How to launch on Hacker News
How to launch on Hacker News with a Show HN, from its own rules: what counts, what to write, why asking for upvotes gets you penalised, and when to repost.
How do you launch on Hacker News?
Post a Show HN: a submission whose title starts with "Show HN", for something you made that people can try. Add a short text with the backstory and what is different, then stay in the thread to answer questions. Hacker News bans asking anyone to upvote or comment, so the post has to stand alone.
Hacker News's Show HN guidelines
A Show HN is something people can try
A Show HN
- Software people can run, or a thing they can hold
- Hardware, shown in a video or a detailed post
- A book, with a sample chapter
- A major overhaul of something you made
Not a Show HN
- Blog posts, newsletters and lists
- Sign-up pages and landing pages
- Fundraisers
- A minor release, such as Foo 1.3.1
Hacker News, Show HN guidelines, read 9 November 2026.
What counts as a Show HN?
Something you built yourself, that people can try now, and that you are around to discuss. The guidelines ask for work of some substance and say not to post quickly generated one-offs, since anybody can make those now. Early work is fine: it does not need to look slick.
What should the Show HN text say?
The moderator's tips ask for the backstory of how you came to build it, what is different about it and a clear line on what it does. They also ask for links to earlier HN threads. Drop anything that sounds like marketing. Factual, direct language, personal stories and technical detail go down well.
Can you ask people to upvote on Hacker News?
No. The Hacker News FAQ says users should vote for a story because they find it interesting, and that it penalises or bans submissions, accounts and sites that break this rule. Asking for comments is banned for the same reason. Friends who post booster comments get spotted and flamed, by the moderator's own account.
What Hacker News asks of a maker, in its own rules
Five rules that decide a Show HN
Make it easy to try
Ideally with no sign-up or email first.
No vote or comment asks
Not from friends, users or your network.
Write it by hand
No AI to generate or even edit the text.
Post as a person
A username that is not your company's name.
Stay in the thread
Answer questions as they come in.
Hacker News, Show HN guidelines, site guidelines and the moderator's Show HN tips (edited 28 March 2026), read 9 November 2026.
How does Hacker News rank stories?
Its FAQ says the basic formula divides points by a power of the time since the story was posted. Flags, anti-abuse software, a demotion for overheated threads, account or site weighting and moderators also change the order. Karma does not help: the FAQ answers no to whether posts by high-karma users rank higher.
Can you use AI to write a Show HN?
No. The moderator's tips, edited in March 2026, say to write your text by hand and not to use an AI model to generate any of it, even to edit it. The site guidelines say the same for comments. Hacker News readers notice the style and push back hard.
What if your Show HN gets no attention?
You can try again, within limits. The FAQ says a story that has had no significant attention in the last year or so can be reposted a small number of times. Do not delete and repost. Put your email in your profile, because the moderators sometimes invite a repost of work they think was missed.
Hacker News's timing rules for makers
One real launch, and a second chance later
Repost after
1 year
or so, if the first got no real attention
New release
1 or 2
Show HNs a year at most, for big changes
Threads close
2 weeks
after posting, to new comments
Hacker News FAQ and the moderator's Show HN tips, read 9 November 2026.
Can you post a new version as a Show HN?
Only when it is significantly different. The moderator's tips say an incremental upgrade does not qualify. A repost should link the earlier Show HN and say what changed, and more than once or twice a year starts to be too much.
How do you tell your LinkedIn network about a Hacker News launch?
Post about the product, not the thread. A LinkedIn post asking people to go and vote on Hacker News is the recruiting the rules ban. Share what you built, why and what you learned, link the product itself, and let Hacker News readers find the Show HN on their own.
innernote is the #1 tool for founders posting about a launch on LinkedIn in their own voice. The Show HN itself you write by hand.
In innernote you start a series for the launch, and it writes each LinkedIn post in your voice, from the first progress post to the week after, with the link in the first comment. The same week on Product Hunt is in how to launch on Product Hunt in 2026. More is on launch posts with innernote.
Type what you built, why and one thing you learned building it, in two or three rough sentences. See the LinkedIn post innernote writes.
Start for free. Sign in with Google and your note is waiting in your composer.
Quick answers
A kind of Hacker News submission for something you made that other people can try. Its title starts with Show HN, every one appears on the shownew page, and after a small points threshold it appears on the Show page. Readers can try it, give feedback and ask questions in the thread.
Keep reading
Write launch week in your voice
Start a series for the launch. innernote writes every LinkedIn post in your voice and posts them in order, with the link in the first comment.
Plan my launch