Gera Tools

Hacker News Show HN Post Builder

Write a Show HN submission title and comment for your project launch

Builds a Show HN post with a concise title following Hacker News conventions, an informative non-promotional first comment, and the technical details to include — so your launch lands well with the HN audience.

What is the correct Show HN title format?

Hacker News expects titles to start with "Show HN:" followed by a plain, factual description of what the thing is. Avoid hype words, exclamation marks, and ALL CAPS — the audience downvotes marketing language.

Launch on Hacker News the right way

A Show HN post is the canonical way to share something you made on Hacker News — a side project, a tool, an experiment. The community is technical and allergic to marketing copy, so the winning formula is a plain, factual title plus a substantive first comment from you, the author. This builder assembles both from a few fields, following the official Show HN guidelines.

How it works

Hacker News requires Show HN titles to begin with the literal prefix Show HN: and then describe the thing as neutrally as possible. The builder:

  1. Prepends Show HN: to your one-line summary and strips trailing punctuation and hype words.
  2. Drafts a first comment with the standard structure the community responds to: what it is, why you built it, the tech behind it, and an explicit ask for feedback.
  3. Flags common rejection triggers — exclamation marks, words like “revolutionary”, or a missing URL.

Per the HN guidelines, Show HN is for things people can try out, not announcements or blog posts. The URL should go straight to the working thing.

Tips and example

Keep the title under about 80 characters and lead with the noun: “Show HN: A static-site generator for résumés” reads better than “Show HN: I built a tool…”. In the first comment, be specific about trade-offs and limitations — admitting what does not work yet earns trust. End with a concrete question (“Does the pricing model make sense?”) so commenters have something to react to. Post during US morning hours for the most traffic, and stay in the thread to reply quickly.