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HackerTube is a new video-browsing site built from YouTube links recommended in Hacker News comments. Its creator says the project gathered 6,454 videos from 40,000 comments posted between 2007 and 2026, then organized them across 150 topics.
HackerTube, a new YouTube-style video site assembled from links recommended in Hacker News comments, was announced by its creator on October 31. The site draws on a collection of 6,454 videos identified in 40,000 comments posted from 2007 to 2026, offering an alternative discovery feed without requiring user accounts, according to the creator’s account.
In a blog post, the creator, publishing under the name karpathy, said the project began after finding YouTube’s recommendations unappealing. The next morning, they asked Anthropic’s Opus 5.5 model, through Claude Code, to build a video site based on recommendations found on Hacker News. The post says the result was deployed at hackertube.org.
According to the creator, the process involved downloading Hacker News comments, filtering them and using a workflow with Sonnet to remove spam and identify comments recommending YouTube videos. The resulting dataset contains 6,454 videos across 150 topics. The post does not describe the exact criteria used to decide which videos counted as recommendations or how topics were assigned.
The site uses a YouTube-like interface and, according to the post, generates personalized “For You” recommendations without accounts by keeping state in the user’s browser session. Other listed features include keyboard shortcuts, an option to use a video’s midpoint as its thumbnail, and an export of the site’s data for users who want to create their own version. The creator said the build took about two hours; that timing is their estimate, not an independently verified measure.
A Community-Sourced Video Feed
HackerTube offers a small-scale example of a different approach to video discovery: instead of relying on a platform’s general recommendation system, it surfaces videos that people in a particular online community have linked over time. That makes the collection potentially useful to viewers who want material connected to Hacker News discussions, though the project’s dataset does not establish that every included video is high quality or representative of the community.
The launch also illustrates how an AI coding assistant can be used to assemble a working web project from a natural-language request, according to its creator. The account describes the model handling comment processing, site development and deployment tasks, while the creator handled setup steps such as obtaining a Google Cloud API key, starting a virtual private server and purchasing the domain. The post does not provide an independent review of the code, security or maintenance requirements.
For readers, the practical distinction is that HackerTube is a community-derived catalogue, not a replacement for YouTube’s hosting service. It uses YouTube videos and presents them through a separate interface. Its usefulness will depend on the quality and availability of the collected links and on how its recommendation features work in practice.
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How The Hacker News Collection Was Built
Hacker News is a discussion site where users submit links and comment on technology and other topics. Videos can appear in those conversations as recommendations, but the creator’s method treats those comments as source material for a separate catalogue rather than as a formal endorsement system. The project spans comments dating from 2007 through 2026, according to the blog post.
The creator said an AI workflow filtered downloaded comments and removed spam before narrowing the material to roughly 40,000 comments that recommended a YouTube video. A YouTube API key was used to query video metadata, the post says. The creator also reported using Claude Code’s desktop app on a Mac and setting Opus 5.5 to medium effort as a default. These details come from the creator’s description; no methodology or data audit was provided in the supplied report.
The post describes a workflow in which the creator did not write code or run terminal commands manually. Instead, they directed Claude Code to develop and deploy the site, including requests to secure, harden and optimize it. The project’s title refers to Hacker News, commonly abbreviated HN, as the source of recommendations; it is not presented as an official product of Hacker News or YouTube.
“Let’s write our own YouTube clone based on whatever videos have been recommended on Hacker News.”
— The creator, publishing as karpathy
Dataset And Site Details Still Open
The post does not specify how many distinct Hacker News users recommended the videos, how many comments were excluded, or what counted as a valid recommendation. It also does not explain the topic-classification process, whether videos were checked for current availability, or how duplicates and links to removed videos are handled. The reported totals therefore describe the creator’s processed collection, not a publicly audited dataset.
It is also unclear how the site’s “For You” suggestions are generated, what data the browser session stores, or how often the collection will be updated. The creator says the project was secured and hardened, but provides no external security assessment or detail about its infrastructure. The available source does not independently verify the site’s performance or the stated two-hour development time.
The Site’s Next Test Is Use
The creator’s post presents HackerTube as an available site and says its data can be exported so users can build their own version. No release schedule, update plan or follow-up milestone is described. The next developments to watch are whether the collection is maintained, whether users report problems with its recommendations, and whether the export and browser-based features work as described.
Readers can also look for a clearer account of the dataset’s selection and filtering process. Until those details are published or independently checked, the figures and feature descriptions remain claims from the project’s creator.
Key Questions
What is HackerTube?
HackerTube is a YouTube-style site that organizes videos linked in Hacker News comments, according to its creator. It presents YouTube videos through a separate browsing interface.
How many videos does the site include?
The creator reports 6,454 videos, identified from about 40,000 comments and grouped across 150 topics. These figures have not been independently audited in the supplied report.
Does HackerTube require an account?
The creator says the site does not require user accounts and keeps recommendation state in the browser session. The post does not give further technical details about what that state contains.
Was HackerTube built entirely by AI?
The creator says Claude Code handled coding and deployment tasks, while they obtained a Google Cloud API key, started a virtual private server and bought the domain. That account is the creator’s description and has not been independently verified.
Is HackerTube affiliated with YouTube or Hacker News?
The source describes HackerTube as an independent project built around videos recommended in Hacker News comments. It does not say that either YouTube or Hacker News operates or endorses the site.
Source: karpathy.bearblog.dev
