HackerWeb Tools

A userscript for reading Hacker News and HackerWeb without fighting either site: readable layouts, real Saved items, reliable thread controls, keyboard navigation, and dark by default.

Install HackerWeb Tools — requires Tampermonkey or Violentmonkey.

What changes

Hacker News, cleaned up

Comfortable line lengths, clear metadata, HackerWeb shortcuts, and one save button per story. It still looks and behaves like Hacker News.

HackerWeb threads you can follow

Collapse controls no longer collide with HackerWeb's handlers. Thread rails show nesting; ancestor highlighting, OP emphasis, and save buttons add context.

Saved means saved

Stories and comments live in one versioned userscript-storage document shared by both hosts. Writes are atomic, old bookmarks migrate forward, and failed writes never leave a fake selected star.

Saved supports:

• Stories and comments from either site
• Search, Story/Comment filters, and newest/oldest/title/type sorting
• JSON export and validated merge import
• Reload persistence and cross-tab updates
• One Saved view inside Tools—no second floating button or panel

Dark by default

Choose Dark, Light, or System. The choice is saved immediately and reapplied on reload. HackerWeb uses explicit dark colors rather than whole-page inversion, so images, settings, Saved, progress, and copy feedback keep the right colors.

Defaults are dark theme, Saved, the HN comfort layout and HackerWeb links, plus HackerWeb collapsing and OP emphasis. Keyboard navigation, reading progress, new-comment markers, score signals, time grouping, favicons, hide-read, and automatic depth collapsing remain opt-in.

Controls

Open Tools or press , on either site. The drawer contains two views:

• Settings — theme, current-site features, layout, and thresholds
• Saved — the shared library, filters, sorting, import, and export

Other useful keys:

Key	Action
,	Open or close Tools
/	Focus Settings search
Escape	Close Tools
?	Show shortcuts when keyboard nav is enabled
j / k	Move through stories or comments

Preferences are local to each host. Saved uses shared userscript storage. There is no HackerWeb Tools account, backend, or sync server.

Development

Strict TypeScript, Bun, Vite, and vite-plugin-monkey:

bun install
bun run typecheck && bun run lint && bun run format:check
bun run test:run && bun run build

Use bun run build:watch for local userscript work. See CONTRIBUTING.md for setup and architecture; run bun run publish:dry before a release.

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Independent project; not affiliated with Y Combinator, Hacker News, or HackerWeb. Source · Install gist