---
name: hacker-news-poster-63a6640878fc
description: Post, comment, and interact on Hacker News. Use when the user asks to submit a Show HN, post a story, comment on an HN thread, edit a comment, or update an HN profile. Requires HN_USERNAME and HN_PASSWORD environment variables. Persists session cookies to ~/.hn_cookies.txt (configurable via HN_COOKIE_FILE env var).
---

# Hacker News Poster

Submit stories, comment on threads, edit comments, and update profiles on Hacker News.

## Setup

### Required Environment Variables

| Variable | Required | Description |
|----------|----------|-------------|
| `HN_USERNAME` | Yes | Hacker News username |
| `HN_PASSWORD` | Yes | Hacker News password |
| `HN_COOKIE_FILE` | No | Cookie storage path (defaults to `~/.hn_cookies.txt`) |

### Security Note

Session cookies are stored in plaintext at `HN_COOKIE_FILE` (or `~/.hn_cookies.txt`). These are standard HN session tokens. Delete the file to clear the session.

## CLI

All commands go through `scripts/hn.py`. Always `login` first per session.

```bash
# login (reads HN_USERNAME/HN_PASSWORD from env)
python3 scripts/hn.py login

# submit a link post
python3 scripts/hn.py submit --title "Show HN: My Tool" --url "https://example.com"

# submit a text post (Ask HN, etc.)
python3 scripts/hn.py submit --title "Ask HN: Question?" --text "body text here"

# comment on a story or reply to a comment
python3 scripts/hn.py comment --parent 12345678 --text "your comment"

# edit a comment (only within HN's edit window)
python3 scripts/hn.py edit --id 12345678 --text "updated comment"

# update profile about section
python3 scripts/hn.py profile --username youruser --about "your bio"
```

All commands output JSON on success (`{"ok": true, ...}`) and print errors to stderr.

## Notes

- HN rate-limits submissions and comments. If you get a rate limit error, wait a few minutes.
- Comments can only be edited within ~2 hours of posting.
- The `submit` command returns the new item id and url on success.
- Session cookies are stored in `~/.hn_cookies.txt` to avoid re-authenticating on every command. Delete this file to clear the session.
- For reading HN (search, top stories, comments), use the existing `hacker-news` skill or the HN API directly. This skill is write-only.

## Combining with the read-only HN skill

1. use the `hacker-news` skill to browse/search stories and find interesting threads
2. use this skill to login and post/comment


---
Source attribution: modbender
Original project: https://github.com/modbender/skill-library-mcp/blob/d9c8fe903b5b4e82237dbe8d0df8567783022e18/data/hacker-news-poster/SKILL.md
License: MIT
License information: https://opensource.org/license/mit
Original upstream instructions; downloaded from Mega AI Hub.

## Upstream license notice

MIT License

Copyright (c) 2025 skill-library-mcp contributors

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all
copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE
SOFTWARE.



# Mega AI Hub resource metadata

Creator / publisher: modbender
Original project: https://github.com/modbender/skill-library-mcp/blob/d9c8fe903b5b4e82237dbe8d0df8567783022e18/data/hacker-news-poster/SKILL.md
Attribution basis: Source repository record

Fields of work: Marketing
Roles: Content Marketer, Influencer Marketer, Social Media Manager
Specialties: Specialty not specified
Tools: Hacker News
Country applicability: Country not specified
Classification basis: Source catalog labels
Instruction SHA-256: ff801e0f6af7a5e0906e9c321ceed44ba62c6f97f99d7ee0339124c44402a4e0