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Automate Hacker News

Turn the repetitive Hacker News work you do by hand (open the front page, read stories and points) into a workflow Writ runs for you, on your own account, on a schedule or on demand.

Automate Hacker News See how it works
Writ runs on your own accounts, with your own credentials and data, on sites you are authorized to use.
Hacker News workflow
  1. 1
    open the front page
  2. 2
    read stories and points
  3. 3
    search a query
  4. 4
    export results

✓ Recorded once, then run for you

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why

Stop doing Hacker News by hand

The Hacker News tasks you repeat (open the front page, read stories and points, search a query) are exactly the kind of work a computer should do. But Hacker News only exposes part of it through an API, and the flow runs behind a login and dynamic pages. Hacker News has a read-only Firebase API for items; the front-page ranking and live points are read in the browser for monitoring.

Writ closes that gap. Record the Hacker News task once (or describe it to an AI session) and Writ runs it for you in a real browser, on your own account. Writ runs on your own accounts, with your own credentials and data, on sites you are authorized to use.

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automate

Hacker News tasks Writ can run for you

Each of these is a real Hacker News action, captured into a workflow and run on your own account.

{ }open the front page
{ }read stories and points
{ }search a query
{ }export results

Workflows extract structured fields such as story title, points, comment count, author along the way: typed data you can route anywhere.

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build

Three ways to build your Hacker News automation

Pick whichever fits the task. All three produce the same workflow Writ can run for you.

✦Record itDo the Hacker News task once in a real browser (open the front page, then read stories and points) and the recorder captures every step into a reusable workflow.
✦Describe it to AITell an AI session your goal on Hacker News in plain language; it drives the live page and builds the workflow for you, no recording needed.
✦Discover itLet API discovery watch Hacker News's own network calls as you browse, then turn the underlying requests into a fast, headless workflow.

Built on the same engine as the recorder and workflows, with 30+ step types.

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the hard web

Login, 2FA, and dynamic pages on Hacker News

The reason Hacker News is tedious to automate is the same reason most tools can't. Writ handles it.

Hacker News pages are public; Writ renders them in real Chromium to capture front-page ranking and point counts as they change.

PersonasTOTP & mailbox OTP AI navigationReal Chromium rendering
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when it runs

Run the Hacker News automation on your terms

On a schedule, on demand, or the instant something changes. You choose the trigger.

✦On a scheduleRun the Hacker News task every hour, every morning, or any cadence. No one has to remember to do it.
✦On demandTrigger a single run from the dashboard, a webhook, your code, or an AI agent, whenever you need it.
✦On a changeWatch Hacker News for new story matching a query or points threshold and fire the automation the instant it happens.
  1. 1
    Build the Hacker News workflow once

    Record the task, describe it to AI, or discover it from the network. Writ captures each step, including login and 2FA, into a workflow you can edit.

  2. 2
    Run it on your terms

    Run it on demand, on a schedule, or fire it from a Monitor when Hacker News changes. It runs on your own Hacker News account, in a real browser.

  3. 3
    Call it from anything

    The same workflow is a REST endpoint at /v1/hackernews/run and an MCP tool, so your code, a no-code tool, or an AI agent can trigger the Hacker News automation too.

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watch

Trigger the Hacker News automation on a change

Monitor Hacker News for new story matching a query, points threshold, front-page entry and run your workflow the moment it happens.

Monitors check as fast as every 10s (10s on Enterprise). A detected change becomes a trigger that runs your Hacker News automation in seconds. Monitor Hacker News ▸

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run it

Free on your own machine, or on cloud

Local / BYO agent

No compute charge. The agent runs on your hardware, so it can reach Hacker News even from an intranet or VPN-only network, and your AI keys never leave your machine.

Writ cloud

Metered by running time at $0.12 per browser-hour, drawn from your plan’s included usage. No infrastructure to manage.

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callable

The same Hacker News automation is an API and an MCP tool

Automating Hacker News for yourself and calling it from software are the same workflow. Once you have it, publish it as a REST endpoint at/v1/hackernews/run and a matching MCP tool, so your code or an AI agent can trigger the Hacker News task too.

Hacker News API Hacker News MCP tools
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other ways

Other ways to work with Hacker News

Hacker News APICall Hacker News as a REST endpoint from your own software.Website to API Hacker News MCP toolsExpose Hacker News as MCP tools your agent can call.For AI agents Monitor Hacker NewsWatch Hacker News and act the instant it changes.Change detection WorkflowsHow recorded workflows run, with login, 2FA, and 30+ step types.Product
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faq

Automating Hacker News: questions

How do I automate Hacker News?
Record the Hacker News task once in the recorder (open the front page, read stories and points, search a query) or describe your goal to an AI session. Writ turns it into a workflow it can run for you on a schedule or on demand, on your own Hacker News account. It usually takes minutes, not a backend project.
Is it allowed to automate Hacker News this way?
Collect Hacker News data you have the right to access and respect its guidelines and rate limits. Writ runs on your own accounts, with your own credentials and data, on sites you are authorized to use.
Does Hacker News automation work behind login and 2FA?
Hacker News pages are public; Writ renders them in real Chromium to capture front-page ranking and point counts as they change. Writ handles TOTP and mailbox-OTP two-factor through Personas, so the automation runs inside your own authenticated Hacker News session.
Can I run the Hacker News automation without writing code?
Yes. Recording and AI sessions need no code at all. If you do want to trigger it from software, the same workflow is a REST endpoint and an MCP tool, but that is optional.
Where does it run, and what does it cost?
Run it on your own machine with a local or BYO agent for no compute charge, useful when Hacker News is only reachable from your network or VPN. Or run it on metered cloud at $0.12 per browser-hour, drawn from your plan’s included usage. Start free.
rec ▸ ready ●

Automate Hacker News in minutes

Record it once, then let Writ run it for you: on a schedule, on demand, or on a change. Get started free.

Get started