readhn — Claude Code MCP server: what it does, how to install
Surfaces Hacker News threads and comments, ranking discussions by practitioner involvement and discussion depth.
claude mcp add readhn -- uvx readhnWhat readhn does
The server connects AI agents to Hacker News. Rather than sorting by raw upvotes, it ranks posts using five weighted signals: practitioner depth (30%), thread depth (20%), expert presence (20%), velocity (15%), and references (15%). Every result explains its score.
Six tools power queries, including Algolia search, discover_stories, story_brief for summaries, and thread_analysis for comment trees. The find_experts and expert_brief tools trace domain specialists with EigenTrust over the comment graph. You can preset defaults through HN_MIN_SCORE, HN_TIME_HOURS, HN_KEYWORDS, and HN_EXPERTS.
The server runs on Python. Starting it through uvx readhn requires uv or pip installed on your machine.
What it helps with
- filter Hacker News discussions using verifiable quality indicators
- identify domain authorities from discussion history via EigenTrust
- extract key takeaways from deep comment trees without browsing the web
- search technical debates by threshold score and time frame
Example prompts for the agent
- Show the top discussions about distributed systems on Hacker News from the past 24 hours.
- Find commenters who regularly discuss database internals on HN.
- Summarize community feedback on the latest SQLite release from Hacker News.
How to install readhn
Platform CLI
claude mcp add readhn -- uvx readhnuvx runs the command named after the package; if the README names another one, use uvx --from readhn <command>
Platform CLI
codex mcp add readhn -- uvx readhnuvx runs the command named after the package; if the README names another one, use uvx --from readhn <command>
Config file
{
"mcpServers": {
"readhn": {
"command": "uvx",
"args": [
"readhn"
]
}
}
}uvx runs the command named after the package; if the README names another one, use uvx --from readhn <command>
Config file
{
"servers": {
"readhn": {
"type": "stdio",
"command": "uvx",
"args": [
"readhn"
]
}
}
}uvx runs the command named after the package; if the README names another one, use uvx --from readhn <command>
Platform CLI
gemini mcp add readhn uvx readhnuvx runs the command named after the package; if the README names another one, use uvx --from readhn <command>
Step by step, with commands for each platform: How to add an MCP server to Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, VS Code, Gemini CLI and more
Questions about readhn
How to install readhn in Claude Code?
Run claude mcp add readhn -- uvx readhn. Claude Code registers the server tools and makes them available in chat.
What does readhn do?
It retrieves Hacker News posts and comments while filtering out low-signal noise. The server calculates quality scores using comment depth, community authority, and links, explaining why each thread ranked high.
How do you configure default search parameters in readhn?
Define environment variables such as HN_KEYWORDS for topic filtering, HN_MIN_SCORE for points, HN_TIME_HOURS for time range, or HN_EXPERTS for seed usernames.
