hn_best

Get the best stories from Hacker News

SERVERHacker News MCP SOURCEimprvhub/mcp-claude-hackernews

Low RISK CLASS

Category Read

Parameters 10 required

Recommended Allowedsee the rule below

Registry record Grade A, identity unverified Pull the record →

This record as markdown: /tools/imprvhub-mcp-claude-hackernews/hn-best.md

WHAT IT DOES

What hn_best does on Hacker News MCP

AI agents call hn_best to retrieve information from Hacker News MCP without modifying anything. It is typically the context-gathering step in research, monitoring, and reporting workflows, before the agent takes action elsewhere.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
`limit`	number	—	Number of stories to fetch (1-50, default: 10)

Parameters from the server's own tool schema.

RISK

Why hn_best is rated Low

This tool performs a simple data retrieval operation against Hacker News, returning stories without creating, modifying, deleting, or executing any operations. It is a straightforward read operation with minimal risk of unintended consequences.

From the tool's definition Tool description states 'Get the best stories from Hacker News' - retrieves data with no modification or side effects. Sibling tools (hn_comments, hn_latest, hn_story, hn_top) are all read-only query operations.

Attacks that exploit this kind of access

RECOMMENDED RULE

The rule that runs hn_best safely

PolicyLayer is an MCP gateway: it sits between your AI agents and Hacker News MCP, and checks every tool call against a rule you set before the call runs. Nothing changes on the server itself. For hn_best, this is the rule to start with:

hn_best Allowed

hn_best is read-only, so it stays allowed. Everything else on the server is denied unless you say otherwise.

View as policy code

policy.json

{
  "version": "1",
  "default": "deny",
  "tools": {
    "hn_best": {}
  }
}

ALLOW ONLY THIS TOOL → Instant setup, no code required.

The button opens the PolicyLayer dashboard: create your workspace, connect Hacker News MCP, apply this rule, and every hn_best call is checked against it from then on.

FAQ

Questions about hn_best

What does the hn_best tool do? +

Get the best stories from Hacker News. It is categorised as a Read tool in the Hacker News MCP MCP Server, which means it retrieves data without modifying state.

What parameters does hn_best accept? +

hn_best accepts 1 parameter: limit. The full parameter table on this page comes from the server's own tool schema.

How do I enforce a policy on hn_best? +

Register the Hacker News MCP server in PolicyLayer and add a rule for hn_best: allow, deny, rate-limit, or require approval. Point your MCP client at the PolicyLayer proxy URL and the rule is enforced on every call, before it reaches Hacker News MCP. Nothing to install.

What risk level is hn_best? +

hn_best is a Read tool with low risk. Read-only tools are generally safe to allow by default.

Can I rate-limit hn_best? +

Yes. Add a rate_limit block to the hn_best rule in your PolicyLayer policy. For example, setting max: 10 and window: 60 limits the tool to 10 calls per minute. Rate limits are tracked per agent session and reset automatically.

How do I block hn_best completely? +

Set action: deny in the PolicyLayer policy for hn_best. The AI agent will receive a policy violation error and cannot call the tool. You can also include a reason field to explain why the tool is blocked.

What MCP server provides hn_best? +

hn_best is provided by the Hacker News MCP server (imprvhub/mcp-claude-hackernews). PolicyLayer sits as a proxy in front of this server to enforce policies before tool calls reach the server.

KEEP EXPLORING

More on Hacker News, and thousands of servers like it.

This server

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