# Hacker News Scraper: Stories, Comments & Search API (`f0rty7even/hackernews-scraper`) Actor

Search and scrape Hacker News stories and comments via the official API. Filter by keyword, type, points, comments, and date. Clean structured output for research, monitoring, and LLM datasets.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/f0rty7even/hackernews-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Michael Yousrie](https://apify.com/f0rty7even) (community)
- **Categories:** Developer tools, News
- **Features:** Limited permissions
- **Stats:** 3 total users, 2 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $4.00 / 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.

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 — Stories, Comments & Search API

**Search and scrape Hacker News — stories and comments — into clean structured data.** Powered by the official Hacker News (Algolia) search API, this scraper lets you filter by keyword, item type, points, comment count, and date, and returns tidy records ready for research, monitoring, trend analysis, or LLM datasets.

### What it does

- **Full-text search** across all of Hacker News, or browse the newest / front-page items.
- **Types** — stories, comments, Ask HN, Show HN, polls, or the current front page.
- **Filters** — minimum points, minimum comments, and a start date.
- **Clean output** — one record per item with title/text, url, author, points, comments, and date; comment HTML is stripped to plain text.

### Use cases

- **Trend & topic monitoring** — track what HN is discussing about a keyword or company.
- **Market/competitor research** — find top stories and community sentiment.
- **LLM/RAG datasets** — high-signal tech discussion text.
- **Lead/PR signals** — catch Show HN launches and front-page moments.

### Input

| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| `query` | Full-text search (empty = newest/front-page of the chosen type). |
| `type` | `story`, `comment`, `ask_hn`, `show_hn`, `poll`, or `front_page`. |
| `sortBy` | `date` (newest first) or `relevance`. |
| `minPoints` | Only items with at least this many points. |
| `minComments` | Only stories with at least this many comments. |
| `startDate` | Only items on/after this date (`YYYY-MM-DD`). |
| `maxItems` | Cap on items returned (main cost lever; API returns up to ~1000). |

### Output

Each item becomes one dataset record:

```json
{
  "type": "story",
  "objectId": "45712345",
  "title": "Uv is the best thing to happen to the Python ecosystem",
  "text": null,
  "url": "https://example.com/article",
  "author": "pg",
  "points": 2214,
  "numComments": 1324,
  "createdAt": "2025-10-29T13:05:00.000Z",
  "tags": ["story"],
  "storyId": null,
  "parentId": null,
  "hnUrl": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45712345"
}
```

Comments carry their text in `text` and a `parentId`/`storyId`.

### Pricing

Pay-per-result: charged **per item returned** — no monthly fee.

### Notes

- Uses the **official Hacker News Algolia API** — reliable and keyless.
- The API returns up to ~1000 results per query; narrow with filters for precise sets.

### FAQ

**Can I get comments, not just stories?** Yes — set `type` to `comment` (optionally with a `query`).

**How do I get the top stories of the week?** Set `minPoints`, a recent `startDate`, and `sortBy: date`.

**What formats can I export?** JSON, JSONL, CSV, or Excel, or via the Apify API.

# Actor input Schema

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

Full-text search over Hacker News. Leave empty to get the newest/front-page items of the chosen type.

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

Which kind of Hacker News item to fetch.

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

Order results by relevance (best match) or date (newest first).

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

Only items with at least this many points.

## `minComments` (type: `integer`):

Only stories with at least this many comments.

## `startDate` (type: `string`):

Only items created on/after this date (YYYY-MM-DD). Leave empty for all time.

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

Cap on items returned (main cost lever; the HN search API returns up to ~1000).

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "type": "story",
  "sortBy": "date",
  "maxItems": 100
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `items` (type: `string`):

One normalized Hacker News item per record. Export as JSON, JSONL, CSV, or Excel.

# 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("f0rty7even/hackernews-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("f0rty7even/hackernews-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 f0rty7even/hackernews-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,f0rty7even/hackernews-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/g6T3nmh5hcVMHF0hy/builds/mWMoxGgFSKoLOiag0/openapi.json