HNClient

HNClient

HNClient is a lightweight Hacker News client for desktop operating systems. It allows users to easily browse top stories, comments, jobs, Ask HN posts, and more from Hacker News in a simple yet powerful interface.
HNClient image
hacker-news desktop lightweight comments stories

HNClient: Lightweight Hacker News Client for Desktop

Browse top stories, comments, jobs, and more from Hacker News in a simple yet powerful interface.

What is HNClient?

HNClient is a free, open-source Hacker News desktop client application for Windows, Mac, and Linux operating systems. Developed as a lightweight and user-friendly alternative to accessing Hacker News directly in a web browser, HNClient aims to provide a streamlined yet full-featured way to browse the popular technology news site.

With HNClient, users can easily view top stories, comments, jobs listings, Ask HN posts, newest submissions, and more. An intuitive interface allows for simple navigation between different sections of Hacker News. Stories can be viewed within the app itself in a built-in browser, eliminating the need to have multiple tabs and windows open.

Additional features include the ability to log in to access user-specific content, interactive commenting without having to leave the app, customizable themes, offline reading with cached content, and more. HNClient is frequently updated by its open-source developers to introduce user-requested features and keep pace with changes to Hacker News itself.

As an electron-based desktop program, HNClient works cross-platform and does not require high system resource usage, making it accessible to a wide range of users. The project is hosted on GitHub where users can also contribute their own code changes if interested.

HNClient Features

Features

  1. Lightweight desktop app
  2. Browse top stories, comments, jobs, Ask HN
  3. Keyboard shortcuts
  4. Dark mode
  5. Offline reading
  6. Notifications

Pricing

  • Free
  • Open Source

Pros

Simple and easy to use

Good performance

Open source

Cross-platform

Cons

Limited features compared to web app

Development seems inactive


The Best HNClient Alternatives

Top News & Books and News Readers and other similar apps like HNClient


HN - Hacker News Reader icon

HN - Hacker News Reader

HN is a Hacker News reader app designed specifically for iOS. It provides an elegant and intuitive interface to browse the latest news, articles, and discussions posted on Hacker News.With HN, you can easily view top, new, ask, show, and jobs posts from Hacker News. It loads quickly and formats...
HNBuddy - Hackernews client for iOS icon

HNBuddy - Hackernews client for iOS

HNBuddy is an elegant and user-friendly Hackernews client built specifically for iOS. With HNBuddy, you can comfortably browse top stories, comments, jobs, ask HN posts, and more on your iPhone or iPad.Key features of HNBuddy include:Beautiful and intuitive interface following iOS design guidelinesOffline reading with synchronized saving of stories for...
HNBuddy - Hackernews client for iOS image
Yarn (Hacker news client) icon

Yarn (Hacker news client)

Yarn is an open-source Hacker News client that provides a convenient way to browse and read posts on Hacker News. It is developed by Mozilla and available for Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS and Android.Some key features of Yarn include:Clean and simple interface to browse top stories, newest stories, ask posts...
Yarn (Hacker news client) image
Vue HN icon

Vue HN

Vue HN is an open-source progressive web app built with Vue.js that serves as an unofficial client to access and interact with Hacker News. It provides a clean and minimalist interface to browse top stories, newest submissions, ask posts, jobs listings, and more from the Hacker News platform.Some of the...
Vue HN image
Octal icon

Octal

Octal is an open-source interface design and prototyping tool that can be used as an alternative to Figma. It allows designers and developers to collaborate on interface projects in real-time.Some key features and capabilities of Octal include:Vector design tools for creating interfaces and prototypesCode export options to turn designs into...
Octal image