Modern Hacker News v2.1.0
Manifest V3 · Chrome Extension

A modern, themable UI
for Hacker News

Give Hacker News a clean, responsive interface with explicit light & dark modes, 23 professional presets, and safe custom JSON themes — without changing its content or behavior.

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Modern Hacker News in action — multiple theme presets
23
Built-in presets
2
Light & dark modes
0
Tracking · local-only
MV3
Manifest V3
Demo

See it run

A quick walkthrough of every preset, the popup, light/dark switching, and branch-aware threads — straight from the extension.

Watch on YouTube ↗

Features

Everything you need to reshape Hacker News

A complete redesign layer that respects the original site — links, actions, and the native comment form all stay intact, and everything reverts instantly when styling is disabled.

Light & dark modes

Explicit light and dark palettes per theme — every preset ships both, switched from the popup in one click.

23 professional presets

Reddit, Twitter, Focus Reader plus 20 app-inspired conversations: Discord, Slack, Telegram, WhatsApp, and more.

Instant on/off toggle

Enable or disable the whole styling layer instantly from the toolbar popup — no reload, no residue.

Custom JSON themes

Upload your own theme file with both light & dark palettes, or download any active theme as a validated JSON.

Strict token validation

Custom themes can't inject scripts, HTML, or selectors — only approved style tokens are accepted.

Local-only storage

All settings live in chrome.storage.local. No accounts, no servers, no tracking.

Branch-aware threads

Depth rails, descendant counts, “replying to” context, and branch-aware collapse/expand on every preset.

Native form preserved

Real HN links and the original comment form stay intact and untouched — only the presentation changes.

Publish-ready

Branded icon set, Playwright tests, and a one-command npm run package zip for the Web Store.

23 Presets

Pick a vibe. Switch anytime.

Preset names describe design inspiration only. The extension is not affiliated with those services and copies no brand logos or proprietary assets.

Hero layouts

Reddit Twitter Focus Reader

Chat bubbles

Telegram WhatsApp LINE Messenger Keet Signal Viber WeChat

Workspace channels

Discord Slack Microsoft Teams Zulip Mattermost Twitch Chat

Forums & social

Discourse GitHub Discussions Stack Overflow YouTube Comments LinkedIn Comments Instagram Comments
Screenshots

See it in action

The same semantic discussion engine powers every preset: real HN links, explicit context, depth rails, and branch-aware collapse.

Theme presets showcase
23 presets · light & dark · single semantic discussion engine
Install

One click from the Chrome Web Store

Install Modern Hacker News straight into Chrome — no build steps, no dev mode, no downloads.

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Prefer to build it yourself? The full source is available on GitHub — see the README.

Custom themes

Roll your own, safely

Start with any theme in themes/, tweak the values, and upload from the popup. Strict validation means a bad file never replaces your active theme.

  • schemaVersion: 1 with both light & dark modes
  • Six-digit hex colors only — no scripts, HTML, or selectors
  • Optional CSS tokens: radii, padding, thread indent, panel border
  • Download any active theme as validated JSON, anytime

Full contract: theme.schema.json

// custom-theme.json
{
  "schemaVersion": 1,
  "name": "My Theme",
  "modes": {
    "light": {
      "bg": "#f6f6ef",
      "text": "#1a1a1a",
      "accent": "#ff6600"
    },
    "dark": {
      "bg": "#0c0d0f",
      "text": "#ececed",
      "accent": "#ff6600"
    }
  },
  "css": {
    "messageRadius": "12px",
    "avatarRadius": "50%",
    "threadIndent": "28px"
  }
}
Different

How is this different from
Modern For Hacker News?

Modern Hacker News is a separate, independent project — not a fork and not a rebrand. If you've also come across “Modern For Hacker News,” here's what sets this one apart.

Disclaimer: This extension is not affiliated with Hacker News, Reddit, Twitter, or any named design inspiration.
  • 23 full conversation UIs, not one restyle — chat bubbles (Telegram, WhatsApp, …), workspace channels (Discord, Slack, …), and forum/social layouts (Reddit, Twitter, …).
  • Light & dark on every preset — each of the 23 themes ships both palettes; no separate dark extension to hunt for.
  • Safe custom JSON themes — design your own with strict token validation; scripts, HTML, and selector injection are rejected.
  • One semantic discussion engine — real HN links, depth rails, descendant counts, and branch-aware collapse/expand across all 23 presets.
  • Download any active theme as a validated JSON file to share, fork, or version-control.
  • Free & source-available under the For The People License v1.0.

Ready to rethink Hacker News?

Free, source-available, and local-only. Install from the Chrome Web Store, pick a preset, and make the front page of the internet your own.

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