An index shows which GitHub repos Hacker News links to most

What happened

An index of GitHub repositories ranks the ones that Hacker News links to most. According to the index, it covers 44,192 repositories, ranked by 384,444 links in HN stories and comments since 2008.

The page lists each repository with a short description. The entries include uBlock Origin, TypeScript, the Moby Project, Claude Code, ripgrep, the LLVM Project and ClickHouse. It also includes some less obvious entries, such as the documentation and samples for the official HN API and a repository describing the hidden norms of Hacker News that the Guidelines and FAQ do not cover.

What it means for founders

Links in comments count, not just stories. The index is built from links in both, so a repository is counted whether it is linked in a story or mentioned in a comment. For a founder, that is a reminder that being talked about is not limited to a single launch post.

The page also presents each project with a short description. TypeScript is described as a superset of JavaScript that compiles to clean JavaScript output. ripgrep is described as recursively searching directories for a regex pattern while respecting your gitignore. Each of those says what the thing does in plain words.

If your product is on GitHub, it is worth reading your own repository description as a stranger would. Would someone who has never heard of you understand what it does from that description?

The page has a limit. The page text does not say how many links any single repository has, and it does not say what made any of them popular. It shows that 44,192 repositories have been linked, not how to become one of them. Treat it as a reference for how established projects describe themselves, not as a recipe.

Where LaunchBeam fits

LaunchBeam discovers products shipping across the app stores, Product Hunt and GitHub, and gives founders a launch that gets seen. We do not promise traffic, upvotes or users from any launch, and you should be wary of anyone who does.

A sensible next step is to write your one-line description first, then use it everywhere: your repository, your store listing and your launch. If it reads clearly in all three places, you have done the part of discovery that is in your control.