# Hacker News Enhanced Scraper - Stories, Comments & Search (`hata1234/hn-scraper`) Actor

Scrape Hacker News stories, comments, and search results via official Firebase and Algolia APIs. No proxy needed. Supports top, best, new, Ask HN, Show HN, job stories, full-text search, comment extraction, and advanced filtering by points, date, and domain.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/hata1234/hn-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Moris Chao](https://apify.com/hata1234) (community)
- **Categories:** News, Social media
- **Stats:** 3 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $0.50 / 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.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
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.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## 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.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

## Hacker News Enhanced Scraper

Scrape [Hacker News](https://news.ycombinator.com/) stories, comments, and search results using the official Firebase and Algolia APIs. No proxy needed — fast, reliable, and free.

### Features

- **Multiple modes**: Top, Best, New, Ask HN, Show HN, Job stories
- **Full-text search**: Keyword search via Algolia API
- **Recursive comments**: Fetch comment trees with configurable depth (1-5 levels)
- **Advanced filters**: min points, min comments, date range, domain filter
- **Fast**: Concurrent batch fetching (20 parallel requests)
- **No proxy required**: Uses official public APIs

### Input

| Field | Type | Default | Description |
|-------|------|---------|-------------|
| `mode` | string | `top` | One of: `top`, `best`, `new`, `ask`, `show`, `job`, `search` |
| `searchQuery` | string | | Keyword for search mode (Algolia) |
| `maxItems` | integer | `100` | Max stories to return (1-1000) |
| `minPoints` | integer | `0` | Minimum points threshold |
| `minComments` | integer | `0` | Minimum comments threshold |
| `dateFrom` | string | | Start date filter (YYYY-MM-DD) |
| `dateTo` | string | | End date filter (YYYY-MM-DD) |
| `domainFilter` | string\[] | `[]` | Only include stories from these domains |
| `includeComments` | boolean | `false` | Fetch comments for each story |
| `commentDepth` | integer | `2` | Max comment tree depth (1-5) |
| `flattenComments` | boolean | `true` | Flat array vs nested tree output |

### Output

Each story is output as a JSON object:

```json
{
    "id": 47301085,
    "title": "Example Title",
    "url": "https://example.com/article",
    "domain": "example.com",
    "author": "username",
    "points": 300,
    "commentsCount": 67,
    "createdAt": "2026-03-06T12:30:18.000Z",
    "type": "story",
    "comments": []
}
```

#### Comment structure (flat)

```json
{
    "id": 47301100,
    "author": "commenter",
    "text": "This is a comment with <i>HTML</i> formatting.",
    "createdAt": "2026-03-06T13:00:00.000Z",
    "depth": 1
}
```

### Examples

#### Get top 50 stories with 100+ points

```json
{
    "mode": "top",
    "maxItems": 50,
    "minPoints": 100
}
```

#### Search for AI stories from GitHub

```json
{
    "mode": "search",
    "searchQuery": "artificial intelligence",
    "maxItems": 30,
    "domainFilter": ["github.com"]
}
```

#### Get Ask HN posts with comments

```json
{
    "mode": "ask",
    "maxItems": 20,
    "includeComments": true,
    "commentDepth": 3,
    "flattenComments": false
}
```

### Data Sources

- **Firebase API** (`hacker-news.firebaseio.com/v0/`) — Official HN API for story lists and item details
- **Algolia API** (`hn.algolia.com/api/v1/`) — Full-text search with numeric filters

Both APIs are public and free. No authentication or proxy required.

### Local Development

```bash
npm install
apify run --purge
```

### Deploy to Apify

```bash
apify login
apify push
```

# Actor input Schema

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

Which stories to fetch. Use 'search' mode with searchQuery for keyword search via Algolia.

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

Keyword to search for (only used in 'search' mode). Searches story titles and content via Algolia.

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

Maximum number of stories to return.

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

Only include stories with at least this many points.

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

Only include stories with at least this many comments.

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

Only include stories created on or after this date (YYYY-MM-DD format).

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

Only include stories created on or before this date (YYYY-MM-DD format).

## `domainFilter` (type: `array`):

Only include stories linking to these domains (e.g. github.com, arxiv.org). Leave empty for all domains.

## `includeComments` (type: `boolean`):

Whether to fetch and include comments for each story.

## `commentDepth` (type: `integer`):

Maximum depth of comment tree to fetch (1 = top-level only, 5 = deep threads).

## `flattenComments` (type: `boolean`):

If true, comments are returned as a flat array. If false, comments are nested in a tree structure.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "mode": "top",
  "maxItems": 100,
  "minPoints": 0,
  "minComments": 0,
  "domainFilter": [],
  "includeComments": false,
  "commentDepth": 2,
  "flattenComments": true
}
```

# Actor output Schema

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

No description

# 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("hata1234/hn-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("hata1234/hn-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 hata1234/hn-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,hata1234/hn-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/AUfBlq078D45EM4wp/builds/DG88Qpc2OBUo4S0Ha/openapi.json