hn_latest
Get the latest/newest stories from Hacker News
This record as markdown: /tools/imprvhub-mcp-claude-hackernews/hn-latest.md
What hn_latest does on Hacker News MCP
AI agents call hn_latest 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.
Why hn_latest is rated Low
This tool retrieves and queries Hacker News story data without creating, modifying, deleting, or executing any operations. It is a straightforward read-only operation that returns information to the user with no impact on system state or data integrity.
From the tool's definition Tool name 'hn_latest' and description 'Get the latest/newest stories from Hacker News' indicate data retrieval with no modification or side effects.
Attacks that exploit this kind of access
The rule that runs hn_latest 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_latest, this is the rule to start with:
hn_latest is read-only, so it stays allowed. Everything else on the server is denied unless you say otherwise.
The button opens the PolicyLayer dashboard: create your workspace, connect Hacker News MCP, apply this rule, and every hn_latest call is checked against it from then on.
Questions about hn_latest
Get the latest/newest 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.
hn_latest accepts 1 parameter: limit. The full parameter table on this page comes from the server's own tool schema.
Register the Hacker News MCP server in PolicyLayer and add a rule for hn_latest: 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.
hn_latest is a Read tool with low risk. Read-only tools are generally safe to allow by default.
Yes. Add a rate_limit block to the hn_latest 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.
Set action: deny in the PolicyLayer policy for hn_latest. 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.
hn_latest 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.
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