Hacker News scraper for keyword-filtered tech news and discussions

What this robot does

Hacker News - Y Combinator's community bulletin board - is where technologists, startup founders, and engineers surface the content that shapes tech industry thinking. A front-page Hacker News post can drive thousands of visitors to a startup, spark industry debates, or signal emerging technology trends days before mainstream media catches on. Searching Hacker News by keyword reveals how the tech community discusses specific technologies, companies, and ideas - but the site's minimalist interface makes it difficult to extract that data for analysis.

This robot extracts Hacker News search results matching your keywords into structured data: post position, titles, sources, comment counts, submission dates, and URLs. Whether you are tracking mentions of your company, monitoring a technology category, or studying how the tech community reacts to industry events, keyword-filtered extraction turns Hacker News into an analyzable dataset.

What keyword-filtered Hacker News extraction provides:

• ✓ Brand mention monitoring: Track every time your company or product is discussed on Hacker News. Sentiment from this community heavily influences tech-savvy early adopters.
• ✓ Technology pulse reading: Filter for specific technologies (e.g., 'Rust', 'WebAssembly', 'LLM') to track discussion volume, sentiment, and trending perspectives over time.
• ✓ Competitor intelligence: Monitor Hacker News discussions about competitor products. High-scoring posts with many comments indicate significant community interest or concern.
• ✓ Content discovery: Find high-quality technical content and discussions about your focus areas. The community's voting system surfaces genuinely valuable links.

How to scrape Hacker News by keyword in 4 steps

No API setup and no Algolia configuration needed. The robot reads Hacker News search results and delivers structured discussion data.

• A free Browse AI account (no credit card required).
• A Hacker News search results URL with your keyword query.

What can you do with Hacker News keyword data?

Keyword-filtered Hacker News data powers tech market intelligence and brand monitoring:

• Brand health monitoring: Track every HN post mentioning your brand or product. Analyze scores and comment counts to gauge community sentiment over time.
• Technology adoption signals: Monitor discussion volume for emerging technologies. When HN discussion of a technology spikes, mainstream adoption often follows within months.
• Content marketing intelligence: Find which topics in your space generate high engagement on HN. Build content strategies around themes the tech community cares about.
• Founder community research: Track 'Show HN' and 'Ask HN' posts about your industry to understand what builders are creating and what questions they are asking.
• Crisis monitoring: Set up automated extraction for your company name to catch negative posts early. A fast response to a viral HN complaint can prevent reputation damage.
• Recruiting signal identification: Companies mentioned positively on HN attract engineering talent. Monitor competitor brand perception to understand the hiring landscape.

What data does this Hacker News scraper extract?

Each Hacker News search result provides:

Search results show post summaries and engagement metrics. For full comment threads and discussion analysis, pair keyword search extraction with individual post scraping.

Frequently asked questions

Can I search for multiple keywords?
Build your search query on Hacker News with multiple terms, Boolean operators, or quoted phrases before copying the URL. The robot extracts whatever the search returns.

How is the score calculated?
HN scores reflect net upvotes from the community. Higher scores indicate broader agreement that the post is interesting or valuable.

Can I filter by date range?
Yes. Hacker News search supports date range filtering. Apply your date filter before copying the URL and the robot extracts only results within that range.

Does this capture 'Show HN' and 'Ask HN' posts?
Yes. All post types appear in search results - stories, Show HN, Ask HN, and job posts - if they match your keyword.

Is this Hacker News scraper free?
Browse AI's free plan includes credits to run this robot. No credit card required.

Get more data by pairing with these robots

Keyword-specific HN monitoring is one lens - combine with front page tracking and other communities for full tech sentiment analysis:

• Hacker News front page scraper - Monitor the HN front page alongside keyword searches to see what is trending broadly in the tech community.
• Reddit search scraper - Combine Hacker News tech discussions with Reddit's broader community perspectives for comprehensive social listening.
• Google search scraper - Cross-reference HN discussion topics with Google search results to understand how community conversations connect to broader web visibility.