Retrieve a specific story by ID with full nested comment tree. Returns complete story details including all comments and replies.
AI agents call get_story to retrieve information from HackerNews MCP Server without modifying anything — typically the context-gathering step in research, monitoring, and reporting workflows, before the agent takes action elsewhere.
This tool retrieves and queries existing Hacker News story data and associated comments. The verb 'Retrieve' and the description emphasizing it 'Returns' data confirm this is a read-only operation with no side effects. No data is created, modified, deleted, or any external operations triggered.
From the tool's definition Tool name 'get_story' and description 'Retrieve a specific story by ID with full nested comment tree. Returns complete story details including all comments and replies.' indicate data retrieval with no modification or deletion.
Attacks that exploit this kind of access
Retrieve a specific story by ID with full nested comment tree. Returns complete story details including all comments and replies. It is categorised as a Read tool in the HackerNews MCP Server MCP Server, which means it retrieves data without modifying state.
Register the HackerNews MCP Server MCP server in PolicyLayer and add a rule for get_story: 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 HackerNews MCP Server. Nothing to install.
get_story 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 get_story 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 get_story. 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.
get_story is provided by the HackerNews MCP Server MCP server (sam3690/hackernews_mcp). PolicyLayer sits as a proxy in front of this server to enforce policies before tool calls reach the server.
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