hn-cli

CLI and Claude Code skill for researching topics through Hacker News practitioner discussions.

Search stories, read full discussion threads, browse front-page listings. No API keys. No server to install. Just Python 3.

Install

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/thevibeworks/hn-cli/main/install.sh | bash

This installs:

• hn CLI to ~/.local/bin/
• hacker-sense skill to ~/.claude/skills/

CLI Usage

hn search "distributed systems"              # search stories
hn search "rewrite in rust" --type comment   # search comments
hn search "kubernetes" --sort date --count 5 # recent results
hn search "react" --points 100              # high-signal only

hn read 27016630                             # read a discussion thread
hn read 27016630 --comments 100              # more comments
hn read 27016630 --deep                      # full nested comment tree

hn front top                                 # top stories right now
hn front show --count 10                     # Show HN

hn user pg                                   # user profile

Add --json to any command for raw API output.

Claude Code Skill

Once installed, use /hacker-sense in Claude Code to start a research session. The skill teaches Claude to search HN, read the strongest threads, and synthesize practitioner signal with epistemic rigor.

The skill works with or without the CLI installed -- it can fall back to calling the HN APIs directly with curl.

How it works

Uses the public HN APIs directly:

API	What for
Algolia HN Search	Full-text search (stories + comments)
HN Firebase API	Items, users, front-page lists

No API keys required. No rate limits for normal use.

Requirements

• Python 3.8+

License

MIT