover all 157 platforms.
Is the data real-time?
Yes. Every call fetches public Hacker News data at the time of the request. Only publicly visible content is collected.
All Hacker News sources and prices
New users receive $1 in sign-up credit after verifying their email (one per person). No card required. Pay per use with no subscription. Top up by card (USD) or Alipay (CNY); Enterprise top-ups from $1,000 by bank transfer.
Start for free