# Hacker News Scraper - Stories & Comments (`pear_fight/hackernews-scraper`) Actor

Scrape Hacker News stories, comments & user profiles. Extract titles, URLs, scores, comment counts, timestamps, full comment threads. Monitor trending tech topics in real time. Pay per result. Export JSON/CSV.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/pear_fight/hackernews-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Harald](https://apify.com/pear_fight) (community)
- **Categories:** News
- **Features:** Limited permissions
- **Stats:** 3 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $1.28 / 1,000 results

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/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

Fast and reliable Hacker News scraper using the official Firebase API. Extract stories from top, new, best, Ask HN, and Show HN with full metadata.

### Features

- 🚀 Uses official Hacker News Firebase API (no parsing, 100% reliable)
- 📊 Multiple story types: top, new, best, ask, show
- 💬 Includes comment counts
- ⚡ Fast and efficient
- 📦 Clean, structured data output

### Input

- **Story Type** (required): Type of stories to scrape
  - `top` - Top Stories
  - `new` - New Stories
  - `best` - Best Stories
  - `ask` - Ask HN
  - `show` - Show HN

- **Maximum Items** (default: 30): Number of stories to scrape (1-500)

- **Include Comment Count** (default: true): Whether to fetch comment counts

### Output

Each story contains:

- `id` - Unique story ID
- `title` - Story title
- `url` - Story URL (or HN discussion URL for text posts)
- `score` - Story points/score
- `author` - Username of the author
- `time` - Unix timestamp
- `timestamp` - ISO 8601 timestamp
- `type` - Story type (story, ask, show, etc.)
- `text` - Story text content (for Ask HN, Show HN, etc.)
- `commentsCount` - Number of comments

### Example Output

```json
{
  "id": 39526341,
  "title": "Show HN: I built a tool to visualize algorithm complexity",
  "url": "https://example.com/algorithm-viz",
  "score": 847,
  "author": "developer123",
  "time": 1708520400,
  "timestamp": "2024-02-21T12:00:00.000Z",
  "type": "story",
  "text": null,
  "commentsCount": 142
}
```

### Use Cases

- Monitor trending tech discussions
- Track Ask HN and Show HN launches
- Analyze discussion patterns
- Build HN aggregators or newsletters
- Research topic trends

### API Rate Limits

Uses the official Hacker News API which has no rate limits. Respectful usage is encouraged.

### Support

For issues or questions, please open an issue on GitHub or contact support.

# Actor input Schema

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

Type of stories to scrape from Hacker News

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

Maximum number of stories to scrape (1-500)

## `includeCommentCount` (type: `boolean`):

Fetch comment counts for each story

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "storyType": "top",
  "maxItems": 30,
  "includeCommentCount": true
}
```

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

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,pear_fight/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/hJFb6WdaE77OUIX4x/builds/lLdrktBd1S1a7VNR3/openapi.json