Alternatives
Products that do what I made a browser extension for building your own custom HN themes does
Hi HN! I’ve spent the last few weeks writing a browser extension that lets users write their own HN themes using Handlebars and CSS. It works by converting the current Hacker News page’s content into an object that is made available to the user-defined Handlebars templates. There is a built-in code editor that makes writing themes super easy and you can see changes in real-time. If you don’t want to write a theme from scratch, there are premade themes available or you may import one made by somebody else. It is shipped with Bootstrap so you can get pretty far without needing to write a lot…
- 1IM
Hey HN, I made this free browser extension that modernizes the Hacker News design. I previously launched Modern for Wikipedia [1] here back in December, and it seemed like the obvious next choice to build one for HN too! So I've taken what I learned from building that, and have spent all my spare time this year building Modern for HN. I realize this won't be for everyone, but it was a fun project to work on, and I'm really happy with the result so far. Hope you like it too! Lots more planned for future updates, and suggestions welcome :) [1]…
2022 · modernhn.com
- 2HN
Hello everyone! This is a browser extension that attempts to enhance Hacker News user experience, while your data is kept secure, and private (never leaves the browser). Browsers have evolved significantly since doing a v1 back in 2010, which was one of the contributing factors, for attempting a complete re-take few months ago. Personally, I was surprised how useful it turned out to be when browsing around HN. On the linked page you can find install link(s) from web-browser stores, and demo video/screenshots of the features[1] What do you think ? [1] including, browsing content with…
2023 · carina.app
- 3
HN is great for the links people share, but a big part of the value I get comes from reading the discussion around them. I realized I was always opening the article in one tab and the comments in another, constantly switching back and forth. I figured there was probably a simpler way, so I threw together this userscript to merge the two. 1. Clicking a link from Hacker News opens the article with a side panel containing the discussion. It doesn't require your credentials, is resizable, and is easy to tweak if you want to customize it. 2. If you land on an article that has previously been…
Jul 2026 · github.com
- 4IB
Hey HN! Just for fun, I built an interactive Hacker News Simulator. You can submit text posts and links, just like the real HN. But on HN Simulator, all of the comments are generated by LLMs + generate instantly. The best way to use it (IMHO) is to submit a text post or a curl-able URL here: https://news.ysimulator.run/submit. You don't need an account to post. When you do that, various prompts will be built from a library of commenter archetypes, moods, and shapes. The AI commenters will actually respond to your text post and/or submitted link. I really wanted it to feel…
Nov 2025 · news.ysimulator.run
- 5BY
Hi Hacker News, I developed an open source browser extension for summarizing Hacker News articles with OpenAI and Anthropic LLMs. It currently supports Chrome [1] and Firefox [2] (desktop). The extension adds the summarize buttons to the HN front page and article pages. It is bring-your-own-key, i.e. there's no back end behind it and the usage is free, you insert your API key and pay only for tokens to your LLM provider. [1] https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/hacker-news-tldr/oo... [2]…
2024 · github.com
- 6
- 7FFFavicons for HN▲310
2022 · gist.github.com
- 8HH
TLDR: Build a quick HN profile to see how little context LLMs need to personalise your feed. Rate 30 posts once, get a permanent ranked homepage you can return to. Our goal was to build a tool that allowed us to test a range of "personal contexts" on a very focused everyday use case for us, reading HN! We are exploring use of personal context with LLMs, specifically what kind of data, how much, and with how much additional effort on the user’s part was needed to get decent results. The test tool was a bit of fun on its own so we re-skinned it and decided to post it here. First time posting…
2025 · hackernews.coffee
- 9BH
I've developed a Hacker News reader that draws inspiration from Brutalist Web Design, the open web, Cyberpunk Aesthetics, and glitch art. The entire project is crafted in Vanilla JavaScript, contained within a single index.html file, eschewing any external libraries. It features support for theming, including the use of third-party themes. Additionally, users have the capability to create and apply their own themes directly within the site. Moreover, the application is designed as a Progressive Web App (PWA), enabling it to be downloaded and used as an app on most devices. I'm eager to…
2024 · brutalisthackernews.com
- 10QS
I have a dedicated HN tab that I come back to and reload multiple times a day to see whats new and hot. I wrote a Chrome Extension to: - quickly scan new articles since my last reload - quickly scan highly discussed articles - open actual articles and discussions in a new tab This links to the source code. The chrome extension is linked at the bottom of the github page. Note: - This extension only operates on the HN front page (https://news.ycombinator.com/news) - The first time you reload the HN front page after installing the extension all articles will get highlighted.
2024 · github.com
- 11HF
I've been working on and off on a Chrome Extension for Hacker News, the extension focusses on improved usability rather than design. I can almost guarantee that after a day you won't want to go back to regular Hacker News. Give it a try, features include: - Improved readability - Quick inline replies from comments page - Quick profiles with social network info when hovering over usernames - Filtering of stories based on terms and phrases / domain or user - Endless scrolling - Collapsible comment threads - Social sharing for Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Buffer Forks, improvements and comments…
2012 · chrome.google.com
- 12HA
It's been 2 years since the initial release [here](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36102610). The initial version was a very basic prototype which was not available anywhere beyond the GitHub repo. You had to install it as a userscript or load the extension manually. Since then, it remained simple but better, new features include: - Improved accuracy by also using comments to help gauge the topic of discussion and the right keywords. - Published as plugin for more browsers: Chrome, Firefox (including android), and more recently Microsoft Edge. - Support for narrow screens…
2025 · github.com
- 13HN
The HN frontpage can feature stories that aren't that relevant to me, and some good ones don't get enough traction on the new submissions page. So I thought of building something that personalizes the stories you see. This is done by getting the 500 newest and top stories and comparing them against your likes, building your own personalized homepage. Also, when I find something I like, I usually want to explore similar stuff. So I created embeddings for 500k historical stories (all above 20 points) and added a 'similar' button that shows you the closest stories. I thought of making this a…
2024 · hackernewsexplorer.com
- 14HS
2013 · gabrielecirulli.github.io
- 15HS
While browsing Hacker News, I wished for an easier way to find related submissions (instead of googling and going back and forth). So I made this small chrome extension that automatically shows relevant submissions on page load. It's intergrated as a sidebar right in the page (for ease & native look), with customization options for fine control. It's based on HN algolia search API[1] and uses the submission title as its initial query with the ability to customize the query if you're not satisfied with the initial results. Originally, I took it as an opportunity to try my hands at creating a…
2023 · github.com
- 16HD
Paste this in the developer tools console of your browser document.documentElement.style.filter = "invert()" document.documentElement.style.background = '#fff' Edit: you can also create a bookmark with the code below in the URL field javascript: (() => { document.documentElement.style.filter = "invert()";document.documentElement.style.background = '#fff' })(); Then just click on the bookmark for instant dark mode
2022
- 17AH
Hey folks, http://dstill.ai/hackernews is alternative frontend for Hacker News, with some features on top: (1) AI powered summarizations. Summaries are generated for the link, for the post and for the discussion. Summaries are automatically generated for selected top stories, but you can also generate them on demand — currently this requires supplying your own OpenAI api key (which gets stored in your browser in localStorage). When you generate a summary, everyone else can see it and benefits from it as well. Here are some examples: Summary of a long discussion:…
2023 · dstill.ai
- 18HN
I love the look of HN on Christmas Day, but I never feel like I get quite enough of it in just one day. To rectify this catastrophic problem, I created a browser extension to give me the Christmas HN experience from the day after Thanksgiving until the first work-day of the new year. I also added a fun "extra festive" mode that enhances the festivity level of the site beyond it's normal look. I love it, but I expect it to be controversial :-D It's pretty easy to `git clone` and install it (instructions for Firefox and Chrome in the README.md). I haven't put it in the extension stores as I…
Dec 2025 · github.com
- 19SH
I wrote a JavaScript tool to search your HN favorites and export them to CSV or HTML. The JavaScript runs in your browser like a browser extension. It scrapes the HTML and navigates from page to page. Setup and usage instructions are in the file.
2022 · github.com
- 20HE
Reading submissions here, I often feel intrigued and want to explore more interconnected or similar stories. The process of googling and going back and forth didn't feel natural. So, I made this browser extension that adds a related submissions section for HN's layout. The results are displayed in a sidebar right in the page's layout using HN native style just like other elements. I enjoy being knee-deep in discussions. Many times you're learning about something new, where the topic is either unfamiliar, thought-provoking, or just could use some context that you don't even know about. If a…
2024 · github.com
- 21IC
I figured, "what better way to look at a list of (hopefully) inspiring projects?" The upvotes work and are globally synced.
2024 · guycombinator.net
- 22HC
2023 · gist.github.com
- 23AN
Hey HN! I'm excited to share a tool I've been working on - a native Hacker News reader built with Rust and egui. Here's a screenshot: https://github.com/haojiang99/hacker_news_reader/blob/main/s.... As a daily HN reader, I've always struggled with keeping track of interesting posts I want to read later. Browser tabs pile up, bookmarks get forgotten, and I lose track of what I've already read. I needed a way to: 1. Browse HN efficiently (across all sections - hot, new, show, ask, jobs, best) 2. Quickly mark posts as "todo" for later reading 3. Mark posts as…
2025 · github.com
- 24AH
I wrote a small Chrome extension that allows the user to replace all usernames on Hacker News with either the string `anonymous` or a deterministic hashed value.
2023 · chrome.google.com
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