No install? Use cloud.anythingmcp.com directly.
Sign in, install the Hacker News in one click, paste the credentials, mint an MCP API key — done. No Docker, no git clone, no local server to run.
TL;DR
Read Hacker News (stories, comments, users, top/new/best/ask/show/job lists) from any AI agent via the official Firebase API. 8 tools, no auth.
💡 No install? Use cloud.anythingmcp.com directly. Sign in, click Connectors → Hacker News, paste your credentials, mint an MCP API key — done. No Docker, no
git clone, no local server.
Hacker News + Cursor
Read Hacker News (stories, comments, users, top/new/best/ask/show/job lists) from any AI agent via the official Firebase API. 8 tools, no auth.
Prerequisites
See the full setup instructions baked into the connector (visible in the in-app store when you select the connector). The required environment variables for this connector are:
(none — public API)
Step 1 — Get credentials
This connector wraps the official Hacker News API hosted on Firebase (hacker-news.firebaseio.com).
Setup: nothing. The API is public, read-only, and unauthenticated.
No write access: the official API is READ-ONLY. There is no way to post stories, comments, or vote via this connector — those require a session cookie obtained by submitting an HTML login form to news.ycombinator.com, which is out of scope for an MCP adapter.
Two-step pattern: list endpoints return arrays of integer IDs only (e.g. top 500 story IDs). You must then fetch each ID via hackernews_get_item to get the actual title/url/text/score. Plan accordingly — fetching 500 top stories means 501 requests.
…(continued in the in-app connector instructions)
Step 2 — Install the adapter
git clone https://github.com/HelpCode-ai/anythingmcp.git
cd anythingmcp && docker compose up -d
Step 3 — Add the connector in Cursor
Cursor reads MCP servers from ~/.cursor/mcp.json. Add this entry:
{
"mcpServers": {
"anythingmcp": {
"url": "https://cloud.anythingmcp.com/mcp",
"headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_MCP_API_KEY" }
}
}
}
- Get your MCP API key from AnythingMCP → Profile → MCP API Keys → New Key.
- Save the file and restart Cursor.
- Open Cursor → Settings → MCP to verify
Hacker Newsis listed and "Connected". - Start chatting — all
Hacker Newstools are now invokable.
Available tools
| Tool | What it does |
|---|---|
hackernews_top_stories | Returns an array of up to 500 item IDs for the current front-page (top) stories |
hackernews_new_stories | Returns an array of up to 500 newest story IDs |
hackernews_best_stories | Returns an array of up to 500 'best' story IDs (HN's algorithmic top) |
hackernews_ask_stories | Returns up to 200 Ask HN story IDs |
hackernews_show_stories | Returns up to 200 Show HN story IDs |
hackernews_job_stories | Returns up to 200 'Who is hiring / job' story IDs |
hackernews_get_item | Fetch a single item (story, comment, job, poll, pollopt) by ID |
hackernews_get_user | Fetch user profile by case-sensitive username: returns id, created, karma, about, submitted (array of recent item IDs) |
FAQ
Does Cursor support custom MCP servers on the free tier? Yes — MCP is available on Hobby, Pro and Business plans.
Next steps
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