Hacker News Plugin

Browse Hacker News directly from your terminal - view top stories, best stories, new stories, Ask HN, Show HN, and job postings.

Features

• Multiple Topics: Browse Top, Best, New, Ask HN, Show HN, and Jobs
• Story Details: View scores, comment counts, authors, and time posted
• Interactive Browser: Navigate and interact with stories using keyboard
• Quick Actions: Open articles, view comments, or copy URLs
• Smart Caching: Responses cached for 5 minutes to reduce API calls
• Domain Extraction: See which domain each story links to

Installation

lla install
# Then enable the plugin
lla use  # Select hackernews

Usage

View Stories by Topic

lla plugin run hackernews top      # Top stories (front page)
lla plugin run hackernews best     # Best stories
lla plugin run hackernews new      # Newest stories
lla plugin run hackernews ask      # Ask HN
lla plugin run hackernews show     # Show HN
lla plugin run hackernews jobs     # Job postings

Open a Story

# After viewing a list, open story #1
lla plugin run hackernews open -- 1

View Comments

# Open HN comments for story #1
lla plugin run hackernews comments -- 1

Copy Story URL

# Copy URL of story #1 to clipboard
lla plugin run hackernews copy -- 1

Interactive Browser

lla plugin run hackernews browse --       # Browse default topic
lla plugin run hackernews browse -- top   # Browse specific topic

Interactive Menu

lla plugin run hackernews menu

Clear Cache

lla plugin run hackernews clear-cache

Show Help

lla plugin run hackernews help

Configuration

The plugin stores its configuration in ~/.config/lla/hackernews/config.toml:

default_topic = "Top"           # Default topic to show
story_count = 30                # Number of stories to fetch
cache_duration_secs = 300       # Cache duration (5 minutes)

[colors]
success = "bright_green"
info = "bright_cyan"
title = "bright_white"
score = "bright_yellow"
comments = "bright_cyan"
domain = "bright_blue"
time = "bright_black"
author = "bright_magenta"

Output Example

🔥 Top Stories (30 stories)
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
  1. Show HN: I built a terminal file manager in Rust (github.com)
     ▲342 💬89 • by rustdev 3h ago

  2. The decline of the American mall (nytimes.com)
     ▲256 💬145 • by journalist 5h ago

  3. PostgreSQL 17 Released (postgresql.org)
     ▲198 💬67 • by pgfan 2h ago

  4. Ask HN: What's your favorite CLI tool? (news.ycombinator.com)
     ▲167 💬234 • by curious_dev 4h ago

  5. Why I switched from VS Code to Neovim (medium.com)
     ▲134 💬89 • by vimuser 6h ago
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
   ℹ️  Use 'open <number>' to open a story in your browser

Interactive Browser

The interactive browser (browse action) provides a keyboard-driven interface:

1. Use arrow keys to navigate stories
2. Press Enter to select a story
3. Choose to:
   • 🔗 Open article in browser
   • 💬 Open HN comments
   • 📋 Copy URL to clipboard
4. Use menu options to:
   • 🔄 Refresh stories
   • 📋 Change topic
   • ← Go back

API Information

This plugin uses the official Hacker News API:

• Stories are fetched in batches for better performance
• Results are cached locally for 5 minutes
• No authentication required

Tips

1. Stay Updated: Use top for trending stories, new for the latest
2. Job Hunting: The jobs topic shows YC startup job postings
3. Quick Browse: Use browse for a keyboard-driven experience
4. Clear Cache: Use clear-cache if stories seem stale