How to do a Show HN
You hit submit at 10 AM with a title that said "revolutionary." By noon the thread was on page three, one stranger asked a real question, and you were in a meeting. Show HN is not a traffic faucet. It is a room full of curious people who will try your thing if you make it tryable and stay to talk. This is the playbook for that room.
What Show HN actually is
Show HN is Hacker News's lane for something you made that other people can play with: an app, a tool, open source, hardware with a video. Official rules live at news.ycombinator.com/showhn.html.
If they cannot click and try it, it is not a Show HN. Blog posts, waitlists, newsletters, lists and landing pages belong as regular submissions, not Show HNs. Quick one-offs and "Foo 1.3.1 is out" usually do not qualify either. Major overhauls can.
Pair this with Product Hunt alternatives, the 31 free directories, and the launch checklist.
Before you post
- Something to try in under a minute. Demo link, guest mode, or a public repo with a one-command run. Signup walls kill feedback.
- You, available for hours. The first skeptical comment often decides whether the thread lives. If you cannot reply for a stretch of the morning, wait a day.
- A technical or maker angle. HN rewards how it works and what is interesting, not "we help teams collaborate better."
- Honesty about what is unfinished. Early-stage is fine. Pretending it is finished when the demo 500s is not.
The title formula
Start exactly with Show HN:, then the name, then a plain description of what it is. No uppercase shouting, no exclamation points, no "best" or "revolutionary," no gratuitous "10x." The general HN guidelines ask for that tone on every title.
- Pattern: Show HN: Name – short factual description
- Good shape: Show HN: Redbean – single-file distributable web server
- Weak shape: Show HN: The BEST way to 10x your productivity!!!
- Also weak: a title that never says what the thing is, only what it "empowers"
Keep it concrete. If a stranger cannot tell what they will open after the click, they will not click, and the comments will be "what is this?"
The first comment (write it yourself)
HN's guidelines ask you not to put generated text in posts, and not to automate posting. Write the title, text and replies by hand.
In the text field or a first comment, cover:
- What it is in one sentence
- Why you built it (the itch, not the pitch deck)
- How it works at a high level
- What is unfinished
- What feedback would actually help
Invite people to break it. Curiosity beats polish here.
When to post
Weekday mornings in US time zones usually give you a better chance than late nights or weekends. There is no magic minute that guarantees the front page. What you control is being present when the first ten comments land.
Post from news.ycombinator.com/submit. New accounts can hit rate limits; if you are brand new to HN, spend some time as a reader and commenter first so the account looks like a person, not a launch bot.
Comment etiquette (this is the launch)
- Reply for hours. The people who stayed to ask deserve an answer. Prioritize technical and skeptical questions.
- Never ask for upvotes. Not in the post, not in DMs, not "hey friends check this out and upvote." The Show HN guidelines forbid it.
- Stay calm under fire. HN can be blunt. Correct facts, admit bugs, skip the corporate tone.
- Ship the small fix the same day if you can. A "fixed, thanks" reply with a commit link turns critics into allies.
What success looks like (honestly)
Most Show HNs do not hit the homepage. A quiet thread with five sharp comments can still give you your first real users and a list of bugs worth fixing. A frontpage spike with zero replies from you is a wasted shot.
Treat Show HN as one channel next to niche subreddits and the directories in our first 100 users playbook. Double down where the conversations actually happen.
FAQ
What is a Show HN?
A Hacker News post whose title starts with "Show HN," for something you made that people can try and discuss with you in the thread.
What does not qualify?
Blog posts, waitlists, newsletters, lists, landing pages and fundraisers. If they cannot try it, post a regular story instead.
How should the title look?
Show HN: Name – short factual description. No hype, no ALL CAPS, no exclamation points.
When should I post?
Weekday mornings US time are usually better than nights or weekends. Being online to reply matters more than the exact minute.
Can I ask friends to upvote?
No. That breaks the Show HN guidelines and can get the launch killed.
Stuck on the words? The free launch post generator turns six answers into Reddit, Show HN, Indie Hackers and X drafts.
Want a Show HN draft written for your product?
Get100Users maps where your users hang out and writes the native posts, including a Show HN title and first comment you can post yourself. Free for the first 10 indie builders.