Market Trends
Product Positioning & Context
A native macOS desktop client for Hacker News that goes beyond the website. Browse stories in a visual grid with article thumbnails, read articles side-by-side with comment threads, and use reader mode to focus on content. Built entirely with SwiftUI for a fast, native experience with full dark mode support, 15+ keyboard shortcuts, built-in ad blocking, and adjustable text scaling. Log in with your HN account to bookmark stories, hide items, and sync across sessions. Free and open-source.
Community Voice & Feedback
Keyboard-first Hacker News reading on macOS is a tough bar, especially in SwiftUI. I like that Hacker News for macOS is MIT licensed, ships as a simple DMG, and targets macOS 14+. That keeps the surface area sane. The make-or-break details are focus management, keeping scroll position when you bounce between story and comments, and a read state that never drifts. If you ever add sync, read state and saved stories across Macs is the day-two win. Nail those and it'll stick.
Love the grid view and simple filters. Its a keeper Dylan
Haha...I just posted for the first time on HN y-day. Was a super clunky experience for a noob. I totally get it. Thanks for building. Gonna give it a spin
The HN website is known to be "minimal", to say the least. Why might that be the case for so long, when they clearly have the ability to make it look more modern? Maybe for more classic look? idk but I am very relieved to have a more modern HN. Is this just me??
Hey everyone! I built Hacker News for macOS because I wanted a better way to read HN than the browser tab I always had open.
The website is great for what it is, but I kept wanting things it doesn't offer — a visual grid with article thumbnails, side-by-side reading with comments, reader mode to strip away clutter, and proper keyboard shortcuts that don't conflict with my browser.
So I built it as a native SwiftUI app. Some highlights:
Browse smarter:
- Visual story grid with Open Graph thumbnails — scan headlines at a glance instead of a wall of text
- Filter by feed type (All, Ask HN, Show HN, Jobs), sort by Hot or Recent, and narrow by date range
- Full-text search powered by Algolia
Read better
- Split-pane view: article on the left, comments on the right — no more tab switching
- Built-in reader mode strips ads and clutter from articles
- Ad and pop-up blocking baked in
- Adjustable text scaling from 75% to 150%
Stay in flow
- 15+ keyboard shortcuts (Cmd+1/2/3 to switch views, Cmd+F to find, Cmd+Shift+R for reader mode)
- Find-in-page with match highlighting across articles and comments
- HN account login with bookmark sync and item hiding
- Automatic updates via Sparkle — always on the latest version
No compromises
- 100% native Swift + SwiftUI — not an Electron wrapper
- Dark mode, light mode, or match your system
- Free and open-source under MIT license
- No tracking, no analytics, no accounts required
I use this every day and wanted to share it with the community. Would love your feedback — feel free to open issues on GitHub!
The website is great for what it is, but I kept wanting things it doesn't offer — a visual grid with article thumbnails, side-by-side reading with comments, reader mode to strip away clutter, and proper keyboard shortcuts that don't conflict with my browser.
So I built it as a native SwiftUI app. Some highlights:
Browse smarter:
- Visual story grid with Open Graph thumbnails — scan headlines at a glance instead of a wall of text
- Filter by feed type (All, Ask HN, Show HN, Jobs), sort by Hot or Recent, and narrow by date range
- Full-text search powered by Algolia
Read better
- Split-pane view: article on the left, comments on the right — no more tab switching
- Built-in reader mode strips ads and clutter from articles
- Ad and pop-up blocking baked in
- Adjustable text scaling from 75% to 150%
Stay in flow
- 15+ keyboard shortcuts (Cmd+1/2/3 to switch views, Cmd+F to find, Cmd+Shift+R for reader mode)
- Find-in-page with match highlighting across articles and comments
- HN account login with bookmark sync and item hiding
- Automatic updates via Sparkle — always on the latest version
No compromises
- 100% native Swift + SwiftUI — not an Electron wrapper
- Dark mode, light mode, or match your system
- Free and open-source under MIT license
- No tracking, no analytics, no accounts required
I use this every day and wanted to share it with the community. Would love your feedback — feel free to open issues on GitHub!
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