free tier, planned

Free Hacker News keyword alerts

Name a term. discatch reads every new Hacker News story and comment through the official search API, and when one matches it sends you the post with its thread context. On the free tier this costs nothing at one hour or slower. The free tier also covers other free sources; this page is about the Hacker News part.

Stories and comments

A mention in comment seven arrives with the story it belongs to. discatch searches both, not just titles.

A prescore on every result

A bare keyword hit in a dead thread sorts below a live discussion. The agent can filter on prescore.

Email or agent delivery

Send to an inbox for a human or to a webhook, a Claude Code command, or a Doozy todo for an agent.

No card, no email to start

A trial key needs nothing. Claim it later with an email to keep the key and raise the allowance.

Boolean queries

Quotes, AND, OR, NOT, lang:, and since. The same query syntax as every other discatch call.

Thread context

Every result carries the parent URL, reply count, and score. The capture call fetches the full thread.

What you get

Stories and comments, not just titles. A mention in comment seven arrives with the story it belongs to.
A prescore on every result, so a bare keyword hit in a dead thread sorts below a live discussion.
Delivery by email, or to an agent: a webhook, a Claude Code or Codex command, a Doozy todo.
The same JSON result shape as every paid call, with the same fields and the same query syntax.

Set it up in one call

A trial key needs no email and no card. Register a catch on Hacker News at one hour and give it a destination.

curl

curl -X POST https://api.discatch.com/v1/keys/trial
curl -X POST https://api.discatch.com/v1/catches \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $DISCATCH_KEY" \
  -d '{ "name": "hn: your product", "query": "\"your product\" OR \"yourdomain.com\"", "sources": ["hackernews"], "interval": "1h", "destination": { "type": "email", "to": "you@example.com" } }'

Example queries

Hacker News catch queries

"your product"
"your product" OR "yourdomain.com"
"your product" AND NOT "competitor"
lang:en "your product"

How this compares to F5Bot

	F5Bot free tier	discatch free tier
Sources	Reddit, Hacker News, Lobste.rs	Hacker News and other free sources; more with a plan
Delivery	Email only	Email, webhook, Claude Code, Codex, Doozy todo
Speed	Within 2 hours	One hour or slower
API	Starts at $214.99/mo (f5bot.com/tiers)	REST API on every plan; MCP planned
Output	Email text	JSON with prescore, thread context, and matched terms
Agent delivery	No	Webhook, Claude Code, Codex, Doozy

F5Bot numbers from f5bot.com/tiers, read 2026-09-10. discatch numbers are the plan from docs/pricing.md.

Use from an agent

Planned. Until phase 1b ships, these calls return the doctor manifest with a next_action.

curl

curl -X POST https://api.discatch.com/v1/catches -H "Authorization: Bearer $DISCATCH_KEY" -d '{ "name": "hn: your product", "query": "\"your product\"", "sources": ["hackernews"], "interval": "1h", "destination": { "type": "email", "to": "you@example.com" } }'

MCP · coming in phase 3

{
  "tool": "create_catch",
  "arguments": {
    "name": "hn: your product",
    "query": "\"your product\"",
    "sources": [
      "hackernews"
    ],
    "interval": "1h",
    "destination": {
      "type": "email",
      "to": "you@example.com"
    }
  }
}

CLI

npx discatch catch create --query '"your product"' --sources hackernews --interval 1h --email you@example.com

Questions

Is it really free?

Hacker News alerts at one hour or slower are part of the free tier as planned in the pricing docs. Tighter intervals and other sources use units past the daily allowance.

Can I set this up today?

Not yet. The API currently serves the doctor manifest only. Trial keys are phase 1b and catches are phase 2. This page exists so an agent can plan the call.

How is this different from F5Bot?

F5Bot is free, email-only, and covers Reddit, Hacker News, and Lobste.rs. discatch adds a JSON API, an event log, a prescore, push to an agent, and more sources. Keep F5Bot if email is all you need.

Do I need an account?

A trial key needs no email and no card. Claim it with an email later to raise the allowance.

What sources does the free tier cover?

Free sources include Hacker News and other sources with a free official API. The pricing page lists them. Waterfall sources cost units past the free allowance.

How fast are the alerts?

On the free tier, catches run at one hour or slower. Paid plans allow 15-minute and 5-minute intervals.

Can I send alerts to my agent instead of email?

Yes. Set the destination to a webhook, a Claude Code command, a Codex command, or a Doozy todo. The push page explains each one.

What happens if I hit the free limit?

The call returns a 402 with the amount it would cost and a next_action explaining how to add funds. Nothing runs past the allowance without a paid plan.

Last reviewed 2026-09-10 by Parsa Khazaeepoul, founder, dcouple. Copy from docs/pricing.md, docs/data-sources.md.