Hacker News 2008 至 2026 年反复出现的 100 个软件工具需求

Hacker News, 2008 to 2026

I collected every comment and post since 2008 that says “I wish there was”, “is there a tool” or “I’d pay for”: 63,300 of them. An AI classifier kept the 12,441 that ask for software. These are the 100 tools people asked for most often, across the most years, and are still asking for now. Every number links to the comments behind it.

63,300comments and posts read

12,441real requests for software

1,433asks behind these 100, each re-read

$6.00spent on AI labelling

Every column is one idea. Every row is a year.

The top 100, ranked left to right. Darker means more asks that year. Hover or tap a column to open it. none a few most

4 of 10

HN wants to pay to stop being the product

Four of the top ten are people asking to pay: for Windows without the junk, a browser, email, and search without ads.

46 vs 8

It asks for ownership, not AI

46 of the 100 mostly want it local or private. Only 8 mostly want AI to do the job.

81 of 100

Building isn’t the gap. Finishing is.

81 have already launched on Show HN, 1,423 times between them, and people still ask. 64 were first asked for in 2012 or earlier.

27%

It now asks to fix what already exists

Since 2024, 27% of requests want a better version of existing software, up from 14% in 2008 to 2011. How the asks changed

The list

Ranked by separate threads, years asked, and asks since 2024.

100 ideas

2. #2 Windows without the junk

   A paid Windows edition with no ads, telemetry, bundled apps, forced updates or Microsoft account, just the core OS.

   23 asks10 of 19 years11 in 2024–2661% would pay61% want it local or private

   Never launchedNo attempt found on Show HN.

6. #6 Paid search without ads

   A paid search engine with clean results like old Google, no ads or tracking, and ideally a cheaper plan without AI features.

   24 asks10 of 19 years6 in 2024–2683% would pay

   Never launchedOne partial attempt on Show HN.

8. #8 Choose what each site may run

   Per-site control of scripts, cookies, WebGL and referrers, with shared allowlists so each site gets only what it needs.

   20 asks12 of 19 years5 in 2024–2635% want it local or private

   Never launchedOne partial attempt on Show HN.

14. #14 Paid Linux that just works

    A maintained desktop Linux that works on their hardware out of the box, with drivers, sleep and codecs sorted and no upsells, worth paying for.

    21 asks10 of 19 years4 in 2024–2662% would pay57% want it local or private

    Never launchedNo attempt found on Show HN.

19. #19 VS Code, native and quiet

    An editor as capable and extensible as VS Code, ideally running its extensions, but native, fast to start, with no telemetry or Copilot push.

    15 asks8 of 19 years6 in 2024–2633% would pay60% want it local or private

    Built, still asked for2 launches on Show HN do the job. Top: Void - open source Cursor AI code editor (2024, 13 points).

33. #33 Forums worth hosting again

    Simple, modern forum software a small group can host themselves, with persistent searchable threads instead of Discord, light install and email posting.

    12 asks9 of 19 years4 in 2024–26

    Built, still asked for18 launches on Show HN do the job. Top: Minimal, no-JS web forum software (2022, 392 points).

38. #38 A terminal with editor manners

    A fast, simple terminal with editor-style mouse and text editing, richer shell integration and saved SSH hosts, on Windows and iPad too.

    11 asks7 of 19 years5 in 2024–2645% want it local or private

    Built, still asked for6 launches on Show HN do the job. Top: Warp, a Rust-based terminal (2022, 946 points).

61. #61 Every local event in one feed

    One searchable place or followable feed for local tech meetups, hackathons, talks and gigs, so they no longer need Facebook to hear about them.

    13 asks9 of 19 years2 in 2024–26

    Built, still asked for19 launches on Show HN do the job. Top: Things to Do API (2026, 57 points).

72. #72 Encrypted chat as easy as WhatsApp

    An encrypted messenger as easy as iMessage that signs up without a phone number and moves chat history across devices.

    12 asks8 of 19 years2 in 2024–2625% would pay

    Never launchedOne partial attempt on Show HN.

88. #88 AutoHotkey for every OS

    An AutoHotkey or Keyboard Maestro equivalent for Linux and macOS that can drive any GUI, with recent asks wanting AI computer use on Linux.

    9 asks7 of 19 years3 in 2024–2667% want it local or private

    Built, still asked for11 launches on Show HN do the job. Top: AutoHotkey for Linux (2022, 500 points).

90. #90 Clean up CSS against real pages

    Developers want to check CSS against their real HTML to drop unused rules, get fix tips, and convert between Tailwind classes and CSS.

    8 asks7 of 19 years3 in 2024–26

    Tried, never finished2 partial attempts on Show HN, none that does the whole job. Top: Remove unused css with Purgecss (2017, 8 points).

91. #91 An office suite simpler than LibreOffice

    Linux users want a reliable offline office suite that handles Word and Excel files well, with a simpler interface than LibreOffice, and would pay.

    8 asks7 of 19 years3 in 2024–2638% would pay50% want it local or private

    Never launchedNo attempt found on Show HN.

92. #92 RSS with friends

    A layer for RSS readers that recommends related feeds, shares likes and stars from similar readers, or offers curated topic planets.

    8 asks7 of 19 years3 in 2024–26

    Built, still asked for13 launches on Show HN do the job. Top: EvalRSS – A Social RSS Aggregator (2021, 28 points).

94. #94 CI runners for every platform

    Affordable CI with macOS, Windows, Linux and ARM runners and real devices, building every platform from one command.

    7 asks6 of 19 years4 in 2024–26

    Never launchedNo attempt found on Show HN.

100. #100 A friendlier, cheaper Twilio

     A simpler, cheaper Twilio-style SMS, MMS and voice service with numbers, editable templates and a local SMS test inbox.

     9 asks8 of 19 years2 in 2024–2633% would pay

     Tried, never finished5 partial attempts on Show HN, none that does the whole job. Top: Postack – SMS API for Developers (2024, 8 points).

New since 2024

Most of the list is old: the same asks, every year. These are the exceptions, where most of the asks came in the last three years.

• Ask questions of your codebase
• A coding agent for any model
• LLM tests on real work
• A seatbelt for npm installs

How this was made

Seven steps, $6.00 of AI labelling, and one big lesson: a classifier you can afford to run on everything still needs a second reader. The full write-up has the prompts, the accuracy checks and the mistakes.

1. Collect. Every HN comment and post from 2008 to 2026 with one of 35 want-phrases: 63,300 items.
2. Keep the real requests. Jev, a decision model on OpenRouter, kept 12,441. Checked on 300 items, it was right 91% of the time; the best keyword rule managed 38%.
3. Name the ideas. AI writers read the requests topic by topic and wrote 540 concrete tool ideas.
4. Match requests to ideas. Jev put each request under one idea or none, then checked every match twice.
5. Re-read every counted ask. For these 100, a second AI reader went through all 1,998 matches and kept 1,433.
6. Check what exists. Jev judged 21,438 Show HN launches: does this one do the job?
7. Rank. Separate threads, years asked and asks since 2024. Ideas nobody asked for since 2024 are left out.

Read how it was made

Take the data

All 12,441 requests as HN links with our labels (topic, date, would pay, local, open source, AI), and the 100 ideas with every count on this page. CSV, free, no sign-up.

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What it can’t tell you

• Hacker News is one crowd: developers, mostly in the US and Europe. Its wishes lean towards privacy, ownership and tools for builders.
• Counts are floors. A request counts only if it uses one of 35 want-phrases, and the checks drop some real asks to keep the counted ones clean.
• Supply means launches on Show HN. A product can be on the market and still show as never launched here, if nobody posted it to Show HN.
• “Built, still asked for” doesn’t prove the existing tools are bad. People may not know about them, or want different terms: no subscription, local data, open source.
• The checks were done by AI readers, not people. Read a few asks behind any idea before you bet on it; every one is linked.