Hn MCP Server

Browse Hacker News feeds, threads, and user profiles with full-text search via MCP. STDIO or Streamable HTTP. Its 4 documented tools cluster into stories, thread, user, content.

People who work with hacker news, hackernews and cyanheads and want it reachable from Claude, Cursor, VS Code, or another MCP client. The project is written in TypeScript.

VERIFIED ACTIVE

LAST COMMIT 2026-09-13 · ★ 4 · #173 OF 945 MAINTAINED OTHER · VERIFIED 2026-09-18

Apache-2.0 · TypeScript servers · how we verify → /methodology

01 · Install Hn MCP Server

before you install - you'll need

Set MCP_TRANSPORT_TYPE, MCP_LOG_LEVEL before connecting.

Claude Code

claude mcp add cyanheads-hn-mcp-server --transport http https://hn.caseyjhand.com/mcp

Claude Desktop / Cursor / VS Code - add to config

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "cyanheads-hn-mcp-server": {
      "url": "https://hn.caseyjhand.com/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Same JSON for Cursor. For VS Code, rename the top-level key from `mcpServers` to `servers`.

Using another client? Same JSON, different key

Claude Desktop · mcpServers

Cursor · mcpServers

VS Code · servers

Windsurf · mcpServers

Zed · context_servers

Cline · mcpServers

Roo Code · mcpServers

Continue · mcpServers

LibreChat · mcpServers

Gemini CLI · mcpServers

Codex CLI · mcp_servers

Full setup guides: every client.

02 · Evidence

https://hn.caseyjhand.com/mcp

transport: streamable-http

endpoint alive - responded to MCP initialize · probed 2026-09-17

Security posture

What to check before giving this server access to your agent - from the registry, GitHub, and our own probes. We don't score safety; we show what's verifiable.

runs as local process (stdio) - runs on your machine with your user's permissions · remote - your agent's requests go to hn.caseyjhand.com

endpoint auth accepted our unauthenticated MCP initialize - no credentials needed to connect

license Apache-2.0 - declared in the repository

npm package @cyanheads/hn-mcp-server - published under the repo owner's npm scope (@cyanheads)

registry namespace io.github.cyanheads is GitHub-verified and matches the repo owner

03 · What Hn MCP Server can do

Prose above is summarized from the project's README and registry record - no invented capabilities.

Capability map

Tools grouped from the project's README - what Hn MCP Server lets an agent do.

Stories

1 tool - e.g. Fetch stories from an HN feed (top, new, best, ask, show, jobs), with title, URL, score, author, and comment count

hn_get_stories

Thread

1 tool - e.g. Get an item and its comment tree as a threaded discussion, with depth and comment-count controls

hn_get_thread

User

1 tool - e.g. Fetch a user profile with karma, about, and optionally a page of resolved submissions

hn_get_user

Content

1 tool - e.g. Search stories and comments via Algolia, filterable by type, author, date range, and minimum points

hn_search_content

Latest releases

v0.5.16 · 2026-09-13

mcp-ts-core ^0.13.0, framework-skills tree, blank env reads as unset · HN_CONCURRENCY_LIMIT now reads a blank value or an unsubstituted ${user_config...} placeholder as unset, falling back to the default of 10…

v0.5.15 · 2026-09-04

mcp-ts-core ^0.12.5, fast-uri/qs advisories cleared · HN upstream 500s now retry before the call fails; a caller disconnect mid-call reports as a cancellation instead of an internal error · a batch item fetch stops…

v0.5.14 · 2026-08-25

MCP SDK v2 compatibility and stateless HTTP serving · HTTP serves protocol revision 2026-07-28 and the 2025 era, rejects undeclared tool inputs, and advertises structured tool errors. · Container and self-hosted…

04 · Who maintains Hn MCP Server

hn-mcp-server is maintained by cyanheads. We track 125 MCP servers from cyanheads - 119 actively maintained, 1,816 combined GitHub stars, oldest repo from Dec 2024. Full record: all servers from cyanheads.

05 · Facts

repository: github.com/cyanheads/hn-mcp-server
category: other - ranked #173 of 945 actively-maintained other servers as of 2026-09-18.
release cadence: 6 releases in the last 90 days (latest 2026-09-13)
registry: io.github.cyanheads/hn-mcp-server (active, first published 2026-03-22 · 31 versions)
packages: npm:@cyanheads/hn-mcp-server · npm:@cyanheads/hn-mcp-server

06 · Hn MCP Server FAQ

Is Hn MCP Server still maintained?

Yes - as of 2026-09-18, its last commit was 2026-09-13 and it shipped 6 releases in the last 90 days. We re-verify nightly.

What can Hn MCP Server do?

Its README documents 4 tools, including hn_get_stories, hn_get_thread, hn_get_user.

How do I install Hn MCP Server?

Run `npx -y @cyanheads/hn-mcp-server`. The README documents 2 environment variables (MCP_TRANSPORT_TYPE, MCP_LOG_LEVEL) to set first. Set MCP_TRANSPORT_TYPE, MCP_LOG_LEVEL before connecting. You can also paste the ready-made client config above.

Does Hn MCP Server require authentication?

No - the endpoint accepted our unauthenticated MCP initialize when probed on 2026-09-17; you can connect without credentials.

07 · Alternatives to Hn MCP Server

Alternatives to Hn MCP Server

Maintained other servers if Hn MCP Server isn't the fit.

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