How do I search Hacker News with an API?

Send a GET request to /v1/hackernews/search with your terms in the query parameter. SocialCrawl returns matching HN stories and comments with title, URL, points, author, comment count, and item ID, normalized into the unified data.items schema.

What filters does the Hacker News Search API support?

Pass tags to restrict to story, comment, show_hn, ask_hn, or a specific author, and numericFilters to bound by points, number of comments, or created_at timestamp. Combine them to pull, for example, Show HN posts above 100 points from the last week.

How do I paginate Hacker News search results?

Use hitsPerPage to set the page size and page to step through results, starting at page 0. Increment page until you stop receiving hits to walk the full result set for a query beyond the first page.

Can I monitor tech trends and launches on Hacker News?

Yes. Run the search endpoint on a cron with your topic, product, or domain as the query, scope with tags=show_hn for launches, and ingest the hits. It is built for tech-trend monitoring and dev-sentiment pipelines alongside your Reddit and GitHub sources.

How much does the Hacker News Search API cost?

Each search request costs 1 credit on the standard tier, regardless of how many hits come back. New accounts get 100 free credits with no credit card required, enough to run around 100 searches while you build your pipeline.

100 free credits — no credit card required

Hacker News Search API

Name: Hacker News Search API
Brand: SocialCrawl
Availability: InStock

Scrape Hacker News Search data with one API call. Searches Hacker News stories, comments, and front-page items via the Algolia HN API. Defaults to story-only results sorted by relevance. The HN Algolia index only exposes `created_at_i` for numeric filtering, so use `numericFilters` for date windows (e.g. `created_at_i>1700000000`). Returns the raw Algolia hits in `data.items[]` — each hit includes `objectID`, `title`, `url`, `author`, `points`, `num_comments`, `created_at_i`, and `_tags`.

Last updated June 2026

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Try the Hacker News Search API

See real data before writing a single line

GET/v1/hackernews/search

Searching 42 platforms in parallel

TikTok·

Instagram·

YouTube·

Facebook·

X·

LinkedIn·

Reddit·

Threads·

Pinterest·

Twitch·

Truth Social·

Snapchat·

Kick·

Bluesky·

Kwai·

Rumble·

Spotify·

TikTok Shop·

Amazon Shop·

Google Shopping·

Trustpilot·

TripAdvisor·

Linktree·

Komi·

Pillar·

lnk.bio·

Facebook Ads·

Google Ads·

LinkedIn Ads·

Google Search·

Google News·

Google Finance·

Polymarket·

Tavily·

Hacker News·

GitHub·

Perplexity·

Naver·UUtility·

Universal Search

TikTok·

Instagram·

YouTube·

Facebook·

X·

LinkedIn·

Reddit·

Threads·

Pinterest·

Twitch·

Truth Social·

Snapchat·

Kick·

Bluesky·

Kwai·

Rumble·

Spotify·

TikTok Shop·

Amazon Shop·

Google Shopping·

Trustpilot·

TripAdvisor·

Linktree·

Komi·

Pillar·

lnk.bio·

Facebook Ads·

Google Ads·

LinkedIn Ads·

Google Search·

Google News·

Google Finance·

Polymarket·

Tavily·

Hacker News·

GitHub·

Perplexity·

Naver·UUtility·

Universal Search

TikTok·

Instagram·

YouTube·

Facebook·

X·

LinkedIn·

Reddit·

Threads·

Pinterest·

Twitch·

Truth Social·

Snapchat·

Kick·

Bluesky·

Kwai·

Rumble·

Spotify·

TikTok Shop·

Amazon Shop·

Google Shopping·

Trustpilot·

TripAdvisor·

Linktree·

Komi·

Pillar·

lnk.bio·

Facebook Ads·

Google Ads·

LinkedIn Ads·

Google Search·

Google News·

Google Finance·

Polymarket·

Tavily·

Hacker News·

GitHub·

Perplexity·

Naver·UUtility·

Universal Search

TikTok·

Instagram·

YouTube·

Facebook·

X·

LinkedIn·

Reddit·

Threads·

Pinterest·

Twitch·

Truth Social·

Snapchat·

Kick·

Bluesky·

Kwai·

Rumble·

Spotify·

TikTok Shop·

Amazon Shop·

Google Shopping·

Trustpilot·

TripAdvisor·

Linktree·

Komi·

Pillar·

lnk.bio·

Facebook Ads·

Google Ads·

LinkedIn Ads·

Google Search·

Google News·

Google Finance·

Polymarket·

Tavily·

Hacker News·

GitHub·

Perplexity·

Naver·UUtility·

Universal Search

Hacker News API

What can you do with the Search API?

The Search endpoint gives you structured Hacker News data with computed fields in a single request. No scraping infrastructure to build or maintain.

Example Request

curl "https://www.socialcrawl.dev/v1/hackernews/search?query=claude+code" \
  -H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY"

import requests

response = requests.get(
    "https://www.socialcrawl.dev/v1/hackernews/search",
    headers={"x-api-key": "YOUR_API_KEY"},
    params={"query": "claude code"},
)
data = response.json()

const params = new URLSearchParams({
  "query": "claude code",
});

const response = await fetch(`https://www.socialcrawl.dev/v1/hackernews/search?${params}`, {
  headers: { "x-api-key": "YOUR_API_KEY" },
});
const data = await response.json();

Parameters

Parameter	Required	Description
query	Yes	Free-text search term.
tags	No	Algolia tag filter — comma-separated. Common values: "story", "comment", "poll", "show_hn", "ask_hn", "front_page", "author_<username>". Defaults to "story".
numericFilters	No	Algolia numeric filter expression on `created_at_i` (the only filterable numeric attribute) — e.g. "created_at_i>1700000000". Combine with commas for AND. No filter is applied by default.
hitsPerPage	No	Hits per page (1–1000). Defaults to 30.
page	No	0-indexed page number for pagination.

API Details

How does the Hacker News Search API work?

Send a GET request with your API key and get back clean, structured JSON. Every response follows our unified schema with computed fields.

Method

GET

Response

JSON

Why SocialCrawl

Why use SocialCrawl for Hacker News Search data?

We handle the complexity of Hacker News data extraction so you can focus on building. Unified schema, AI enrichment, and zero platform logic in your code.

One schema for every platform — write your integration once
Computed fields on every response: engagement rate, reach, category, language
No scraping infrastructure to build, no proxies to manage, no rate limits to fight
Real-time data from Hacker News — no caching, no delays

Developer First

How do you scrape social media data in seconds?

The fastest social media scraping API for developers. Scrape profiles, posts, comments, and analytics from 42 platforms covering 10B+ monthly active users.

One schema, every platform

Query 42 platforms with identical response structures. Write your integration once.

Computed fields, not just scraped

Every response includes engagement_rate, estimated_reach, content_category, and language — ready to use.

See your data before you code

Visual Data Explorer — paste any URL, get rich result cards, sortable tables, CSV export.

import requests

response = requests.get(
    'https://www.socialcrawl.dev/v1/tiktok/profile',
    params={'handle': 'charlidamelio'},
    headers={'x-api-key': 'sc_YOUR_API_KEY'}
)
data = response.json()

[ .JSON ]

{
  "success": true,
  "platform": "tiktok",
  "data": {
    "author": {
      "username": "charlidamelio",
      "followers": 152400000
    },
    "engagement": {
      "likes": 12400000000,
      "engagement_rate": 0.087
    },
    "metadata": {
      "language": "en",
      "content_category": "lifestyle"
    }
  }
}

+ 42 platforms

FAQ

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