Search and filter HackerNews posts by keywords, author, score, and date range
AI agents call search_posts 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 publicly available HackerNews data without creating, modifying, deleting, or executing any operations. It is a standard search/filter capability that returns information based on specified criteria, making it a safe Read operation with minimal risk of misuse.
From the tool's definition Tool is described as 'Search and filter HackerNews posts by keywords, author, score, and date range' — these are all read-only query operations with no mention of modifications, deletions, or side effects.
Documented attack patterns abuse exactly the kind of access search_posts gives an agent:
PolicyLayer is an MCP gateway — it sits between your AI agents and HackerNews MCP Server, and nothing reaches the server without passing your rules. This is the rule we recommend for search_posts:
{
"version": "1",
"default": "deny",
"tools": {
"search_posts": {}
}
}search_posts is read-only, so it stays allowed — but everything else on the server is denied unless you say otherwise.
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Search and filter HackerNews posts by keywords, author, score, and date range. 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 search_posts: 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.
search_posts 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 search_posts 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 search_posts. 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.
search_posts is provided by the HackerNews MCP Server MCP server (traves-theberge/hackernews-mcp-typescript). PolicyLayer sits as a proxy in front of this server to enforce policies before tool calls reach the server.
Start from HackerNews MCP Server, add the rest of your stack, and see everything your agents can call. Then put policy on all of it.
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6 HackerNews MCP Server tools catalogued and risk-classified — across an index of 43,000+ MCP servers.