[dbaupp]

There is an unofficial API: http://www.hnsearch.com/api (Provided by the very search engine referred to in the OP, haha!)

[pyre]

Unfortunately there is no API for getting access to personal information on HN (i.e. comments I have made, or stories I've upvoted). You're relegated to scraping if you want that information.

[unholygoat]

now there is :

here is how you can pull a specific username's submissions and you can add filters: http://api.thriftdb.com/api.hnsearch.com/items/_search?filte...

And then here is how you can pull the comments for a specific thread/discussion/id: http://api.thriftdb.com/api.hnsearch.com/items/_search?filte...

you can now grab a lot of data.. including they enlarged the site's rss feed in hopes of slowing a few of the scrapers..

there are a few items missing, but they added a lot: http://www.hnsearch.com/api

btw that includes a user bio now, as well as things you've upvoted... etc.. its all just done via filters..

the also boosted the rss feed to help slow down the strapers