How to Launch on Hacker News With Show HN: The Rules, the Title and Why Posts Get Flagged

#What Show HN is

Show HN is a type of Hacker News post for sharing something you built. Hacker News describes it in one line: Show HN "is for something you've made that other people can play with." Readers try it, then tell you what they think in the thread, often in more technical detail than any other launch site.

It costs nothing, has no queue and no editor deciding whether you get a slot. That's also why it's strict: the community and the moderators protect it from being used as an ad board. Every rule below comes from Hacker News's own pages, checked on October 2, 2026: the Show HN guidelines, the site guidelines, the FAQ, and the moderator's tips for presenting your work.

#Does your product qualify?

Check this before anything else. The most common reason a Show HN goes nowhere is that it isn't one.

Three rules from the Show HN page catch people out in 2026:

• "Don't post quickly-generated one-offs; anybody can do that now." A weekend app generated in an afternoon isn't what Show HN is for. The page asks for something non-trivial and personal, and asks you to "explain how and why."
• Make it easy to try. HN asks you to remove barriers, "ideally without barriers such as signups or emails." A demo account, a playground, a free tier without a card, or a repo with a one-line install all work. A login wall in front of everything doesn't.
• It must be yours. The project has to be something you worked on personally "and which you're around to discuss."

Early is fine. The guidelines say a Show HN "needn't be complicated or look slick," and the community is comfortable with early-stage work. If it isn't ready for people to try, wait: "Once it's ready, come back and do it then."

#The 2026 restriction on new accounts

Hacker News is temporarily restricting Show HNs because of what it calls "a massive influx, mostly by users who aren't yet familiar with the site or its culture." New users are asked to take part in the site and learn its norms before they post a Show HN.

HN doesn't publish a threshold (no fixed karma or account age), and its moderator has said the criteria are deliberately vague because they want "genuine community members." What that means in practice: if you created your account this week to launch, expect not to be able to post a Show HN. Start reading and commenting now, on threads you know something about, and launch later.

Two related signals: new accounts show their username in green, and HN's moderator advises against making your username your company or product name, because "it creates a feeling of using HN for promotion."

#Write the title

To post, submit a story whose title begins with "Show HN". The site guidelines add: don't make titles stand out with uppercase or exclamation points, and don't editorialize.

A format that works: Show HN: [Name], [what it does in plain words]

Be concrete: what it is, plus the one technical or practical detail that makes it different. HN titles are capped at 80 characters, so the detail has to earn its place.

#Write the first comment, by hand

After you submit, add a comment to your own post with the context. HN's moderator gives specific advice for it:

• "Include text giving the backstory of how you came to work on this, and explaining what's different about it."
• "Include a clear statement of what your project is or does."
• "Drop any language that sounds like marketing or sales. On HN, that is an instant turnoff."
• "Write your text by hand. Don't use an LLM to generate any of it (not even a tiny bit, including to edit or spruce it up)."

The last one is new and unusually strict. The site guidelines now also ask people not to post generated or AI-edited text. Take it literally: write the post and the replies yourself, typos and all.

A structure that fits the advice:

1. What it is, in one sentence.
2. Why you built it: the specific problem, ideally one you had.
3. How it works: the stack, the interesting technical choice, the tradeoff you made.
4. What it doesn't do yet, and what's next.
5. What feedback you want.

Pricing is fine to mention, but in one plain line. If it's open source, link the repo.

#The pre-post checklist

#A first comment, as an example

Write your own, but this is the shape:

Hi HN. I made Pingly, an uptime monitor that runs as a single binary
on your own server.

I built it because the hosted monitors I tried were either too
expensive for side projects or needed an agent on every machine.

How it works: one Go binary, SQLite for storage, checks over HTTP,
TCP and DNS, alerts by email or webhook. No dashboard login; it serves
a status page you can make public.

What it doesn't do yet: multi-region checks. That's next.

It's MIT licensed. I'd especially like feedback on the alerting rules,
which I'm not sure I got right.

Pingly is a made-up example. Notice what's missing: no adjectives about how great it is, no call to action, no request for votes.

#How Show HN posts rise, and why they get flagged

Where it shows up. Every Show HN appears on the Show HN new page (/shownew). Once it clears "a small points threshold," it appears on the main Show page linked in the top bar, and from there it can reach the front page like any other story.

How ranking works. The FAQ explains that the basic algorithm divides points by a power of the time since submission, so early votes count most. Other factors include user flags, anti-abuse software, demotion of overheated discussions, account or site weighting, and moderator action.

Why posts get flagged. [flagged] means users flagged the post as breaking the guidelines or not belonging on HN; [dead] means it was killed by software, flags or moderators. The usual causes for a Show HN:

• It isn't one (a landing page, a waitlist, an article).
• It reads like marketing, in the title or the comment.
• Friends or colleagues added booster comments. The moderator's tips say to make sure your friends and users "do not add booster comments in the thread."
• Vote solicitation. The FAQ says HN penalizes or bans submissions, accounts and sites that ask for upvotes.

A dead post isn't always final. Users can vouch for it, and when enough do, it's restored.

#What not to do

• Don't ask anyone to upvote or comment. The Show HN page puts it plainly: "That's not ok on HN." That includes posting the link in a Slack or Discord and asking people to "show some love."
• Don't delete and repost. The guidelines ask you not to.
• Don't use HN only for promotion. It's fine to post your own work some of the time, not as your only activity.
• Don't argue with critics. Thank them, answer the substance, and fix what's fair. The way you handle criticism is visible to every reader.

#Can you repost a Show HN?

Sometimes. The FAQ says that if a story "has not had significant attention in the last year or so, a small number of reposts is ok. Otherwise we bury reposts as duplicates." So if your first post got two points and no comments, trying again on another day is allowed. If it got a real discussion, it's done.

There's also the second-chance pool: HN's software periodically picks posts that deserved more attention and places them on the lower part of the front page. The moderator has said it's fine to suggest your own post by emailing hn@ycombinator.com, and to put an email in your profile so HN can send you repost invites.

For a new Show HN of the same project, the bar is a significantly different version, which the moderator suggests should probably only happen once or twice a year.

#Show HN vs Launch HN

Launch HN is a separate format that's only for Y Combinator companies; HN's Launch HN page says each YC startup gets one. Everyone else uses Show HN. The writing advice on that page applies to any launch, though, and is worth reading before you post.

#After the post

• Stay for hours. Answer every question, especially the critical ones. Reply as yourself, briefly and specifically.
• Fix things live. If someone finds a bug, fix it and say so in the thread.
• Write it down. HN comments are unusually good product feedback. Copy the best ones into your roadmap.
• Follow up elsewhere. A Show HN pairs well with a Product Hunt launch a week apart and a story post in the right subreddit (see our Reddit guide).

#Where Verdy fits

Verdy's free launch console includes Show HN as a quest, matched to product types where it fits (developer tools, open source, AI, SaaS, productivity and B2B), next to about 150 other curated launch platforms, directories and communities. Its website check runs before launch and flags things like a missing title, share image or call to action. Use our landing page checklist for what a tool can't check, such as a signup wall in front of the demo.

The console also drafts launch copy for each destination from your product profile. For Show HN, treat that draft as a checklist of points to cover, then write the post yourself, because HN's moderator asks for hand-written text with no AI editing. Skip the AI rewrite for this one.

#FAQ

#What is Show HN?

Show HN is a Hacker News post type for sharing something you made that other people can try. You submit it with a title starting "Show HN:", and it appears on HN's Show pages, where readers try it and comment. It's free and there's no application process.

#What are the Show HN rules?

It must be something you made personally and can discuss, that people can try now, ideally without signups. Landing pages, waitlists, blog posts, newsletters, fundraisers, minor updates and quickly generated one-offs are off topic. Don't ask friends to upvote or comment.

#Why was my Show HN flagged?

Users flag posts they think break the guidelines. Common causes are posting something people can't try (a landing page or waitlist), marketing language, booster comments from friends, or asking for votes. A dead post can be restored if enough users vouch for it.

#Why can't I post a Show HN with a new account?

In 2026 Hacker News is temporarily restricting Show HNs because of a large influx of posts from users new to the site. HN asks new users to take part in the community first. The exact threshold isn't published.

#How often can you post on Hacker News?

There's no fixed limit, but HN asks you not to use it primarily for promotion. For the same story, a small number of reposts is fine if it got no significant attention in the last year or so. A new Show HN for the same project needs a significantly different version.

#What's the difference between Show HN and Launch HN?

Launch HN is only for Y Combinator companies, and each gets one. Show HN is open to anyone who built something people can try.

#Can I use AI to write my Show HN post?

HN's moderator asks you not to: write the text by hand, without an LLM generating or even editing any of it. The site guidelines also ask people not to post generated or AI-edited text.

#Final recommendation

Post a Show HN when people can try your product in under a minute without signing up, and when your account has a history of real participation. Write a plain title and a hand-written first comment, then spend the afternoon answering questions. If it sinks, that's normal: check the repost rule, keep improving, and line up your next launch with Verdy's launch console and our Product Hunt alternatives.