Free tool
Check a Show HN title before you submit
Paste the title, and the URL if you have one. Each warning quotes a line Hacker News published, or the 80-character limit a moderator confirmed. Nothing is uploaded.
Rules checked October 2026
Rules checked October 2026
Paste a title
The lines below are what this page checks. Paste a title to mark each one pass or warn.
Title
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Begins with Show HN
The title starts with the characters Show HN, in that case. "show hn" and "SHOW HN" do not match the line.
To post, submit a story whose title begins with "Show HN".
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Names something people can try
After Show HN, the title names the work. A prefix alone does not.
Show HN is for something you've made that other people can play with. HN users can try it out, give you feedback, and ask questions in the thread.
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80 characters or fewer
The guidelines, Show HN, and FAQ pages do not print a number. On 8 November 2025 dang confirmed a comment that the submission title limit is 80 characters. This count includes Show HN, and it counts Unicode characters after trimming the ends.
Unless it has changed, the max character length on a submission title is 80 characters, which this matches exactly.
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No all-caps words
Words in all capitals, other than the HN in the required prefix. The page does not publish an acronym exception, so API or SQL is listed for you to judge.
Please don't do things to make titles stand out, like using uppercase or exclamation points, or saying how great an article is.
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No exclamation points
An exclamation point used to make the title stand out.
Please don't do things to make titles stand out, like using uppercase or exclamation points, or saying how great an article is.
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Doesn't say how great it is
The words great, greatest, and amazing. Amazing is the adjective in the guidelines' own example, "14 Amazing Ys."
Please don't do things to make titles stand out, like using uppercase or exclamation points, or saying how great an article is.
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No numbered listicle shape
The shapes in the guidelines' examples: "10 Ways" and a number plus amazing or great. A bare number is not flagged. "The 5 Platonic Solids" is the exception the page gives.
If the title contains a gratuitous number or number + adjective, we'd appreciate it if you'd crop it. E.g. translate "10 Ways To Do X" to "Ways To Do X," and "14 Amazing Ys" to "Ys." Exception: when the number is meaningful, e.g. "The 5 Platonic Solids."
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Site name is not repeated
The hostname from the optional URL appears in the title. Hacker News already prints the site name after the link. A product name that merely matches the name before the dot is not flagged.
If the title includes the name of the site, please take it out, because the site name will be displayed after the link.
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Doesn't ask for votes or comments
Upvote, vote for, please comment, or asking friends. The FAQ says accounts can be banned for asking. The guidelines say not to solicit votes, comments, or submissions.
Please don't ask friends to upvote or comment. That's not ok on HN. Can I ask people to upvote my submission? No. Users should vote for a story because they personally find it intellectually interesting, not because someone has content to promote. We penalize or ban submissions, accounts, and sites that break this rule, so please don't. Don't solicit upvotes, comments, or submissions.
Show HN guidelines · Hacker News FAQ · Hacker News guidelines
The post
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Not a blog, signup, list, landing page, or fundraiser
Title or URL wording for the off-topic list: blog posts, sign-up pages, newsletters, lists, landing pages, and fundraisers. A clean URL can still hide a signup wall, which is why the confirmation sits below.
Off topic: blog posts, sign-up pages, newsletters, lists, and other reading material. Those can't be tried out, so can't be Show HNs. Make a regular submission instead.
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Video or PDF is labeled
A YouTube, Vimeo, or video-file URL asks for [video]. A PDF URL asks for [pdf]. Other URLs skip this.
If you submit a video or pdf, please warn us by appending [video] or [pdf] to the title.
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Not a point-release title
A three-part version such as 1.3.1, "is out," or "new version." A major overhaul can still be a Show HN. The page says so.
New features and upgrades ("Foo 1.3.1 is out") generally aren't substantive enough to be Show HNs. A major overhaul is probably ok.
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You confirm people can try it
Something they can run or hold. Not a blog post, sign-up page, newsletter, list, landing page, or fundraiser. Hardware may be a video or a detailed article. A book may be a sample chapter.
If your work isn't ready for users to try out, please don't do a Show HN. Once it's ready, come back and do it then. Don't post landing pages or fundraisers. On topic: things people can run on their computers or hold in their hands. For hardware, you can post a video or detailed article. For books, a sample chapter is ok.
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You confirm it is easy to try
Ideally no signup and no email. The page says ideally. A barrier is a warning, not a second definition of off topic.
Please make it easy for users to try your thing out, ideally without barriers such as signups or emails. You'll get more feedback that way.
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You confirm you made it and will stay
You worked on it personally, and you will be in the thread to discuss it.
The project must be something you've worked on personally and which you're around to discuss.
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You confirm this is not a small upgrade
Not a "Foo 1.3.1 is out" post. A major overhaul is probably ok.
New features and upgrades ("Foo 1.3.1 is out") generally aren't substantive enough to be Show HNs. A major overhaul is probably ok.
How to use this
Paste the title you would put in the Hacker News submit box. The count includes Show HN. Add the URL when you have one. This page uses it to notice a blog host, a fundraiser, a video, a PDF, or the site name repeated in the title. It does not fetch the page.
Four confirmations are the rules a title cannot prove: that people can try the work, that a signup is not in the way, that you made it and will stay for the thread, and that it is not a small upgrade. They start unchecked. Checking one stores nothing. There is no account, and this page does not submit the post.
What counts as a rule
A rule here is a sentence from the Show HN guidelines, the Hacker News guidelines, or the FAQ. The 80-character limit is the exception. Those three pages do not print it. On 8 November 2025, dang confirmed a comment that the submission maximum is 80 characters. The comment he confirmed is linked from the length row.
A tip is labeled a tip. The colon in Show HN: is one. The published line says the title begins with Show HN, and does not require the colon. Words such as revolutionary are a tip. Great and amazing are a rule, because the guidelines name them: don't say how great an article is, and the crop-the-number example uses Amazing.
This page does not estimate upvotes, rank, or a chance of the front page. Those figures are not on the pages it cites. Rules checked October 2026. Read the live pages again before you post.
Where this sits
The longer reading on this site is the Show HN guide. The catalog page is Hacker News. A month of other launches is the launch plan generator. The checklist of directories is the launch submission tracker.
Show HN is for something people can run or hold, posted by someone who worked on it and will answer questions. Early and rough is allowed. The Show HN page says it needn't look slick, and that you should not post before people can try it. Asking friends to vote is banned even when the title is clean.