Hacker News Lead Finder

Find high-intent leads on Hacker News via the free Algolia API — no API key needed. Score posts, surface Ask HN threads, and identify technical founders acti...

Security Scan

The skill's code and instructions match its stated purpose: it queries the public HN Algolia API, scores posts for lead intent, and requires no credentials or special installs.

Purpose & Capability

Name/description claim lead discovery on Hacker News; included code implements searches against hn.algolia.com, scoring, and CLI usage. Requested resources (none) align with this purpose.

Instruction Scope

SKILL.md directs the agent to run the bundled Node.js CLI and use the Algolia HN API. The runtime instructions and code only access Hacker News data and print/return analyses; they do not read unrelated files or environment variables.

Install Mechanism

No install spec; this is an instruction+code skill that runs with Node.js. No downloads from arbitrary URLs or packaged install steps are present.

Credentials

No environment variables, credentials, or config paths are requested. package.json declares no required env. Network access to hn.algolia.com is expected and proportional to the function.

Persistence & Privilege

Skill is user-invocable and not always-enabled. It does not modify other skills or system-wide settings and does not request persistent privileges.

Assessment

This skill appears coherent and implements what it says: it queries the public hn.algolia.com API, scores posts for buying intent, and prints results. Before installing or running: 1) ensure you have Node.js >=18 (package.json specifies this); 2) be aware it makes outbound HTTPS requests to hn.algolia.com (no hidden endpoints or credentials); 3) if you plan to reach out to leads found, follow Hacker News community norms and disclose affiliations; 4) review the included hn-prospecting.js source yourself if you want to be extra cautious (the code is small and readable). Overall there are no disproportionate permissions or secret requests.

Hacker News Prospecting Skill

Find warm leads in Hacker News threads — technical founders and buyers actively seeking tools. Uses the free Algolia HN Search API — no API key, no credentials, no rate limits worth worrying about.

How It Works

The HN Algolia API (hn.algolia.com) provides full-text search over all HN content — stories, Ask HN threads, and comments — completely free with no auth. This skill searches for buying-intent posts and scores them by lead quality.

Commands

Run with Node.js: node {baseDir}/hn-prospecting.js <command> [args]

• search <keyword> — Find high-intent HN posts mentioning your keyword
• ask — Find recent "Ask HN" threads (best for tool discovery opportunities)
• front — Get current front page stories (trending technical discussions)
• score — Score an HN post for lead quality

Usage

node {baseDir}/hn-prospecting.js search "looking for AI agent tool"
node {baseDir}/hn-prospecting.js search "alternative to Zapier"
node {baseDir}/hn-prospecting.js ask "lead generation"
node {baseDir}/hn-prospecting.js front
node {baseDir}/hn-prospecting.js score --title "Ask HN: What do you use for outreach?" --points 45 --comments 32

Environment Variables

None required. The HN Algolia API is fully public.

Why HN?

HN readers are disproportionately technical founders, early adopters, and decision-makers — the exact ICP for most B2B SaaS tools. "Ask HN: What tools do you use for X?" threads are goldmines for qualified lead discovery.