Comments Owl for Hacker News

Comments Owl for Hacker News is a browser extension which makes it easer to follow comment threads on Hacker News across multiple visits, allows you to annotate and mute users, and other UI tweaks and mobile UX improvements.

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Features

Appearance

• Theme HN using CSS variables, which have been used to re-apply HN's default style NEW in v3.6
• Dark mode, with a pure black variant for OLED screens NEW in v3.6
• Write custom CSS to tweak the Hacker News UI
• Enable CSS view transitions on page navigation (not supported by Firefox) and pretend HN is now a Single Page Application NEW in v3.6

List pages

• Show new comment counts since you last viewed each item
  • Clicking on the "X new" link will highlight new comments and collapse comment trees which don't contain any new comments
• Hide "AI" items on the main list pages
• Custom item filtering - define your own patterns to hide items by title and site
• Prevent accidental flagging and hiding by requiring confirmation

Submission pages and comment threads

• Highlight new comments and collapse threads which don't contain any new comments when revisiting a submission's comments
• Default comment folding controls are replaced with a Reddit-style left-aligned control, with a slightly larger hit target
• Click anywhere in a comment's header to toggle collapsing its thread
• Manually highlight the X most-recent comments using the new "highlight recent" link in the submission
• Mute users to hide their comments and replies to them - muted users can be managed on your own profile page
  • Logged out users get a new 'muted' link in the header they can use to manage their muted users
• Add your own notes to other users - the first line will be displayed next to their comments
• User hovercards make it easier to view basic user info, edit user notes, and mute users
• Hide the submission comment form behind a "reply" link to make more room for comments above the fold NEW in v3.7
• Toggle display of "reply" links below comments to make more room for comments
• Increased distance between the upvote and downvote arrows on mobile
• Submit comments and forms by pressing Ctrl+Enter/⌘ Return in textareas
• Increase the contrast of submission text
• Hide the next/prev etc. navigation links individually on expanded comments, or entirely on collapsed comments NEW in v3.8

Navigation

• Hide navigation items you don't use
• Add an "active" link to the header for easier access to active threads
• Add an "upvoted" link to the header to make it easier to read new comments on submissions you were interested in
• Improved mobile navigation, with links displayed below other header contents

After installation, open the options UI and configure to your liking - your preferences will be applied as you change the options.

Screenshots

Safari version Frequently Asked Questions

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I just downloaded Comments Owl for Hacker News from the App Store, why is it not working?

Safari browser extensions require you to manually enable settings to allow them to run. After installing from the App Store, you need to:

1. Enable the extension – the Comments Owl for Hacker News app which opens after installation has a button which will take you to the appropriate page in Settings. Use it to toggle the extension on.
2. Give the extension permission to run on Hacker News – change the website access permissions for news.ycombinator.com to "Allow".

I opened Hacker News using a bookmark I added to my Home Screen - why is Comments Owl for Hacker News not working?

Safari doesn't currently allow browser extensions to run in Home Screen Web Apps. Open Safari then navigate to Hacker News normally.

You can use the Shortcuts app to create your own shortcut to open Hacker News in Safari.

Support

To submit feedback or a support request, complete the Feedback & Support form. You can also submit bug reports directly via the support repository on GitHub.

For release announcements and other updates follow @soitis.dev on Bluesky.

Tip

If you find Comments Owl for Hacker News useful and can afford to, a tip to help fund its development and maintenance would be most appreciated. If not, no worries – enjoy!

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