indiehackers-cli

A command-line interface for public Indie Hackers data. Browse the latest posts, inspect post threads, view product profiles, and diagnose scraper health directly from your terminal.

This CLI is scraper-first:

• latest prefers RSS and falls back to the homepage HTML
• post merges post-page HTML with public Firebase data
• product prefers public Firebase data and falls back to HTML when possible

Install

Install from npm:

npm install -g indiehackers-cli

Requires Node.js >= 20.

After installation, both command names are available:

ih --help
indiehackers --help

For local development from a checkout:

git clone https://github.com/yang-ricky/indiehackers-cli.git
cd indiehackers-cli
npm ci
npm run build
node dist/index.js --help

Quick Start

# Latest posts
ih latest --limit 5

# Same query as JSON
ih latest --limit 5 --json

# View a post thread
ih post be6a4175e1

# View a product profile
ih product offero --json

# Check connectivity, cache, and selector health
ih doctor --json

# Inspect resolved configuration
ih config show

Commands

Browse

| Command | Description | |---|---| | ih latest | Show the latest Indie Hackers posts | | ih post <slug> | Show a post and its comments | | ih product <slug> | Show a product profile | | ih doctor | Check scraper health, connectivity, cache, and selectors |

Configuration

| Command | Description | |---|---| | ih config show | Show resolved config values and their source | | ih config set <key> <value> | Write a config value | | ih config cache-clear | Clear the local cache directory |

Global Options

| Flag | Description | |---|---| | --json | Output as JSON | | --yaml | Output as YAML | | --verbose | Emit verbose warnings for fragile fields | | --limit <n> | Limit the number of returned items | | --page <n> | Paginate the returned items | | doctor --fix | Show suggested fixes prominently |

Examples

# Latest posts as JSON
ih latest --limit 3 --json

# Inspect a post by short id
ih post be6a4175e1 --json

# Inspect a product by slug
ih product offero --json

# Pipe into jq
ih latest --limit 5 --json | jq '.data[0].title'

# Change retry behavior
ih config set request.retries 5

# Disable cache for a single shell session
IH_CACHE_ENABLED=false ih doctor --json

Output Formats

| Scenario | Default | |---|---| | Interactive terminal (TTY) | Human-readable table / text | | Pipe / redirect (non-TTY) | JSON | | --json flag | JSON | | --yaml flag | YAML |

Responses use a stable envelope:

{
  "ok": true,
  "schemaVersion": "1",
  "data": {},
  "error": null
}

The CLI respects NO_COLOR and FORCE_COLOR.

Configuration

Config is resolved in this order:

1. CLI flags
2. Environment variables prefixed with IH_
3. ~/.indiehackers-cli/config.yaml
4. Built-in defaults

Common environment variables:

IH_CACHE_ENABLED=false
IH_CACHE_DIR=/tmp/ih-cache
IH_REQUEST_TIMEOUT_MS=15000
IH_REQUEST_RETRIES=5
IH_RSS_URL=https://ihrss.io/newest

Common config keys:

cache.enabled
cache.dir
cache.cacheErrors
cache.ttl.feed
cache.ttl.post
cache.ttl.product
cache.ttl.user
request.delayMs
request.timeoutMs
request.retries
request.userAgent
rss.url

Network Behavior

This project only uses public endpoints, but reliability depends on current site structure and network reachability:

• latest uses https://ihrss.io/newest by default and falls back to other RSS candidates plus homepage HTML
• post and product may rely on https://indie-hackers.firebaseio.com
• On some networks, Firebase may be slower or unreachable even when www.indiehackers.com loads normally

If something fails, run:

ih doctor --json

Network errors now include the failing URL, which makes it easier to see whether the problem is the main site, RSS source, or Firebase.

Development

npm ci
npm run lint
npm run typecheck
npm run test
npm run build

Useful scripts:

npm run test:live
npm run selector:health
npm run fixtures:update
npm run pack:check

Disclaimer

This is an unofficial tool and is not affiliated with Indie Hackers.

It targets public pages and public Firebase endpoints only. HTML selectors and unofficial feed sources can break when the site changes.

License

MIT