hnrss: custom RSS feeds for Hacker News

Hacker News has no RSS. Or rather, it doesn't have the RSS I'd want: a single front-page feed with no filters or searches. Luckily there's hnrss.org, which generates custom, real-time feeds from the site and Algolia's search API.

What hnrss.org is¶

It's a service (with open source) that exposes dozens of endpoints. You build the URL around whatever you want to follow and get valid RSS over HTTPS. The main feed types:

• Firehose: everything new, posts and comments. text https://hnrss.org/newest https://hnrss.org/newcomments https://hnrss.org/frontpage
• Searches: posts or comments containing a keyword. text https://hnrss.org/newest?q=rust https://hnrss.org/newcomments?q=kubernetes You can combine terms with OR and percent-encode reserved characters (e.g. C%2B%2B).
• Replies: comments replying to a user or a specific comment. text https://hnrss.org/replies?id=USERNAME https://hnrss.org/replies?id=17752464
• Points and activity: only items above a threshold. text https://hnrss.org/newest?points=300 https://hnrss.org/newest?comments=250
• Self-posts: Ask HN, Show HN and polls. text https://hnrss.org/ask https://hnrss.org/show https://hnrss.org/polls
• Jobs: YC startup openings and the monthly "Who is hiring?" threads.
• Users: what a given person posts or comments.

Besides RSS, any endpoint accepts .atom or .jsonfeed at the end:

https://hnrss.org/frontpage.atom
https://hnrss.org/ask.jsonfeed?comments=10

Parameters I use¶

The ones I get the most out of:

• points=N and comments=N to filter firehose noise. It's the quickest way to turn down the volume on newest.
• q=... to watch specific topics without opening a browser.
• count=N to get more than the default 20 items (hard limit of 100).
• link=comments so the item link points to the HN thread instead of the original article.
• description=0 if you only want links, with no description.

https://hnrss.org/newest?q=linux&points=100&count=50

How I use it in my NAS FreshRSS¶

I run FreshRSS in Docker on the NAS, which is my central feed reader. Adding an hnrss feed works like any other: in the web UI, Subscription → Add a feed, paste the URL, done.

What I have set up:

• The front page (/frontpage) for the daily pulse.
• A couple of per-topic searches (?q=python, ?q=postgres) with a minimum points, which is where saving time really pays off.
• The "Who is hiring?" threads filtered with q= whenever I feel like checking the market.

Since FreshRSS fetches on a schedule, it's worth tuning the frequency. The hnrss docs ask you to be especially conservative with the endpoints that scrape HN (e.g. /favorites), so a long interval is better there. For the rest, updating every 30-60 minutes is plenty: HN isn't going anywhere in that time.

The advantage of having it all in FreshRSS is obvious: a single place where I read, star and search, with my own filtering rules, and without depending on the HN front page or its ranking.

Source: Hacker News RSS