Find the Hacker News conversations worth your attention.
Kanso searches Hacker News for the topics you choose, gathers the context around each conversation, and tells you which ones are worth your time and why. It researches and recommends. Kanso does not post to Hacker News.
Free to start · No credit card required. No Hacker News account needed. See how it works
Finding the right conversation is slow work
Hacker News is full of useful discussion. The hard part is finding the few threads that matter to you, quickly enough to be useful.
Conversations move quickly
Relevant discussions appear and fade within hours, and the front page changes all day.
The lists are broad
The front page, newest, best, Ask HN and Show HN are not about your topic. Finding the part that is takes scanning all of them.
Search is manual
Searching for each topic, for both stories and comments, means running the same searches again and again.
You see the same things twice
Without a record of what you have already looked at, the same threads keep coming back.
Context takes time
A comment only makes sense with its parent, the story and the replies around it, and your own company's position.
Deciding is the hard part
Whether to join a conversation, and what you could usefully add, takes judgment that is easy to rush.
Without Kanso, and with it
- Searching Hacker News for each of your topics
- Scanning the front page, newest, Ask HN and Show HN
- Filtering out what you have already seen
- Opening each thread to read the comment, its parent and the story
- Working out whether it is relevant to your company
- Deciding what is worth acting on
- Your keywords searched across stories and comments, and five Hacker News lists scanned
- Items that do not mention your topics filtered out
- Items you have already been shown, or dismissed, left out
- The thread's context gathered for you
- A reason given for why each conversation is relevant, and what to watch out for
- A recommendation of what to do next, waiting in your Agents Feed
You decide what to do. Kanso does not post to Hacker News.
From a flood of threads to the few worth your time
The Hacker News Agent is a research assistant, not a posting tool. It does the searching, filtering and reading, and leaves every decision, and every word on Hacker News, to you.
Discover
Searches your keywords and scans five Hacker News lists.
Filter
Keeps what mentions your topics and skips what it has seen.
Gather context
Reads the thread, and uses your company context.
Evaluate
Judges whether the conversation is worth your time.
Recommend
Explains why and what to do next.
From your keywords to a recommendation in six steps
Choose your keywords
You tell Kanso what to look for.
- Up to eight words or short phrases, such as a product category or a problem you solve
- Add or remove them any time. Each change is saved straight away
- Kanso needs at least one keyword to recommend anything, because the keyword check comes first
- There is nothing to connect: no Hacker News account and no login
Discover
Kanso reads Hacker News's public data from the last 48 hours.
- Scans the first five stories of the top, new, best, Ask HN and Show HN lists
- Searches stories and comments for each of your keywords
- Reads a few top comments under the stories it finds
- If one source is unavailable, the run carries on with the rest
Filter and deduplicate
Only what is about your topics, and new to you, goes forward.
- An item has to mention one of your keywords, or the title of its story has to
- Each item is looked at once per run, however many ways it was found
- Anything Kanso has already evaluated for your project is not shown again, even if you dismissed it
- Up to fifteen items per run go on to the next step
Gather context
A comment means little without what surrounds it.
- Reads the comment, its parent, the story and the first replies
- Brings in your company context when it is ready
- Adds a few web search results where they are available
- Treats everything from Hacker News or the web as untrusted data, never as instructions
Evaluate and recommend
One AI evaluation per thread, with the whole context in view.
- Decides whether the conversation is worth your time, and says why
- Names the part of it that matters to you, and what to be careful about
- Flags anything that needs fact-checking and shows the evidence it used
- Can conclude that a thread is not worth your time, and keeps it out of your feed
Review and decide
The recommendation waits in your Agents Feed. What happens next is up to you.
- Open the conversation on Hacker News and read it yourself
- Notes only: the points a reply could address, or an idea for a submission, never finished text
- Ask Kanso to re-evaluate the same item, dismiss it, or mark it complete
- Kanso never posts. Anything you write, you write yourself, in your own words
What the Hacker News Agent does
Hacker News discovery
Scans the top, new, best, Ask HN and Show HN lists, reading Hacker News's own public data. No account is needed.
Your keywords
Searches stories and comments for up to eight words or short phrases that you choose and can change at any time.
Relevance filtering
Only items that mention your topics go forward, so you are not shown the rest of Hacker News.
Deduplication
Each item is looked at once, and anything it has already evaluated for you is not shown again.
Thread context
Reads the comment, its parent, the story and the first replies, and brings in your company context.
Reasoned recommendations
Each recommendation says why the conversation matters, what to be careful about, and what needs checking.
Two kinds of opportunity
A conversation worth joining, or an idea for a submission of your own. Or a judgment that it is not worth your time.
Agents Feed delivery
Recommendations wait in your feed. Open one on Hacker News, ask Kanso to re-evaluate it, dismiss it, or mark it complete.
Does not post to Hacker News
It never posts, comments, replies or votes, and never logs in. What you write, and whether you write anything, is up to you.
When it runs
Start a run with Run HN Agent whenever you like. A daily scheduled run is built in and currently paused.
Kanso researches. You take part.
Hacker News has no way for Kanso to post, and Kanso is built not to try. It is a clear line, and it is deliberate.
What Kanso does
- Searches Hacker News for your keywords
- Scans five Hacker News lists
- Filters out what does not match, and what it has already shown you
- Gathers the context around a conversation
- Explains why a conversation is relevant, and what to be careful about
- Recommends what to do next
- Re-evaluates an item when you ask
What Kanso does not do
- Post or submit to Hacker News
- Comment or reply
- Vote
- Log in to or manage a Hacker News account
- Schedule or automate anything on Hacker News
- Write the finished comment or submission for you
- Track karma, votes, replies or results
Why notes and not drafts
Hacker News's guidelines say not to post generated text or AI-edited text. So every recommendation carries a reminder of that, and gives you research notes to work from instead of words to paste. You read the thread, you decide whether to take part, and you disclose your connection to your company if you mention it.
Researching Hacker News by hand, and with Kanso
| Manual Hacker News research | Kanso Hacker News Agent | |
|---|---|---|
| Finding conversations | Browse the lists and search by hand | Scans five Hacker News lists and searches your keywords across stories and comments from the last 48 hours |
| Keeping track of what you have seen | Memory or notes | Remembers every item it has evaluated for your project, and does not show it again |
| Thread context | Open each thread and read it | Gathers the comment, its parent, the story and the first replies |
| Your company's context | In your head | Uses your company context when it is ready |
| Deciding what is relevant | Your own judgment | A recommendation with its reasoning and cautions, which you can have re-evaluated |
| Running it | Whenever you have time | Runs when you start it. Scheduled runs are built in and currently paused |
| Writing a comment or submission | In your own words | Research notes only. You write anything you post, in your own words |
| Posting to Hacker News | You post it yourself | Not provided. Kanso does not post, comment, reply or vote |
| A Hacker News account | Your own account | Not required. Kanso never logs in |
| Measuring results | Hacker News's own pages | Not provided. Kanso does not track karma, votes, replies or results |
This compares doing the research by hand with using Kanso for it. It makes no claim about results: Kanso does not measure traffic, votes or replies, and what you do with a recommendation is up to you.
Part of Kanso, not a separate tool
The Hacker News Agent works from the same company context as Kanso's other agents. Start with your website, and see the pricing page for which plans include it.
Got questions?
Hacker News Agent questions
Where the Hacker News Agent is used
These use cases name this agent in their workflow. Each one says what it produces and where you stay in control.
Startups
Research launch conversations and draft posts when there is no marketing hire yet.
Find Reddit & Hacker News Conversations
Find relevant Reddit threads and Hacker News conversations. Reddit replies are drafted for you to post; Kanso never posts to Hacker News.
Mobile Apps
Find the communities and search topics around your app, and draft the content for them.
Build a Marketing Strategy
Enter your website and Kanso builds the strategy documents, including a marketing strategy and brand voice, that its agents work from.
SaaS
Search, content and community research for software teams whose marketing loses to product work.
Tech Companies
Search and content support for technology companies that sell to developers and buyers.
Find the conversations worth your attention.
Kanso does the searching, filtering and reading, and tells you what is worth a look. You decide what to do, and Kanso never posts to Hacker News. Enter your website to start.
Get started free · No credit card required