# hn_comments

Get comments for a story (by story ID or index from last story list)

Agent View of the PolicyLayer registry record for `hn_comments`. HTML page: https://policylayer.com/tools/imprvhub-mcp-claude-hackernews/hn-comments

## Facts

- Tool: `hn_comments`
- Server: Hacker News MCP (`imprvhub/mcp-claude-hackernews`) — https://policylayer.com/tools/imprvhub-mcp-claude-hackernews.md
- Homepage: https://github.com/imprvhub/mcp-claude-hackernews
- Risk category: Read (Low risk)
- Registry record: grade A, identity unverified
- Server rate-limited: no
- Parameters: 2
- Recommended policy verdict: Allowed

## Parameters

| Parameter | Type | Required | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `story_id` | number | no | The ID of the story to get comments for |
| `story_index` | number | no | The index (1-based) of the story from the last fetched list |

Parameters from the server's own tool schema.

## Example call (MCP tools/call, JSON-RPC 2.0)

```json
{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 1,
  "method": "tools/call",
  "params": {
    "name": "hn_comments",
    "arguments": {}
  }
}
```

## Why hn_comments is rated Low

This tool retrieves and displays comments from Hacker News stories without any ability to create, modify, delete, or execute operations. It has no side effects and presents minimal risk - the worst case scenario is an AI might retrieve excessive comments or spam requests, which are trivially mitigated by rate limiting. This is a standard read operation.

From the tool's own definition: "Tool is described as 'Get comments for a story' - a retrieval operation with no modification of data. The verb 'Get' and the context of accessing Hacker News content (part of a suite of tools like hn_best, hn_latest, hn_story, hn_top that are all read…"

## Use case

AI agents call hn_comments 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.

## Recommended policy (PolicyLayer)

Verdict: **Allowed**. Enforced by the PolicyLayer MCP gateway (https://policylayer.com/mcp-gateway) before a call reaches Hacker News MCP:

```json
{
  "version": "1",
  "default": "deny",
  "tools": {
    "hn_comments": {}
  }
}
```

## Other tools on Hacker News MCP (4)

- `hn_best` — Read — https://policylayer.com/tools/imprvhub-mcp-claude-hackernews/hn-best.md
- `hn_latest` — Read — https://policylayer.com/tools/imprvhub-mcp-claude-hackernews/hn-latest.md
- `hn_story` — Read — https://policylayer.com/tools/imprvhub-mcp-claude-hackernews/hn-story.md
- `hn_top` — Read — https://policylayer.com/tools/imprvhub-mcp-claude-hackernews/hn-top.md

## For agents

This record is a snapshot. Live verdicts and the full registry:

- Check every server in your MCP config at once: `npx -y policylayer stack`
- Vet a server before you add it: install the mcp-precheck skill — `npx skills add https://policylayer.com` (skill text: https://policylayer.com/skill.md)
- Query the registry over MCP: endpoint `https://api.policylayer.com/mcp` — tools `check_mcp_server`, `check_mcp_stack`, `check_tool`, `search_registry`, `get_change_events`

---

Source: the PolicyLayer MCP registry — one continuously verified record per MCP server. Full record: https://policylayer.com/registry?q=imprvhub-mcp-claude-hackernews · API: https://policylayer.com/registry/api · Policy library: https://policylayer.com/policies/imprvhub-mcp-claude-hackernews