# hn_top

Get the top-ranked stories from Hacker News

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

## Facts

- Tool: `hn_top`
- 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: 1
- Recommended policy verdict: Allowed

## Parameters

| Parameter | Type | Required | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `limit` | number | no | Number of stories to fetch (1-50, default: 10) |

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_top",
    "arguments": {}
  }
}
```

## Why hn_top is rated Low

This tool retrieves publicly available Hacker News data without modifying, deleting, or executing anything. The operation is read-only with no blast radius if misused by an AI agent — at worst, it returns content that is already public. No authentication, destructive, financial, or code execution risk is present.

From the tool's own definition: "Tool description states 'Get the top-ranked stories from Hacker News' — a retrieval operation with no side effects. Sibling tools (hn_best, hn_comments, hn_latest, hn_story) are all read-only query operations."

## Use case

AI agents call hn_top 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_top": {}
  }
}
```

## Other tools on Hacker News MCP (4)

- `hn_best` — Read — https://policylayer.com/tools/imprvhub-mcp-claude-hackernews/hn-best.md
- `hn_comments` — Read — https://policylayer.com/tools/imprvhub-mcp-claude-hackernews/hn-comments.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

## 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