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gchapim

Hacker News

by gchapim · GitHub ↗ · v1.0.0
cross-platform ✓ Security Clean
3726
Downloads
10
Stars
22
Active Installs
1
Versions
Install in OpenClaw
/install hackernews
Description
Browse and search Hacker News. Fetch top, new, best, Ask HN, Show HN stories and job postings. View item details, comments, and user profiles. Search stories and comments via Algolia. Find "Who is hiring?" threads. Use for any HN-related queries like "what's trending on HN?", "search HN for AI", "show comments on story X", "who is hiring?", "latest Ask HN posts".
README (SKILL.md)

Hacker News

CLI tool for the Hacker News API. No authentication required.

CLI Usage

Run scripts/hn.sh \x3Ccommand>. All commands support --json for raw JSON output.

Browse Stories

# Top/trending stories (default 10)
scripts/hn.sh top
scripts/hn.sh top --limit 20

# Other lists
scripts/hn.sh new --limit 5     # newest
scripts/hn.sh best --limit 10   # highest rated
scripts/hn.sh ask                # Ask HN
scripts/hn.sh show               # Show HN
scripts/hn.sh jobs               # job postings

View Item Details & Comments

# Full item details (story, comment, job, poll)
scripts/hn.sh item 12345678

# Top comments on a story
scripts/hn.sh comments 12345678
scripts/hn.sh comments 12345678 --limit 10 --depth 2

User Profiles

scripts/hn.sh user dang

Search

# Basic search
scripts/hn.sh search "rust programming"

# With filters
scripts/hn.sh search "LLM" --type story --sort date --period week --limit 5
scripts/hn.sh search "hiring remote" --type comment --period month

Who is Hiring

# Latest "Who is hiring?" job postings
scripts/hn.sh whoishiring
scripts/hn.sh whoishiring --limit 20

Common Workflows

User asks Command
"What's trending on HN?" scripts/hn.sh top
"Latest Ask HN posts" scripts/hn.sh ask
"Search HN for X" scripts/hn.sh search "X"
"Show me comments on story Y" scripts/hn.sh comments Y
"Who is hiring?" scripts/hn.sh whoishiring
"Tell me about HN user Z" scripts/hn.sh user Z

Notes

  • Story lists use parallel fetching for speed
  • HTML in comments/bios is auto-converted to plain text
  • Timestamps shown as relative time ("2h ago", "3d ago")
  • For API details, see references/api.md
Usage Guidance
This skill appears to do what it says: a lightweight CLI that reads public Hacker News APIs and Algolia. Before installing or running it, ensure your environment has curl, jq and python3 available (the metadata omitted those). Review the script if you are uncomfortable executing code from an unknown source — it performs network calls to hacker-news.firebaseio.com and hn.algolia.com and writes temporary files under a tmpdir which it then removes. Because it runs shell commands, run in a restricted environment or sandbox if you want to limit risk.
Capability Analysis
Type: OpenClaw Skill Name: hackernews Version: 1.0.0 This skill bundle is benign. The `SKILL.md` provides clear instructions for interacting with Hacker News and does not contain any prompt injection attempts. The `scripts/hn.sh` script uses `curl`, `jq`, and `python3` to fetch and process data from legitimate Hacker News APIs (hacker-news.firebaseio.com and hn.algolia.com). It handles temporary files for parallel fetching and URL-encodes search queries, demonstrating safe practices. There is no evidence of data exfiltration, malicious execution, persistence, or access to sensitive local resources.
Capability Assessment
ℹ Purpose & Capability
Name/description match the included code and docs: the script fetches Hacker News lists, items, comments, users, and (per references) uses Algolia for search. One small inconsistency: registry metadata lists no required binaries, but the script clearly uses curl, jq and python3.
✓ Instruction Scope
SKILL.md tells the agent to run the provided scripts/hn.sh CLI and documents commands. The runtime instructions and the script stay within the stated purpose (fetching HN data from public APIs). There are no instructions to read unrelated files, exfiltrate secrets, or contact unexpected endpoints.
ℹ Install Mechanism
There is no install spec (instruction-only), so nothing is written to disk at install time. The script will run local commands and temporary files (mktemp). Note: because there is no install step, callers must have curl, jq and python3 available — the registry metadata did not declare these dependencies.
✓ Credentials
The skill requires no environment variables or credentials and only contacts public Hacker News (Firebase) and Algolia endpoints. No sensitive env vars or unrelated service credentials are requested.
✓ Persistence & Privilege
The skill does not request persistent inclusion (always: false) and does not modify other skills or system-wide settings. It relies on executing the provided script when invoked.
How to Use
  1. Make sure OpenClaw is installed (local or Docker)
  2. Run the install command in chat: /install hackernews
  3. After installation, invoke the skill by name or use /hackernews
  4. Provide required inputs per the skill's parameter spec and get structured output
Version History
v1.0.0
Initial release of the Hacker News skill: - Browse top, new, best, Ask HN, Show HN stories, and job postings. - View item details, comments, and user profiles. - Search stories and comments using Algolia. - Find and view "Who is hiring?" threads. - Supports CLI usage for all features with customizable limits and filters. - Outputs clean, readable results with auto-converted text and relative timestamps.
Metadata
Slug hackernews
Version 1.0.0
License —
All-time Installs 23
Active Installs 22
Total Versions 1
Frequently Asked Questions

What is Hacker News?

Browse and search Hacker News. Fetch top, new, best, Ask HN, Show HN stories and job postings. View item details, comments, and user profiles. Search stories and comments via Algolia. Find "Who is hiring?" threads. Use for any HN-related queries like "what's trending on HN?", "search HN for AI", "show comments on story X", "who is hiring?", "latest Ask HN posts". It is an AI Agent Skill for Claude Code / OpenClaw, with 3726 downloads so far.

How do I install Hacker News?

Run "/install hackernews" in the OpenClaw or Claude Code chat to install it in one step — no extra setup required.

Is Hacker News free?

Yes, Hacker News is completely free (open-source). You can download, install and use it at no cost.

Which platforms does Hacker News support?

Hacker News is cross-platform and runs anywhere OpenClaw / Claude Code is available (cross-platform).

Who created Hacker News?

It is built and maintained by gchapim (@gchapim); the current version is v1.0.0.

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