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.
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!
Love that you open-sourced this, Dylan. The visual grid with Open Graph thumbnails is such an obvious improvement over the default HN wall of text — surprised nobody built this sooner. The side-by-side article + comments view is the feature I'd use most. Half the value of HN is the discussion, but switching between the article and the comment thread in a browser is clunky. Having them next to each other is the right UX. Quick question — what made you choose SwiftUI over something cross-platform? Was it purely about getting that native macOS feel, or were there specific SwiftUI features that made the visual grid easier to build?
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.
