Hacker News Community Engagement Skill

Overview

This skill enables authentic Hacker News engagement by discovering relevant discussions, crafting thoughtful responses, and tracking engagement history.

Actions

Action File When to Use

Login references/login.md Authenticate with HN before engaging

Research references/research.md Find discussions, search topics, build thread database

Engage references/engage.md Comment on discussions or submit new posts

Data Files

File Purpose

.business_growth/marketing/social/BUSINESS.md

Shared business context (required)

.business_growth/marketing/social/hackernews/strategy.md

Hacker News engagement strategy (overall approach, topics, expertise areas)

.business_growth/marketing/social/hackernews/{YYYY-MM}/{YYYY-MM-DD}.md

Daily threads and engagement log

community-pulse/skills/hackernews/.env.profiles.local

HN credentials (gitignored)

Quick Start

• First time? → Run Login to authenticate, then Research to find discussions

• Have threads? → Run Engage to comment or submit posts

• Before any Research or Engagement → The strategy file at .business_growth/marketing/social/hackernews/strategy.md is loaded automatically. If it doesn't exist, you'll be asked if you want to create one.

Decision Flow

User Request │ ├─► "Login" / "Sign in" / "Authenticate" │ └─► Load references/login.md │ ├─► "Find threads" / "Research" / "Discover" / "Search HN" │ └─► Load references/research.md │ ├─► "Comment" / "Post" / "Submit" / "Engage" / "Reply" │ └─► Load references/engage.md │ └─► Unclear └─► Ask: "Would you like me to research HN discussions or engage with existing ones?"

Browser MCP Quick Reference

Get Browser Context

tabs_context_mcp (get available tabs) tabs_create_mcp (create new tab if needed)

Navigation

navigate (url, tabId)

Reading Page

read_page (tabId) - Get page structure get_page_text (tabId) - Get text content screenshot - Visual verification

Finding Elements

find (query, tabId) - Natural language element search

Interaction

form_input (ref, value, tabId) - Fill form fields computer (action: "left_click", coordinate, tabId) - Click elements computer (action: "scroll", scroll_direction, tabId) - Scroll page computer (action: "type", text, tabId) - Type text

Important Notes

• Authentication: Use login skill or ensure manual login before engaging

• Karma Requirements: New accounts have limited posting ability; commenting builds karma

• Rate Limits: HN limits posting frequency - wait between submissions

• Culture: HN values substance, intellectual curiosity, and technical depth

• Showdead: Flagged/dead comments are hidden - avoid promotional or low-quality content

• User Approval: ALL engagement actions require explicit user confirmation