What is Show HN? Meaning and posting rules

Show HN, explained

Hacker News's Show HN guidelines describe it as being for something you've made that other people can play with. It should be something people can run on their computers or hold in their hands. Blog posts, sign-up pages, newsletters, lists and other reading material can't be tried out, so they don't qualify; submit those as regular posts instead.

To post one, you submit a story whose title begins with "Show HN". Every Show HN appears on the shownew page, and once it clears a small points threshold it also appears on the show page in the site's top bar.

The rules are strict in useful ways. The project should be non-trivial: the guidelines say "Don't post quickly-generated one-offs; anybody can do that now," and ask you to share something personal to you and explain how and why. It must be something you personally worked on and can discuss. Users should be able to try it without barriers like sign-ups where possible. It doesn't need to be polished; early work is welcome. Landing pages and fundraisers are off-topic, and minor updates usually don't qualify, though major overhauls can. Don't ask friends to upvote or comment.

The audience is technical, curious and blunt. Good Show HN posts explain what the thing does in plain words, why you built it, how it works under the hood, and what's rough about it. The founder shows up in the comments and answers questions directly, including critical ones. Defensive or salesy replies go badly.

Practical tips: make the demo work without an account, or offer a clear test login. Make sure the site can handle a traffic spike. Post when you can spend the next several hours replying. Never ask for votes or comments: HN's FAQ says it penalizes or bans submissions, accounts and sites that do.

Even a modest Show HN can bring thoughtful feedback, early users from a technical audience, and sometimes links from people who write about what they found. For a technical product, pair it with the weekly launch platforms that suit developers.

Why it matters for founders

For developer tools and technical products, Show HN is one of the highest-quality launch audiences there is. Following its rules is what keeps a post from being flagged before anyone sees it.

Example

A founder posts "Show HN: An open-source tool that diffs database schemas across environments" with a live demo and no signup. They spend the afternoon answering questions about edge cases, and the repo gains its first contributors.

Common mistakes

• Posting a landing page or waitlist as a Show HN.
• Posting a quickly generated one-off instead of something you've worked on.
• Asking friends or communities to upvote the post.
• Getting defensive in the comments.