Glanceway
Hacker News in your macOS menu bar
The Hacker News source for Glanceway puts the HN front page in your Mac menu bar. Top stories, points, comment counts, author, domain — all in a clean dropdown. Click to open, or just skim. The world's best tech news, minus the tab tax.
One source, three ways to read HN
The Hacker News source supports front-page stories, newest, and Ask/Show HN streams — pick what you want in the source config. Items refresh on a schedule you control; each one opens the discussion page or the linked article with a click.
If you want a second opinion on the same stories, add the Lobsters source next to it. Both lists sit in the same menu bar dropdown, sorted by time and de-duplicated.
Why glance-reading beats tab-reading
Opening news.ycombinator.com is a commitment: the comments, the rabbit holes, the next story, the next next story. By the time you come up for air, an hour's gone.
A menu bar list changes the math. You see the ten items you'd see on the front page, minus the interaction. You skim, open the one you actually care about, and go back to work. Same content, a tenth of the overhead.
Pair it with the rest of your dev stack
Hacker News in Glanceway is at its best next to GitHub notifications, Lobsters, Reddit /r/programming, dev.to, and an RSS feed or two. The whole developer attention layer, reduced to one menu bar icon.
Related Sources
Hacker News
NewsTop stories from Hacker News
Lobsters
DeveloperHottest stories from Lobsters
Hot posts from a subreddit
Dev.to
DeveloperTop articles from Dev.to developer community
Frequently asked questions
Which Hacker News endpoint does the source use? +
The source reads from the public Hacker News API. No account or API key is required.
Can I see Show HN or Ask HN specifically? +
Yes — the source config lets you pick the front-page, newest, or Ask/Show stream.
Does clicking open the article or the comments? +
Each item links to the HN discussion page by default; the linked article is one extra click from there. The behavior is controlled by the source implementation.
How many stories does it show? +
As many as the HN API returns for the chosen stream — typically the top 30-ish for the front page. Glanceway displays them in your menu bar sorted by score or time.
HN without the rabbit hole
Install Glanceway, add the Hacker News source, and glance at the front page without losing the afternoon.