How to Launch on Show HN: The Rules, the Post and the Comment Thread

What does Show HN accept, and what does it turn away?

The Show HN guidelines, which we read on 13 November 2026, open with the test: it is for something you have made that other people can play with. Readers should be able to try it, give feedback and ask questions in the thread. The page lists what is on topic, such as things people can run on their computers or hold in their hands, and what is not: blog posts, sign-up pages, newsletters, lists and other reading material, because those cannot be tried out.

Three further lines decide most borderline cases. The project should be non-trivial, and the page says not to post quickly generated one-offs. It must be something you worked on personally and are around to discuss. And it should be easy to try, ideally without barriers such as sign-ups or emails. The page also says the community is comfortable with early-stage work, so a rough first version is fine and a landing page is not.

What should the post itself look like?

Short and plain, in two parts. The title begins with “Show HN” and then says what the thing is, in the words a reader would use. The Hacker News guidelines ask you not to make titles stand out with capitals or exclamation marks, not to say how great something is, and to crop a gratuitous number such as “10 ways”. Leave the site name out of the title, because it is displayed next to it.

The link goes to the project. The story goes in the first comment, because the FAQ says a text submission cannot carry a link and tells you to submit the link and then add a regular comment. A good first comment answers four things in a few short paragraphs: why you built it, how it works at the level a curious engineer would want, what is unfinished or wrong, and what feedback you want. Write it yourself. The guidelines ask that you not put generated text in posts or comments, and readers can usually tell.

If you want wording to start from, the Show HN post templates give shapes you can edit, and the glossary entry for Show HN defines the term for a first-timer.

When should you post?

When you can sit at your desk for the following hours, and not before. Hacker News’s FAQ says the ranking divides points by a power of the time since a story was submitted, and that other factors apply too, such as user flags, anti-abuse software, software that demotes overheated discussions and moderator action. In practice that means a post that gets no early attention drops down quickly, and a post that keeps a conversation alive stays up longer, so your presence in the thread matters as much as the hour you choose.

Nobody outside Hacker News can give you a verified best hour. If you want evidence, look at the “shownew” page over a few days and note what time the Show HNs that drew discussion were posted, then test one time. Every Show HN appears on shownew, and the guidelines say it reaches the main Show page only once it clears a small points threshold, so early readers matter, and you are not allowed to ask for them. The answer on the best day to launch discusses this reasoning for other sites too.

How do you answer the comments?

Quickly, specifically and without defending your ego. The guidelines for the people replying to you say to be respectful, to ask questions out of curiosity and not to cross-examine, and to suggest alternatives instead of saying “you’re doing it wrong”. They also say that when something is not good you need not pretend it is. Hold yourself to the same standard.

• Answer technical questions with the real answer, including “I do not know yet” and “that is a known limit”.
• When someone is right about a flaw, say so and say what you will change. Other readers notice.
• When someone is wrong, reply to the argument with a fact and a link, once, and move on.
• Thank people for criticism that taught you something, and do not ask for votes in any reply.
• Keep replying while the thread is alive. The FAQ says threads close to new comments after two weeks.

The launch day schedule gives a way to split your hours between replies and fixes while a thread is active.

What gets a Show HN ignored, flagged or banned?

• Asking for votes or comments. The guidelines say not to, and the FAQ says submissions, accounts and sites that break this rule are penalized or banned. It adds that readers notice and may flag it as spam.
• Posting a landing page, waitlist or fundraiser. The Show HN page says these are not Show HNs.
• A trivial, quickly generated one-off. Its page says anyone can make those now and asks for something personal and interesting.
• Deleting and reposting. The guidelines say deletion is for things that should not have been submitted, and the FAQ says reposts of a story that had significant attention in the last year are buried as duplicates.
• Using the site mainly for promotion. The guidelines say it is fine to post your own work part of the time, but the primary use should be curiosity. An account that only ever posts its own project looks like what it is.
• Posting generated text, or automating posting. The guidelines ask for text written by humans.

A new account is shown in green, per the FAQ. If your account is new, spend some time reading and commenting on other people’s projects first, so your first post is not also your first appearance.

Should this be your first stop?

Only if the product passes the rules above and you can be present. Hacker News suits tools that developers and technical people can try in a minute. It is a poor fit for a consumer app that needs an account, a product with a long onboarding or anything whose value only shows after setup. A free board is an easier first public step for those. You can launch your product free here with no account and no queue, then come to Show HN when the product works for a stranger in a minute.

Browse the developer tool ideas for products that suit this audience, and the Show HN alternatives if the rules do not suit you.