Awesome

Node HackerNews

A command-line HackerNews lister and opener

This is a simple script for pulling down the HN homepage articles, as well as opening the article links in a browser via the command line. I designed this primarily for use in GeekTool, with the idea being that it would always be on my desktop, and any time an article looks interesting to me I just type hn <number> and be on my merry way.

To use out of the box (in the bin directory):

$ node hn [-ca] <article_no>

I did this to make my life easier:

$ ln -s /path/to/node-hn/bin/hn ~/bin/hn

Run without arguments:

$ hn

Produces:

HackerNews

 0  Want to Block Common Passwords? Sorry, That is Patented

 1  Solar panels could destroy U.S. utilities, according to U.S. utilities

 2  Show HN: Hospice.io €“ Vagrant configurations generator

 3  Single page apps in depth

 4  Exposed Webcam Viewer

 5  Canada's Guide to patents

So now all I have to do when I see an interesing article on my desktop is:

$ hn <article_no>

And the article opens in the nearest browser window! Pretty neat!

If I want to see the comments page instead:

$ hn -c <article_no>

Or if I want to open both the article and the comments:

$ hn -a <article_no>

If I want to specify how many articles are displayed (very useful for geektool):

$ hn -n <number>

Have fun!