Hacker News Prospecting Skill#

Find warm leads in Hacker News threads — technical founders and buyers actively seeking tools. Uses the free Algolia HN Search API — no API key, no credentials, no rate limits worth worrying about.

How It Works#

The HN Algolia API ( hn.algolia.com) provides full-text search over all HN content — stories, Ask HN threads, and comments — completely free with no auth. This skill searches for buying-intent posts and scores them by lead quality.

Commands#

Run with Node.js: node {baseDir}/hn-prospecting.js <command> [args]

• search <keyword> — Find high-intent HN posts mentioning your keyword
• ask — Find recent "Ask HN" threads (best for tool discovery opportunities)
• front — Get current front page stories (trending technical discussions)
• score — Score an HN post for lead quality

Usage#

bash

node {baseDir}/hn-prospecting.js search "looking for AI agent tool"
node {baseDir}/hn-prospecting.js search "alternative to Zapier"
node {baseDir}/hn-prospecting.js ask "lead generation"
node {baseDir}/hn-prospecting.js front
node {baseDir}/hn-prospecting.js score --title "Ask HN: What do you use for outreach?" --points 45 --comments 32

Environment Variables#

None required. The HN Algolia API is fully public.

Why HN?#

HN readers are disproportionately technical founders, early adopters, and decision-makers — the exact ICP for most B2B SaaS tools. "Ask HN: What tools do you use for X?" threads are goldmines for qualified lead discovery.