https://github.com/danfry1/hacker-news-tui
A terminal UI for browsing Hacker News - feeds, threaded comments, bookmarks. Built with Rust and Ratatui.
https://github.com/danfry1/hacker-news-tui
cli crossterm hacker-news hackernews news-reader ratatui rust terminal terminal-ui tui
Last synced: 2 days ago
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A terminal UI for browsing Hacker News - feeds, threaded comments, bookmarks. Built with Rust and Ratatui.
- Host: GitHub
- URL: https://github.com/danfry1/hacker-news-tui
- Owner: danfry1
- License: mit
- Created: 2026-06-14T19:36:35.000Z (9 days ago)
- Default Branch: main
- Last Pushed: 2026-06-15T21:04:10.000Z (8 days ago)
- Last Synced: 2026-06-20T15:29:01.150Z (3 days ago)
- Topics: cli, crossterm, hacker-news, hackernews, news-reader, ratatui, rust, terminal, terminal-ui, tui
- Language: Rust
- Size: 3.44 MB
- Stars: 37
- Watchers: 0
- Forks: 1
- Open Issues: 0
-
Metadata Files:
- Readme: README.md
- Changelog: CHANGELOG.md
- License: LICENSE
Awesome Lists containing this project
README
# Hacker News TUI
A fast, delightful terminal UI for browsing [Hacker News](https://news.ycombinator.com),
built with [Ratatui](https://ratatui.rs).
## Features
- **Six feeds** — Top, New, Best, Ask, Show, and Jobs, switchable instantly.
- **Infinite scroll** — the next batch of stories loads and appends automatically
as you scroll toward the bottom, so you can keep reading without paging.
- **Bookmarks** — save stories with `s` and revisit them in the `★ Saved` view
(`b`); saved stories are marked with a star in every list.
- **In-app settings pane** (`,`) — opt in to remembering read-state and
bookmarks across runs. Both are **off by default**: nothing is written to disk
unless you turn it on.
- **Threaded comments** with colored depth guides, collapsible subtrees, and an
`OP` badge so you can follow the original poster.
- **Async, non-blocking UI** — stories and whole comment trees are fetched
concurrently in the background while the interface stays responsive, with a
live loading spinner.
- **Read-state tracking** — visited stories dim so you can see where you've been.
- **Open in browser** — jump to the article or the HN discussion with one key.
- **Smart HTML rendering** — HN's markup and entities are cleaned into readable,
word-wrapped text.
## Running
```sh
cargo run --release
```
The first build compiles dependencies; subsequent runs are instant.
## Installing
**Homebrew** (macOS / Linux):
```sh
brew install danfry1/tap/hacker-news-tui
```
**Scoop** (Windows):
```powershell
scoop bucket add danfry1 https://github.com/danfry1/scoop-bucket
scoop install hacker-news-tui
```
**Nix** (flakes):
```sh
nix run github:danfry1/hacker-news-tui # run without installing
nix profile install github:danfry1/hacker-news-tui
```
**Cargo** — from [crates.io](https://crates.io/crates/hacker-news-tui):
```sh
cargo install hacker-news-tui
```
Or grab a prebuilt binary from the [Releases](../../releases) page — each tagged
release ships archives (with SHA-256 checksums) for:
- Linux: `x86_64` and `aarch64`
- macOS: `aarch64` (Apple Silicon)
- Windows: `x86_64`
Intel Macs aren't shipped as a prebuilt binary; install with
`cargo install hacker-news-tui` instead.
The installed command is `hacker-news-tui`. For something shorter, add an alias
to your shell config (`~/.zshrc`, `~/.bashrc`, …):
```sh
alias hnt='hacker-news-tui'
```
Maintainers cut a release by pushing a version tag:
```sh
git tag v0.1.0
git push origin v0.1.0
```
This triggers `.github/workflows/release.yml`, which builds every target and
attaches the archives to a GitHub Release for the tag.
## Keyboard shortcuts
### Stories
| Key | Action |
| --- | --- |
| `j` / `k`, `↑` / `↓` | Move selection |
| `g` / `G` | Jump to top / bottom |
| `enter` | Open comments |
| `o` | Open the article in your browser |
| `s` | Bookmark / unbookmark the story |
| `b` | View bookmarks (`★ Saved`) |
| `1`–`6`, `tab` / `shift+tab` | Switch feed |
| `r` | Refresh |
| `,` | Settings |
| `?` | Help |
| `q` | Quit |
### Comments
| Key | Action |
| --- | --- |
| `j` / `k`, `↑` / `↓` | Move selection |
| `space` / `enter` | Collapse / expand a thread |
| `o` | Open the article |
| `s` | Bookmark / unbookmark |
| `esc` / `h` / `←` | Back |
### Settings (`,`) & Bookmarks (`b`)
In the settings pane, `j`/`k` move, `space`/`enter` toggle, `,`/`esc` close.
In the bookmarks view, `enter` opens comments, `o` opens the article, `s`
removes a bookmark, and `b`/`esc` returns to the feed.
## Persistence & privacy
Read-state and bookmarks can be remembered across runs, but **only when you
enable them** in the settings pane (`,`). Both are **off by default**, so a fresh
install writes nothing to disk; disabling them again removes the file entirely.
When enabled, state lives in a single JSON file:
| Platform | Location |
| --- | --- |
| macOS | `~/Library/Application Support/hacker-news-tui/state.json` |
| Linux | `$XDG_DATA_HOME/hacker-news-tui/state.json` (or `~/.local/share/…`) |
| Windows | `%APPDATA%\hacker-news-tui\state.json` |
Delete that file to clear everything. All file operations are best-effort and
fail silently — losing local UI state never interrupts browsing.
## Supply-chain security
This project is built with a deliberately small, auditable dependency surface:
- **`Cargo.lock` is committed**, pinning every transitive crate to an exact
version and checksum for reproducible builds.
- **Pure-Rust TLS** via `rustls` — no linkage to a system OpenSSL. Root
certificates come from the OS trust store, so the app works behind corporate
proxies that present a privately-issued root CA.
- **No avoidable dependencies** — browser opening and HTML decoding are a few
lines of `std` in `src/util.rs` rather than extra crates.
To audit the locked dependency tree for known advisories:
```sh
cargo install cargo-audit # one-time
cargo audit
```
## Architecture
| File | Responsibility |
| --- | --- |
| `src/main.rs` | Terminal setup and the async event loop (input · fetch results · tick) |
| `src/api.rs` | Hacker News Firebase API client and data types |
| `src/app.rs` | Application state, input handling, async orchestration |
| `src/ui.rs` | All rendering — pure functions of the app state |
| `src/store.rs` | Best-effort persistence of settings, read-state, bookmarks |
| `src/util.rs` | Time/URL/HTML/wrapping helpers (unit-tested) |
## Development
A [`justfile`](https://github.com/casey/just) wraps the common tasks (or run the
underlying `cargo` commands directly):
```sh
just # full gate: fmt-check + clippy + test (what CI runs)
just fmt # apply formatting
just test # run the test suite
just audit # security-audit the locked dependencies (needs cargo-audit)
just run # run the app
```
GitHub Actions (`.github/workflows/ci.yml`) runs formatting, Clippy (warnings as
errors), the test suite, and `cargo audit` on every push and pull request.
## Data source
Uses the official [Hacker News API](https://github.com/HackerNews/API). No API
key required.