Dev tools · September 17, 2023
I made a browser extension for building your own custom HN themes
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…
In plain words
This browser extension lets users create custom Hacker News themes using Handlebars templates and CSS. It converts the HN page into an object available to user-defined templates, with a built-in code editor showing changes in real-time. Users can start from scratch, choose from premade themes, or import themes from others. The extension includes Bootstrap and Material icons for faster development, supports dark mode toggling, and is open-sourced under MIT. It's designed for developers who want to customize their Hacker News browsing experience.
written from the facts on this page · September 2026
From the sources
In the maker’s words, at launch
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 of custom CSS. Material icons are also included so your themes get iconography out of the box. Any theme can be toggled into dark mode with a single click. It is open-sourced under the MIT license so feel free to use any of the code in the linked repo[0]. Additionally, I’ve put together a short demo video on YouTube[1]. If you decide to check it out, let me know of any feedback and please share any themes you create! I’d be happy to answer any questions. [0] https://github.com/dan-lovelace/hacker-news-pro [1] https://youtu.be/6DxLJQrKXa0
Does a similar job
all alternatives →- IMI made a modern web UI for Hacker News2022 · modernhn.com · ▲308
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]…
- HNHacker News user experience enhancement browser extension2023 · carina.app · ▲153
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…
I was tired of opening 2 tabs for every HN link, so I made a userscriptJul 2026 · github.com · ▲433HN 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…
- IBI built an interactive HN SimulatorNov 2025 · news.ysimulator.run · ▲538
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…
- BYBring-your-own-key browser extension for summarizing HN posts with LLMs2024 · github.com · ▲74
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]…
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