# Hacker News Story API (https://www.socialcrawl.dev/platforms/hackernews/story)

> Returns story metadata for a single HN item mapped to the unified Post schema: title at `content.text`, author, points at `engagement.likes`, and `published_at`. `post.url` is the Hacker News discussion permalink (`https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id={id}`), and the submitted article link is at `post.content.media_urls`, which is `string \| string[] \| null` across every platform by canonical design. The nested comment tree is dropped from this response; use `/v1/hackernews/story/comments` for it.

TL;DR: `GET /v1/hackernews/story` costs 1 credit per call and returns SocialCrawl's unified JSON schema. Single x-api-key auth, 100 free credits on signup.

## Parameters

| Parameter | Required | Description |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `id` | yes | HN story id (the numeric `objectID`). |

## Code example

```bash
curl -G "https://www.socialcrawl.dev/v1/hackernews/story" \
  --data-urlencode "id=8863" \
  -H "x-api-key: sc_YOUR_API_KEY"
```

## FAQ

### How do I get a single Hacker News story with an API?

Send a GET request to /v1/hackernews/story with the item ID in the id parameter. SocialCrawl returns that story's title, URL, points, author, created date, and the IDs of its top-level comments (kids), normalized into the unified schema.

### Where do I get the story ID from?

Story IDs come from the /v1/hackernews/search endpoint or directly from a Hacker News item URL, the number after item?id= on news.ycombinator.com. Run a search first, then fan out to this endpoint for each story you want full detail on.

### What fields does the Hacker News Story API return?

Title, external URL, points score, author handle, created timestamp, comment count, and the kids array of child comment IDs. Self-posts (Ask HN, Show HN text) include the body text where Hacker News exposes it.

### How do I read the comments on a story?

The story response includes the kids array of comment IDs, but to pull the full threaded tree call the /v1/hackernews/story/comments endpoint with the same id. That returns each comment's body, author, and nested replies in one response.

### How much does the Hacker News Story API cost?

Each request costs 1 credit on the standard tier. New accounts get 100 free credits with no credit card required, enough to fetch around 100 stories at full detail before you pay anything.

See the full Hacker News API: https://www.socialcrawl.dev/platforms/hackernews

## Pricing

- Standard endpoints: 1 credit per call
- Advanced endpoints: 5 credits per call
- Premium endpoints: 10 credits per call
- 100 free credits on signup, no credit card required. Cached responses cost 0 credits. Credit packs never expire.
- Full pricing: https://www.socialcrawl.dev/pricing

## Explore with AI

Questions this API answers, phrased for an AI assistant:

- How to fetch a single Hacker News story by ID with an API
- What does the SocialCrawl Hacker News Story endpoint return?