hackernews.user

stable Standard

Fetch a Hacker News user profile.

GET /v1/hackernews/user

What you get#

One Hacker News record in Onekey's unified shape, in data. If the record does not exist you get a 404 not_found and are not charged.

Also works with: URL lookup (news.ycombinator.com/user?id={username}) · Creator card as the Hacker News profile leg · Computed block (language). Any batch can include it.

Also known as: /hackernews/profile on APIs that nest their paths. See Alternatives and equivalents.

What it costs#

Standard · 1 credit for a fresh fetch, charged only when it succeeds.
Free when served from cache (0.2 credit for a cached response over 100 KB).
Free if the request is invalid (never charged) or the source fails or reports not found (refunded).

Parameters#

Name	Type	Required	Default	What it is	Constraints
`username`	string	yes	(required)	HN username (case-sensitive), e.g. pg	max 15 chars; must match `[A-Za-z0-9_-]{2,15}`; trimmed

Request#

curl "https://api.onekey.dev/v1/hackernews/user?username=pg" \
  -H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY"

Try it

Add your key to run this call right here. No key? Get one free. The key stays in this tab.

Recorded response#

A real Hacker News response, recorded and returned in Onekey's shape. Fields the platform does not provide are null.

json

{
  "success": true,
  "data": {
    "author": {
      "id": "pg",
      "username": "pg"
    },
    "ext": {
      "karma": 157316
    },
    "content": {
      "text": "Bug fixer."
    }
  },
  "metadata": {
    "platform": "hackernews",
    "endpoint": "user",
    "cached": false,
    "stale": false,
    "age_s": 0,
    "fetched_at": "2026-01-01T12:00:00+00:00",
    "credits_charged": 1,
    "request_id": "7f3a9c2e5b1d4c8fa2e6d0b9c4f18e37"
  },
  "error": null
}

Field mapping#

How this endpoint's source fields become Onekey's unified schema. Fields the source lacks come back as null.

Source path	Onekey field	Transform
`id`	`author.id`	-
`id`	`author.username`	-
`karma`	`ext.karma`	`toNumber`
`about`	`content.text`	-

Caching and freshness#

Fresh for about 30 minutes. Repeat calls in that window are served from cache and are free.
Between 30 minutes and 6 hours the cached copy is still served instantly and marked stale: true while Onekey refreshes it in the background.
If the source is down when a refresh is needed, the last copy can be served for up to 1 day more (marked stale).
A "not found" is remembered for 5 minutes and is free.
The cache is shared across all customers, which is what keeps repeat calls cheap.

What can go wrong#

Status	Code	What to do
401	`unauthorized`	Check the `x-api-key` header.
402	`insufficient_credits`	Add credits; your balance must cover the price.
404	`not_found`	That record does not exist. Free; do not retry.
422	`invalid_params`	Fix the parameters using the table above. Free.
429	`rate_limited`	Wait `Retry-After` seconds, then retry.
502	`upstream_error`	The source failed. Refunded; retry with backoff.

See Errors for the full list and retry guidance.

Status: stable (verified against the live source).