Hacker News Post skill
The substance-first playbook for framing a Show HN, Ask HN, or link that respects the guidelines and holds up in the comments.
Download the methodology and use it to frame your own Show HN, Ask HN, or link submission.
- Category
- Hacker News
- Agent
- AI CMO
- Format
- hacker-news-post.md
- Price
- Free to download
The Hacker News Post skill file
--- name: hacker-news-post description: Write and submit a Hacker News post — a Show HN, a link, or an Ask HN — that respects the guidelines, earns the community's attention, and holds up in the comments. owner: Okara --- # Hacker News Post Hacker News rewards substance, intellectual curiosity, and honesty, and quietly buries hype. This skill helps you frame a submission the community respects, title it the HN way, and defend it well in the thread.
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About this skill
What is the Hacker News Post skill?
The Hacker News Post skill is a step-by-step approach to submitting to HN without tripping the community’s hype filter. It covers choosing the right submission type, writing a title the way HN expects, linking to something substantive, and preparing the first comment and the comment-thread answers that earn goodwill.
It’s written as a SKILL.md, a plain-language instruction format that people and AI assistants can both follow. Read it to understand HN’s guidelines and culture, and adapt it for your own launch when you have something a technical audience genuinely cares about.
Downloading the instructions is free with an Okara account. It’s a manual, self-serve playbook — you write and submit the post yourself, on your own account, on your own timing.
What makes Hacker News different is that ranking is driven almost entirely by early velocity: a post’s position on the front page is a function of upvotes and flags within its first hour or two, and once it scrolls off that window it effectively cannot recover, however good it is. That’s why this skill treats timing and the first comment as load-bearing, not optional — a technically excellent Show HN posted at a dead hour, or one that reads as hype early on, loses before the thread even gets going.
Example
See it in action
You ask: “We’re launching our open-source database CLI. How do we do a Show HN that doesn’t flop?”
Agent does: Title it "Show HN: A CLI that gives Postgres a Git-style branching workflow" — plain, specific, no adjectives. Link straight to the repo with a runnable demo, not your marketing site. Post a first comment that says what it does, why you built it, how the branching actually works under the hood, and what’s still rough. Submit mid-morning US time on a weekday. Then live in the thread: answer the "why not just use X" questions with substance and concede the fair critiques. HN forgives an unfinished tool; it does not forgive hype.
Comparison
The skill vs. the alternatives
| Do it yourself | Hire a freelancer or agency | Hacker News Post skill (free) | AI CMO | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cost | Your own time | $500–$5,000+ per project | Free with an Okara account | Included in the AI CMO plan |
| Time to first result | Hours to days, per attempt | Days to weeks, plus revision rounds | Minutes — download and follow it | Same day, runs automatically |
| Consistency over time | Depends on remembering to do it | Only as long as the retainer lasts | One-time; you re-run it yourself | Continuous, on a schedule |
| Who does the work | You, from scratch each time | Someone who has to learn your business first | You (or your agent), following the exact steps | Okara's AI CMO, end to end |
How it works
From input to output
- 1
You provide the thing you’re posting
Paste the URL or describe what you built and what makes it interesting to a technical audience.
- 2
Pick the submission type
Choose between Show HN, Ask HN, or a plain link, and settle on the canonical, substantive URL.
- 3
Frame it the HN way
Write an accurate, hype-free title and a first comment that explains what it is, why you built it, and what’s unfinished.
- 4
Submit and defend it
Anticipate the hard technical questions so you can answer with substance, because on HN the thread is the point.
What's included
Everything it covers
Submission-type guidance
Chooses between Show HN, Ask HN, or a plain link based on what you’re actually posting.
Guideline compliance
Titles and frames the post to the HN guidelines so it isn’t flagged on sight.
Substance-first framing
Leads with what’s technically interesting, not the business pitch the crowd tunes out.
First-comment draft
Writes the author’s context comment: what it is, why you built it, and what’s still rough.
Timing guidance
Recommends when to submit so a good post isn’t buried at a dead hour.
Comment-thread strategy
Anticipates the hard technical questions and prepares honest, substantive answers.
Use cases
When to reach for it
- Run a Show HN launch that the community actually engages with.
- Submit a technical article or tool without tripping the hype filter.
- Ask HN a real question and get substantive answers.
- Frame a developer-facing product for a skeptical, technical audience.
- Prepare for the tough comment-thread questions before you post.
Frequently Asked Questions
Related skills
Pair it with these skills
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The thread-building playbook Okara’s X Agent uses to hook on the first post, hold readers through the middle, and pay off with one clear call to action.
--- name: x-thread description: Structure an X (Twitter) thread that hooks on the first post, keeps readers moving from post to post, and pays off with a clear takeaway and one call to action. owner: Okara X Agent --- # X Thread A thread is a story with a hook, a spine, and a payoff. Most threads die on the first post; the rest lose people in the middle. This skill helps you sequence
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The conversational-register method Okara’s X Agent uses for Threads: casual, short, unfinished posts that invite replies instead of broadcasting at people.
--- name: threads-post description: Write for Threads — casual, conversational posts that invite replies, rather than the polished broadcast style that works on other platforms. owner: Okara X Agent --- # Threads Post Ideas Threads rewards conversation, not performance. Posts that read like a message to a friend outperform the marketing voice that works elsewhere, and replies
LinkedIn Post
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--- name: linkedin-post description: Write a LinkedIn post that hooks above the "see more" fold, reads as a human professional rather than a press release, and drives the comments the feed amplifies. owner: Okara LinkedIn Agent --- # LinkedIn Post LinkedIn rewards posts that feel personal, useful, and specific — and quietly throttles corporate announcements and outbound links. This skill helps you write
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The positioning method Okara’s LinkedIn Agent uses to build authority: one defensible position, argued from firsthand evidence, from ten angles, over two quarters.
--- name: linkedin-thought-leadership description: Build thought leadership on LinkedIn — one defensible position, argued from firsthand evidence, on a cadence, until people associate the topic with you. owner: Okara LinkedIn Agent --- # LinkedIn Thought Leadership Thought leadership isn't posting insights. It's holding one position long enough and defending it well enough that people bring you into the conversation