Search Hacker News by URL
Find the Hacker News discussion behind an article
A title search can miss a renamed story or mix in unrelated results. Searching for the article URL is usually the shortest path to its exact Hacker News thread—and to earlier discussions of the same link.
By Maxim TopciuPublished
Manual method
Search the page address, not just its headline
- 01
Copy the public URL
Use the final article address from the browser after redirects have finished.
- 02
Remove obvious tracking
Drop the fragment and common campaign parameters so the publisher’s stable page address remains.
- 03
Paste it into HN Search
Search the full address first. If it returns nothing, try the hostname and distinctive path without the protocol.
- 04
Open the matching story
Check the destination, submission date, points, and comment count before choosing a discussion.
Hacker News Search is powered by Algolia. Its public API documentation describes URL-restricted story search for tools that need a structured result.
URL variants
The same article can have more than one address
Publishers redirect domains, add or remove www, change http to https, and attach campaign parameters. A page can also declare a canonical URL that differs from the address in the bar.
Shared address
https://example.com/story?utm_source=newsletter#commentsStable candidate
https://example.com/storyAvoid deleting arbitrary query parameters: some are part of the real content address. Remove only parameters you recognize as tracking, then try the publisher’s canonical version when the first search misses.
Reposts and updates
One URL can have several HN discussions
A useful article may be submitted again after the original thread has aged out, or a publisher may reuse the same canonical page for an update. Those submissions are separate conversations with different dates, points, and commenters.
Hacker News documents when a good story may be submitted again in its official FAQ on reposts.
Do not assume the newest submission is always the best one. A larger earlier thread may contain the substantive discussion; a newer thread may be more relevant to an updated article. Compare both before opening.
What Split does
The popup keeps exact duplicate submissions as alternatives instead of collapsing them into one guessed result. You choose which conversation matters.
No result?
Four common reasons a discussion is not found
It was never submitted
HN Search can only return indexed Hacker News stories. No tool can recover a thread that does not exist.
The submitted URL redirects
Search the older domain or path if the publisher moved the page after it appeared on Hacker News.
The page uses a different canonical URL
Syndicated articles and mirrored posts can declare an original source that differs from the current address.
The URL is not a public lookup candidate
Local, private, credential-bearing, signed, and special-use addresses should not be sent to a public search service.
Automate the careful parts
Find the thread from the page you are already reading
Split for Hacker News reads the active page URL and optional canonical URL only after you open its popup. It strips recognized tracking data, rejects non-public or sensitive candidates, searches the public Algolia endpoint, verifies exact matches, and lists duplicate submissions.
Article text is never read. The result stays closed until you choose a discussion and a reading mode.