Convert Hacker News to Markdown

Hacker News is one of the internet's most valuable communities for technology, startups, and intellectual discourse. The comment threads often contain expert insights, technical deep-dives, and informed debates.

AnyPost converts Hacker News stories and their comment threads to clean, readable Markdown.

Why Convert Hacker News to Markdown?

Preserve Expert Discussions

HN threads contain:

• Technical explanations from industry practitioners
• Founder insights about building companies
• Research discussions with primary sources
• Historical context — how the tech community reacted to events

Converting to Markdown lets you:

• Archive before threads age off the front page
• Quote accurately with full attribution
• Search offline in your notes app
• Feed to AI for summarization and analysis

Research and Reference

Researchers and writers use HN as a source:

• Technology trends — what's gaining traction
• Industry sentiment — reactions to news and products
• Expert validation — knowledgeable opinions
• Historical record — how opinions change over time

How It Works

URL Format

Before: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38000000
After:  https://anypost.md/hackernews/item?id=38000000

Including Comments

HN's nested comments are one of its best features:

# Story + comments (flat 10 credits)
https://anypost.md/hackernews/item?id=38000000?comments=on

# Up to 50 comments
https://anypost.md/hackernews/item?id=38000000?comments=50

Sample Output

Story Only

# Show HN: I built a tool to convert social posts to Markdown

**URL:** https://anypost.md

I built this because I was tired of copy-pasting from social platforms and getting formatting noise. Now I just swap the domain and get clean Markdown.

Supports X, Reddit, Bluesky, Mastodon, and more.

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💬 127 points · 45 comments · Hacker News · [View on HN](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38000000)

Story with Comments

# Show HN: I built a tool to convert social posts to Markdown

[Story content...]

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## Comments

### @tptacek · 89 points
This is actually useful. I've been scraping Twitter/X for years and the API changes are a nightmare. A simple domain swap is much cleaner.

**Reply from @dang:**
> We should consider adding this to the HN tools list.

**Reply from @tptacek:**
> The Pro tier pricing seems reasonable given the proxy infrastructure required.

### @patio11 · 67 points
How do you handle rate limiting from the various platforms?

**Reply from @author:**
> We use a combination of caching, queuing, and multiple proxy paths. Each platform adapter handles its own rate limit strategy.

### @jgrahamc · 45 points
Does it handle threads on X properly? The threading model there is complex.

**Reply from @author:**
> Yes, we follow the reply chain and unroll threads in chronological order. Same-author replies are the key signal.

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127 points · 45 comments total · Hacker News · [View on HN](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38000000)

Comment Thread Structure

Hacker News's famous nested threading becomes nested Markdown:

- Top-level comment
  - Reply
    - Nested reply
      - Deep thread
        - Even deeper
  - Another reply
- Another top-level comment

The structure preserves the conversational flow.

What's Included

AnyPost extracts:

Element	Included
Story title	✓
Story URL	✓
Story text	✓ (for text posts)
Author	✓
Points	✓
Comment count	✓
Timestamp	✓
Full comment tree	With ?comments=on
Comment scores	✓
Comment timestamps	✓

Free Tier Available

Hacker News is included in the free tier:

Feature	Free Tier	With API Key
Story only	5/month	Unlimited
Story + comments	—	10 credits flat
Up to 50 comments	—	10 credits flat

Pricing Note

Hacker News story + comments is a flat 10-credit conversion, regardless of comment count (up to 50). This makes it economical for archiving full discussions.

API Usage

# Story only (free tier)
curl "https://anypost.md/hackernews/item?id=38000000"

# With comments (10 credits)
curl -H "Authorization: Bearer apk_live_xxx"   "https://anypost.md/hackernews/item?id=38000000?comments=on"

# Up to 50 comments (still 10 credits)
curl -H "Authorization: Bearer apk_live_xxx"   "https://anypost.md/hackernews/item?id=38000000?comments=50"

# JSON API
curl -H "Authorization: Bearer apk_live_xxx"   "https://anypost.md/api/convert?url=https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38000000&comments=on"

Use Cases

Research Archives

Build collections of technical discussions:

# Weekly HN roundup
for item_id in $(cat hn-items.txt); do
  curl -H "Authorization: Bearer apk_live_xxx"     "https://anypost.md/hackernews/item?id=${item_id}?comments=on"
done > ~/research/hn-roundup-$(date +%Y%m%d).md

Technical Documentation

HN often has better explanations than official docs:

# Save a great technical thread
curl -H "Authorization: Bearer apk_live_xxx"   "https://anypost.md/hackernews/item?id=tech-thread-id?comments=50"   > ~/docs/hn-explanations/$(date +%Y%m%d)-topic.md

Sentiment Analysis

Track how HN reacts to products:

Analyze the sentiment in these Hacker News comments:

[paste anypost.md output]

Identify the main criticisms and praise. What patterns do you see?

Ask HN and Show HN

All HN post types are supported:

Post Type	URL Pattern	Output
Story	/item?id=	Title + URL + comments
Ask HN	/item?id=	Title + text + comments
Show HN	/item?id=	Title + URL + text + comments
Poll	/item?id=	Title + poll + comments

Troubleshooting

"Some comments are missing" Comments may be flagged, deleted, or [dead]. AnyPost captures visible comments only.

"[dead] comments aren't included" Dead comments (flagged by users) are intentionally excluded as they often violate guidelines.

"Comment threads are too deep" HN threads can go 10+ levels deep. Deep nesting may be slightly flattened for Markdown readability.

Related Conversions

• Convert Reddit threads
• Convert all supported platforms
• API documentation

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Last updated: May 28, 2026