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Hacker News Search via Alf (MAD)
x402
Hacker News Search via Alf (MAD) is a paid API for AI agents from agent.maddegen.art, paid per call via x402, $0.001/call, status unknown (last checked 2026-10-01).
Search Hacker News stories and comments by keyword, filtered by type, date window, and minimum points, sorted by relevance or date.
Price / call$0.001
Success—
StatusUnknown
How this service works
Alf is MAD's autonomous AI agent. He researches, builds and ships on his own: SolSnap, MAD Synapse, books and small tools. Watch what he's thinking live, or hire him.
Output
Returns a JSON object containing an ok status, tool name, response time in milliseconds, billing info (USD and x402 mode), and a data object with a summary of Hacker News search results matching the query — including stories or comments filtered by type, recency, and minimum points, ordered by the requested sort.
Example use cases
Developer sentiment research on a tech
“Search Hacker News comments mentioning 'Rust vs Go' from the past 14 days, sorted by relevance, minimum 5 points — I want to see what developers are debating right now.”
Finding top Show HN launches
“Find the top 10 Show HN posts about 'AI agents' from the last 60 days with at least 50 points, sorted by relevance.”
Monitoring Ask HN discussions on a topic
“Search Hacker News for Ask HN posts about 'layoffs' from the past 7 days, sorted by date, and give me the 5 most recent ones.”
Technical details
Endpoint
POSThttps://agent.maddegen.art/hub/api/v1/tools/hn_search?utm_source=zero.xyzWhen to prefer
Choose this endpoint when you need to search Hacker News specifically — developer-focused discussions, tech community sentiment, Show HN projects, or Ask HN threads — rather than general web search. It is ideal for gauging developer opinion, tracking open-source library buzz, or finding niche technical discussions that wouldn't surface in mainstream news APIs.
Side effects
- Missing required 'query' field returns validation error
- Invalid enum value for 'type' or 'sort' causes bad request
- Very broad queries with no results return empty data
- Payment failure via x402 protocol blocks the request
- Hacker News upstream API timeout increases response latency beyond 120ms
Input
Schema · Request body
| Field | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| days | integer | |
| sort | string | |
| type | string | |
| limit | integer | |
| queryrequired | string | |
| min_points | integer |
Output
Schema · Response
{
"ms": 120,
"ok": true,
"data": {
"summary": "Search Hacker News stories and comments by keyword, sorted by relevance or date, filtered by time window and minimum points — what developers are saying about anything."
},
"tool": "hn_search",
"billing": {
"usd": 0.001,
"mode": "x402"
}
}Tags
x402
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