Hacker News provides current ranked story lists, searchable stories and comments, discussion threads with up to 500 visible comments excluding deleted or flagged ones, and monthly hiring posts with details when stated.
Get discussion
Get a Hacker News story and its comment thread in displayed order from a discussion link or title words. Returns up to 500 visible comments; deleted and flagged comments are excluded.
Your information
Hacker News discussion link or words from the story title, for example https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8863 or Ask HN: What are you working on?
Maximum comments to return, for example 100 (at most 500).
1 credit per completed run
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1. re: the first part, many people want something plug and play. and even if they were plug and play, the problem is that the user experience (on windows at least) with online drives generally sucks, and you don't have disconnected access.
windows for sure doesn't hide latency well (CIFS is bad, webdav etc. are worse), and most apps are written as if the disk was local, and assume, for example, accessing a file only takes a few ms. if the server is 80ms away, and you do 100 accesses (e.g. the open file common dialog listing a directory and poking files for various attributes or icons) serially, suddenly your UI locks up for _seconds_ (joel spolsky summarizes this well in his article on leaky abstractions.) ditto saving any file; you change one character in your 20mb word file and hit save, and your upstream-capped 40k/sec comcast connection is hosed for 8 minutes. sure for docs of a few hundred k it's fine, but doing work on large docs on an online drive feels like walking around with cinder blocks tied to your feet. anyway, the point of that rant was that dropbox uses a _local_ folder with efficient sync in the background, which is an important difference :)
2. true, if you're both not at your computer and on another computer without net access, this won't replace a usb drive :) but the case i'm worried about is being, for example, on a plane, and dropbox will let you get to the most recent version of your docs at the time you were last connected, and will sync everything up when you get back online (without you having to copy anything or really do anything.)
3. there are some unannounced viral parts i didn't get to show in there :) it'll be a freemium model. up to x gb free, tiered plans above that.Show more
You are correct that this presents a very good, easy-to-install piece of functionality for Windows users. The Windows shortcomings that you point out are certainly problems, and I think that your software does a good job of overcoming that.
The part about efficient background sync is a good point, too. I have noticed some minor lagging using curlftpfs in Linux, and that might be something that would make for a better solution in the Linux world, so thanks for that idea.
Your use-case described in #2 does make sense, but I still agree with others' comments here that claiming that it replaces USB drives is a bad idea in general. All of your feedback was well-thought-out and appreciated; I only hope that I was able to give you a sneak preview of some of the potential criticisms you may receive. Best of luck to you!Show more
This is genius. It's is problem everyone is having, and everyone knew it ( http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/lazybackup ). If it really works as well as it looks in that demo then they nailed it. I'm both envious and inspired. I'll be surprised if YC does not fund them.
Drew,
I saw your short demo at BarCamp and I must say Dropbox looks great! Are you planning on having a Linux port as well, or is too early to talk about that?
Also, as another SFP applicant I have to tell you that I really hope you get the funding - you deserve it.
thanks :)
a linux port is doable (mac will come first) -- everything's written in python and was designed from the outset to be portable. although this isn't the initial focus of dropbox, a linux port would be interesting for maintaining small web sites or web apps -- instead of using scp/sftp or equivalent you could just modify the files on your desktop and have them synced to your web host.Show more
Hey Drew,
Congrats on a great product. A linux port would be great for servers - I'm always rsyncing stuff between my linux boxes.
For those who don't have shell access though, it would be cool if you integrated the service with (S)FTP. I don't even think you'd need to sync to the server.
Just giving the user the ability push his/her dropbox public folder to a server using (S)FTP would give your software several new use cases.Show more
+1 on being able to specify a folder inside the dropbox as a "server" folder, which means it has it's own ftp address, user, and password settings. Anything dragged there is automatically synched with that account. I thought of this as well as soon as I read that post about Linux support, as this would work with shared hosting without expecting hosts to install dropbox on their linux boxes. And the data would be backed up as well automatically in a third place (the drop box.) And, you'd have access to retrieve an older version of a file. This basically replaces the need for FTP clients if you also add a way to chmod the folders inside the "server" folder. Sam is 100% right.Show more
All written in Python? I'd love to know a bit more about what you're doing if you can share. I put together a similar tool last year for myself (Windows-only) using NTFS' USN journal, but it sounds like you're doing something different.
The app looks great.
yup; i'd be happy to talk offline about it; shoot me an email at [email protected] .
Reply level 3, 0 direct replies
About the Hacker News tool
Hacker News (HN) lists ranked stories; choose a list and maximum results.
Search stories finds stories or comments using a required query and optional filters.
Get discussion reads a story and its comments from a link or title words; List hiring posts finds monthly job posts with optional filters.
Built from news.ycombinator.com and hn.algolia.com. Last checked Oct 7, 2026.
Actions
Get discussion
1 credit
Get a Hacker News story and its comment thread in displayed order from a discussion link or title words. Returns up to 500 visible comments; deleted and flagged comments are excluded.
Uses Hacker News and hn.algolia.com.
What you provide
Field
Type
Required
Description
Storystory
Text
Required
Hacker News discussion link or words from the story title, for example https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8863 or Ask HN: What are you working on?Example: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8863
Max Commentsmax_comments
Number
Optional
Maximum comments to return, for example 100 (at most 500).Example: 10
What you get
Field
Type
Description
Titletitle
Text
Example: My YC app: Dropbox - Throw away your USB drive
For Story: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8863, Max Comments: 10
JSON
{"title":"My YC app: Dropbox - Throw away your USB drive","author":"dhouston","points":104,"item_id":8863,"comments":[{"link":"https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9224","text":"I have a few qualms with this app:\n1. For a Linux user, you can already build such a system yourself quite trivially by getting an FTP account, mounting it locally with curlftpfs, and then using SVN o…","depth":0,"author":"BrandonM","item_id":9224,"parent_id":8863,"posted_at":"2007-04-05T15:16:54Z","direct_replies":1},{"link":"https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9272","text":"1. re: the first part, many people want something plug and play. and even if they were plug and play, the problem is that the user experience (on windows at least) with online drives generally sucks, …","depth":1,"author":"dhouston","item_id":9272,"parent_id":9224,"posted_at":"2007-04-05T16:47:01Z","direct_replies":1},{"link":"https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9479","text":"You are correct that this presents a very good, easy-to-install piece of functionality for Windows users. The Windows shortcomings that you point out are certainly problems, and I think that your soft…","depth":2,"author":"BrandonM","item_id":9479,"parent_id":9272,"posted_at":"2007-04-06T01:39:04Z","direct_replies":0}],"posted_at":"2007-04-04T19:16:40Z","story_text":null,"website_link":"http://www.getdropbox.com/u/2/screencast.html","comment_count":71,"discussion_link":"https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8863"}
List front page
1 credit
List current Hacker News stories in rank order from the top, newest, best, Ask HN, Show HN, or jobs list. Jobs may not show points, comments, or an author.
What you provide
Field
Type
Required
Description
List Namelist_name
Text
Optional
Hacker News list to read, for example ask_hn.Example: Ask hn
Max Resultsmax_results
Number
Optional
Maximum number of stories to return, for example 60.Example: 10
What you get
Field
Type
Description
Storiesstories
List
Agestories[].age
Text
Relative age as displayed by Hacker News.Example: 4 hours ago
Rankstories[].rank
Number
Position on the list.Example: 1
Titlestories[].title
Text
Story title.Example: Jeff – Jev-compatible 0.8B decision models, trained at home, ~30 ms
Authorstories[].author
Text
Posting user, if shown.Example: Firelex
Pointsstories[].points
Number
Points shown on Hacker News, if available.Example: 230
Item IDstories[].item_id
Number
Hacker News item ID.Example: 49883844
Posted Atstories[].posted_at
Text
Posting time in ISO 8601 UTC, if shown.Example: 2026-09-28T20:23:36Z
Website Linkstories[].website_link
Text
Link to the story website; null for Ask HN or other posts without an external website.Example: https://github.com/firelex/jeff
Comment Countstories[].comment_count
Number
Number of comments shown, if available.Example: 79
Website Domainstories[].website_domain
Text
Domain of the story website.Example: github.com
Discussion Linkstories[].discussion_link
Text
Link to the Hacker News discussion page.Example: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49883844
List top-level job posts from a monthly “Ask HN: Who is hiring?” thread in thread order, with post text, job details and application contact when available. Job details are inferred from posts and may be missing when a post does not state them.
Uses hn.algolia.com.
What you provide
Field
Type
Required
Description
Monthmonth
Text
Optional
Thread month, such as 2026-09 or September 2026. Leave blank for the latest available thread.Example: 2026-08
Keywordskeywords
Text
Optional
Words that must all appear in the full post, ignoring case; for example, remote Python.Example: remote Python
Max Resultsmax_results
Number
Optional
Maximum number of matching posts to return, from 1 to 500; for example, 50.Example: 5
Remote Onlyremote_only
Yes or no
Optional
Only include posts offering remote work; for example, true.Example: Yes
What you get
Field
Type
Description
Job Postsjob_posts
List
Matching top-level posts, in thread order.
Rolesjob_posts[].roles
Text
Job roles named in the post, if clear.Example: Senior Software Engineer (Dev Platform)
Salaryjob_posts[].salary
Text
Salary as written, if stated.Example: 60-100k EUR; 50-90k; 50-90k
Companyjob_posts[].company
Text
Company named in the post, if clear.Example: Proxima Fusion
Locationjob_posts[].location
Text
Location or geographic eligibility stated in the post, if clear.Example: Munich, Germany; ONSITE
Post Textjob_posts[].post_text
Text
Full post in plain text.
Posted Datejob_posts[].posted_date
Date
Date the comment was posted.Example: 2026-08-04
Comment Linkjob_posts[].comment_link
Text
Link to the comment.Example: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49165394
Work Arrangementjob_posts[].work_arrangement
Text
Remote, onsite, hybrid, or null when unclear.Example: Onsite
Application link or email address, if given.Example: https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/proxima-fusion/5aebfef0-0c2c-4c87-990d-bbbbd53b94d2
Thread Linkthread_link
Text
Link to the monthly hiring thread.Example: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49156683
Thread Titlethread_title
Text
Title of the monthly hiring thread.Example: Ask HN: Who is hiring? (August 2026)
Example result
For Month: 2026-08, Max Results: 5
JSON
{"job_posts":[{"roles":"Senior Software Engineer (Dev Platform)","salary":null,"company":"Proxima Fusion","location":"Munich, Germany; ONSITE","post_text":"Proxima Fusion | Senior Software Engineer (Dev Platform) | Munich, Germany | ONSITE | Full-time\nWe're building the world's first commercial stellarator fusion power plant. First spin-out from the Max …","posted_date":"2026-08-04","comment_link":"https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49165394","work_arrangement":"onsite","application_contact":"https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/proxima-fusion/5aebfef0-0c2c-4c87-990d-bbbbd53b94d2"},{"roles":"macOS low-level Open Source Developers","salary":null,"company":"CodeWeavers","location":"St Paul, MN, USA; REMOTE","post_text":"CodeWeavers | St Paul, MN, USA | Full Time | REMOTE | macOS low-level Open Source Developers | C-language systems programming\nhttps://www.codeweavers.com/about/jobs\nCodeWeavers needs new, full-time de…","posted_date":"2026-08-03","comment_link":"https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49159312","work_arrangement":"remote","application_contact":"https://www.codeweavers.com/about/jobs"}],"thread_link":"https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49156683","thread_title":"Ask HN: Who is hiring? (August 2026)"}
Search stories
1 credit
Search Hacker News stories or comments by words, date range and sort order. Comments include their parent story’s website link when one exists; text-only stories have no website link.
Uses hn.algolia.com.
What you provide
Field
Type
Required
Description
Pagepage
Number
Optional
Page number, starting with 1, such as 2.Example: 2
Sortsort
Text
Optional
Order by relevance or newest, such as newest.Example: Newest
Typetype
Text
Optional
Search stories or comments, such as comments.Example: Comments
Queryquery
Text
Required
Words to search for, such as remote work.Example: remote work
Max Resultsmax_results
Number
Optional
Maximum results on this page, such as 20.Example: 3
Time Windowtime_window
Text
Optional
How far back to search, such as past_week.Example: Past month
What you get
Field
Type
Description
Resultsresults
List
Stories or comments matching the search.
Titleresults[].title
Text
Story title.Example: Remote work doesn't seem to affect productivity, Fed study finds
Authorresults[].author
Text
Hacker News author.Example: simula67
Pointsresults[].points
Number
Story points, when available.Example: 848
Item IDresults[].item_id
Text
Hacker News item ID.Example: 39037589
Posted Atresults[].posted_at
Text
Posted date and time in UTC, ISO 8601.Example: 2024-01-18T03:55:56Z
Website URLresults[].website_url
Text
Story website link, or null for a text-only story.Example: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-01-16/remote-work-doesn-t-seem-to…
Comment Textresults[].comment_text
Text
Comment in plain text; null for stories.Example: Trading algorithms at big shops read headline "CEO of company leaves for…
Comment Countresults[].comment_count
Number
Number of story comments; null for comments.Example: 579
Hacker News URLresults[].hacker_news_url
Text
Link to the item on Hacker News.Example: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39037589
Example result
For Query: remote work
JSON
{"results":[{"title":"Remote work doesn't seem to affect productivity, Fed study finds","author":"simula67","points":848,"item_id":"39037589","posted_at":"2024-01-18T03:55:56Z","website_url":"https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-01-16/remote-work-doesn-t-seem-to-affect-productivity-fed-study-finds","comment_text":null,"comment_count":579,"hacker_news_url":"https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39037589"},{"title":"Written communication is remote work super power","author":"snird","points":831,"item_id":"23577228","posted_at":"2020-06-19T18:08:45Z","website_url":"https://snir.dev/blog/remote-async-communication/","comment_text":null,"comment_count":190,"hacker_news_url":"https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23577228"},{"title":"SSH hacks – a little sanity for remote workers","author":"mxfurman","points":770,"item_id":"23025756","posted_at":"2020-04-29T23:20:48Z","website_url":"https://smallstep.com/blog/ssh-tricks-and-tips/","comment_text":null,"comment_count":227,"hacker_news_url":"https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23025756"}]}
For developers
Call it from your code with one request. Change the values in input to run it on new data. To get an API key, open Developers at the bottom of Studio, turn on Developer mode and go to API keys.
Compare roles, salaries, and locations in hiring posts
Find remote jobs in monthly hiring threads
Questions about Hacker News
Can I run it with my own inputs?
Yes. Change the inputs in Studio and press Run, or send new inputs from your code, or ask a connected AI assistant.
Can I call this Hacker News tool as an API?
Yes. Send a POST request to /v1/query with your Fous API key and the inputs, and get JSON back.
How much does it cost?
Each completed run costs 1 credit. Failed runs without a completed receipt are free; completed work can remain charged if delivery is interrupted. With pay as you go, a credit costs 1¢. Monthly plans cost less per credit.
Do I need a Hacker News account?
No. You only need a Fous account.
How current is the data?
Fous gets the data from news.ycombinator.com when you run it. Some results are reused for up to 24 hours, and results that use your account or key are never reused. It was last verified on Oct 7, 2026.
What is trending on Hacker News?
Use List front page to read current stories in rank order from a selected list.
What are people saying about a topic?
Use Search stories to find stories or comments by query, date range, and sort order.
What jobs are listed in a hiring thread?
Use List hiring posts to return top-level posts and available job details from a monthly thread.