xurl — X (Twitter) API via the Official CLI

xurl is the X developer platform's official CLI for the X API. It supports shortcut commands for common actions AND raw curl-style access to any v2 endpoint. All commands return JSON to stdout.

Use this skill for:

• posting, replying, quoting, deleting posts
• searching for raw posts (actual post JSON with IDs you can engage with) and reading timelines/mentions
• liking, reposting, bookmarking
• following, unfollowing, blocking, muting
• direct messages
• media uploads (images and video)
• raw access to any X API v2 endpoint
• multi-app / multi-account workflows

This skill replaces the older xitter skill (which wrapped a third-party Python CLI). xurl is maintained by the X developer platform team, supports OAuth 2.0 PKCE with auto-refresh, and covers a substantially larger API surface.

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Secret Safety (MANDATORY)

Critical rules when operating inside an agent/LLM session:

• Never read, print, parse, summarize, upload, or send ~/.xurl to LLM context.
• Never ask the user to paste credentials/tokens into chat.
• The user must fill ~/.xurl with secrets manually on their own machine. In Docker, this must be the ~ seen by Hermes tool subprocesses; see the Docker note below.
• Never recommend or execute auth commands with inline secrets in agent sessions.
• Never use --verbose / -v in agent sessions — it can expose auth headers/tokens.
• To verify credentials exist, only use: xurl auth status.

Forbidden flags in agent commands (they accept inline secrets): --bearer-token, --consumer-key, --consumer-secret, --access-token, --token-secret, --client-id, --client-secret

App credential registration and credential rotation must be done by the user manually, outside the agent session. After credentials are registered, the user authenticates with xurl auth oauth2 — also outside the agent session. Tokens persist to ~/.xurl in YAML. Each app has isolated tokens. OAuth 2.0 tokens auto-refresh.

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Installation

Pick ONE method. On Linux, the shell script or go install are the easiest.

# Shell script (installs to ~/.local/bin, no sudo, works on Linux + macOS)
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/xdevplatform/xurl/main/install.sh | bash

# Homebrew (macOS)
brew install --cask xdevplatform/tap/xurl

# npm
npm install -g @xdevplatform/xurl

# Go
go install github.com/xdevplatform/xurl@latest

Verify:

xurl --help
xurl auth status

If xurl is installed but auth status shows no apps or tokens, the user needs to complete auth manually — see the next section.

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One-Time User Setup (user runs these outside the agent)

These steps must be performed by the user directly, NOT by the agent, because they involve pasting secrets. Direct the user to this block; do not execute it for them.

1. Create or open an app at https://developer.x.com/en/portal/dashboard

2. Set the redirect URI to http://localhost:8080/callback

3. Copy the app's Client ID and Client Secret

4. Register the app locally (user runs this):

   xurl auth apps add my-app --client-id YOUR_CLIENT_ID --client-secret YOUR_CLIENT_SECRET
   

5. Authenticate (specify --app to bind the token to your app):

   xurl auth oauth2 --app my-app
   

   (This opens a browser for the OAuth 2.0 PKCE flow.)

   If X returns a UsernameNotFound error or 403 on the post-OAuth /2/users/me lookup, pass your handle explicitly (xurl v1.1.0+):

   xurl auth oauth2 --app my-app YOUR_USERNAME
   

   This binds the token to your handle and skips the broken /2/users/me call.

6. Set the app as default so all commands use it:

   xurl auth default my-app
   

7. Verify:

   xurl auth status
   xurl whoami
   

After this, the agent can use any command below without further setup. OAuth 2.0 tokens auto-refresh.

Common pitfall: If you omit --app my-app from xurl auth oauth2, the OAuth token is saved to the built-in default app profile — which has no client-id or client-secret. Commands will fail with auth errors even though the OAuth flow appeared to succeed. If you hit this, re-run xurl auth oauth2 --app my-app and xurl auth default my-app.

Docker HOME pitfall: In the official Hermes Docker layout, /opt/data is HERMES_HOME, but Hermes tool subprocesses use /opt/data/home as HOME. That means ~/.xurl resolves to /opt/data/home/.xurl for Hermes-run xurl commands, not /opt/data/.xurl. Run the user setup with the same HOME:

HOME=/opt/data/home xurl auth apps add my-app --client-id YOUR_CLIENT_ID --client-secret YOUR_CLIENT_SECRET
HOME=/opt/data/home xurl auth oauth2 --app my-app YOUR_USERNAME
HOME=/opt/data/home xurl auth default my-app YOUR_USERNAME
HOME=/opt/data/home xurl auth status

If HOME=/opt/data xurl auth status succeeds but HOME=/opt/data/home xurl auth status shows no apps or tokens, Hermes tool calls will not see the credentials.

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Quick Reference

Action	Command
Post	xurl post "Hello world!"
Reply	xurl reply POST_ID "Nice post!"
Quote	xurl quote POST_ID "My take"
Delete a post	xurl delete POST_ID
Read a post	xurl read POST_ID
Search posts	xurl search "QUERY" -n 10
Who am I	xurl whoami
Look up a user	xurl user @handle
Home timeline	xurl timeline -n 20
Mentions	xurl mentions -n 10
Like / Unlike	xurl like POST_ID / xurl unlike POST_ID
Repost / Undo	xurl repost POST_ID / xurl unrepost POST_ID
Bookmark / Remove	xurl bookmark POST_ID / xurl unbookmark POST_ID
List bookmarks / likes	xurl bookmarks -n 10 / xurl likes -n 10
Follow / Unfollow	xurl follow @handle / xurl unfollow @handle
Following / Followers	xurl following -n 20 / xurl followers -n 20
Block / Unblock	xurl block @handle / xurl unblock @handle
Mute / Unmute	xurl mute @handle / xurl unmute @handle
Send DM	xurl dm @handle "message"
List DMs	xurl dms -n 10
Upload media	xurl media upload path/to/file.mp4
Media status	xurl media status MEDIA_ID
List apps	xurl auth apps list
Remove app	xurl auth apps remove NAME
Set default app	xurl auth default APP_NAME [USERNAME]
Per-request app	xurl --app NAME /2/users/me
Auth status	xurl auth status

Notes:

• POST_ID accepts full URLs too (e.g. https://x.com/user/status/1234567890) — xurl extracts the ID.
• Usernames work with or without a leading @.

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Command Details

Posting

xurl post "Hello world!"
xurl post "Check this out" --media-id MEDIA_ID
xurl post "Thread pics" --media-id 111 --media-id 222

xurl reply 1234567890 "Great point!"
xurl reply https://x.com/user/status/1234567890 "Agreed!"
xurl reply 1234567890 "Look at this" --media-id MEDIA_ID

xurl quote 1234567890 "Adding my thoughts"
xurl delete 1234567890

Reading & Search

xurl search queries the X index as your authenticated account and returns raw post objects — IDs, authors, full text — so results can be immediately engaged with (reply, like, repost, quote). Use it when you need the actual posts rather than a summarized answer about a topic.

xurl read 1234567890
xurl read https://x.com/user/status/1234567890

xurl search "golang"
xurl search "from:elonmusk" -n 20
xurl search "#buildinpublic lang:en" -n 15

For X Articles, use raw API mode instead of the read shortcut. xurl read expects a post ID or post URL; do not put read before a /2/tweets/... endpoint. Request the article tweet field and ingest data.article.plain_text from the JSON response:

xurl --app APP_NAME '/2/tweets/2057909493250539891?expansions=author_id,attachments.media_keys,referenced_tweets.id&tweet.fields=created_at,lang,public_metrics,context_annotations,entities,possibly_sensitive,conversation_id,in_reply_to_user_id,referenced_tweets,article'

Users, Timeline, Mentions

xurl whoami
xurl user elonmusk
xurl user @XDevelopers

xurl timeline -n 25
xurl mentions -n 20

Engagement

xurl like 1234567890
xurl unlike 1234567890

xurl repost 1234567890
xurl unrepost 1234567890

xurl bookmark 1234567890
xurl unbookmark 1234567890

xurl bookmarks -n 20
xurl likes -n 20

Social Graph

xurl follow @XDevelopers
xurl unfollow @XDevelopers

xurl following -n 50
xurl followers -n 50

# Another user's graph
xurl following --of elonmusk -n 20
xurl followers --of elonmusk -n 20

xurl block @spammer
xurl unblock @spammer
xurl mute @annoying
xurl unmute @annoying

Direct Messages

xurl dm @someuser "Hey, saw your post!"
xurl dms -n 25

Media Upload

# Auto-detect type
xurl media upload photo.jpg
xurl media upload video.mp4

# Explicit type/category
xurl media upload --media-type image/jpeg --category tweet_image photo.jpg

# Videos need server-side processing — check status (or poll)
xurl media status MEDIA_ID
xurl media status --wait MEDIA_ID

# Full workflow
xurl media upload meme.png                  # returns media id
xurl post "lol" --media-id MEDIA_ID

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Raw API Access

The shortcuts cover common operations. For anything else, use raw curl-style mode against any X API v2 endpoint:

# GET
xurl /2/users/me

# POST with JSON body
xurl -X POST /2/tweets -d '{"text":"Hello world!"}'

# DELETE / PUT / PATCH
xurl -X DELETE /2/tweets/1234567890

# Custom headers
xurl -H "Content-Type: application/json" /2/some/endpoint

# Force streaming
xurl -s /2/tweets/search/stream

# Full URLs also work
xurl https://api.x.com/2/users/me

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Global Flags

Flag	Short	Description
--app		Use a specific registered app (overrides default)
--auth		Force auth type: oauth1, oauth2, or app
--username	-u	Which OAuth2 account to use (if multiple exist)
--verbose	-v	Forbidden in agent sessions — leaks auth headers
--trace	-t	Add X-B3-Flags: 1 trace header

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Streaming

Streaming endpoints are auto-detected. Known ones include:

• /2/tweets/search/stream
• /2/tweets/sample/stream
• /2/tweets/sample10/stream

Force streaming on any endpoint with -s.

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Output Format

All commands return JSON to stdout. Structure mirrors X API v2:

{ "data": { "id": "1234567890", "text": "Hello world!" } }

Errors are also JSON:

{ "errors": [ { "message": "Not authorized", "code": 403 } ] }

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Common Workflows

Post with an image

xurl media upload photo.jpg
xurl post "Check out this photo!" --media-id MEDIA_ID

Reply to a conversation

xurl read https://x.com/user/status/1234567890
xurl reply 1234567890 "Here are my thoughts..."

Search and engage

xurl search "topic of interest" -n 10
xurl like POST_ID_FROM_RESULTS
xurl reply POST_ID_FROM_RESULTS "Great point!"

Check your activity

xurl whoami
xurl mentions -n 20
xurl timeline -n 20

Multiple apps (credentials pre-configured manually)

xurl auth default prod alice               # prod app, alice user
xurl --app staging /2/users/me             # one-off against staging

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Error Handling

• Non-zero exit code on any error.
• API errors are still printed as JSON to stdout, so you can parse them.
• Auth errors → have the user re-run xurl auth oauth2 outside the agent session.
• Commands that need the caller's user ID (like, repost, bookmark, follow, etc.) will auto-fetch it via /2/users/me. An auth failure there surfaces as an auth error.

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Agent Workflow

1. Verify prerequisites: xurl --help and xurl auth status.
2. Before using xurl search, check intent. Reach for it when the task needs actual post objects, authenticated account context, or leads into an X write action — it is the right surface when the user wants posts they can engage with, not just a summary of a topic.
3. Check default app has credentials. Parse the auth status output. The default app is marked with ▸. If the default app shows oauth2: (none) but another app has a valid oauth2 user, tell the user to run xurl auth default <that-app> to fix it. This is the most common setup mistake — the user added an app with a custom name but never set it as default, so xurl keeps trying the empty default profile.
4. If auth is missing entirely, stop and direct the user to the "One-Time User Setup" section — do NOT attempt to register apps or pass secrets yourself.
5. Start with a cheap read (xurl whoami, xurl user @handle, xurl search ... -n 3) to confirm reachability.
6. Confirm the target post/user and the user's intent before any write action (post, reply, like, repost, DM, follow, block, delete).
7. Only the xurl command output (or the raw X API response) proves that a state-changing X action happened. Never report a write as done based on any other source — search results, summaries, or prior context.
8. Use JSON output directly — every response is already structured.
9. Never paste ~/.xurl contents back into the conversation.

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Troubleshooting

Symptom	Cause	Fix
Auth errors after successful OAuth flow	Token saved to default app (no client-id/secret) instead of your named app	xurl auth oauth2 --app my-app then xurl auth default my-app
unauthorized_client during OAuth	App type set to "Native App" in X dashboard	Change to "Web app, automated app or bot" in User Authentication Settings
UsernameNotFound or 403 on /2/users/me right after OAuth	X not returning username reliably from /2/users/me	Re-run xurl auth oauth2 --app my-app YOUR_USERNAME (xurl v1.1.0+) to pass the handle explicitly
401 on every request	Token expired or wrong default app	Check xurl auth status — verify ▸ points to an app with oauth2 tokens
client-forbidden / client-not-enrolled	X platform enrollment issue	Dashboard → Apps → Manage → Move to "Pay-per-use" package → Production environment
CreditsDepleted	$0 balance on X API	Buy credits (min $5) in Developer Console → Billing
media processing failed on image upload	Default category is amplify_video	Add --category tweet_image --media-type image/png
Two "Client Secret" values in X dashboard	UI bug — first is actually Client ID	Confirm on the "Keys and tokens" page; ID ends in MTpjaQ

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Notes

• Rate limits: X enforces per-endpoint rate limits. A 429 means wait and retry. Write endpoints (post, reply, like, repost) have tighter limits than reads.
• Scopes: OAuth 2.0 tokens use broad scopes. A 403 on a specific action usually means the token is missing a scope — have the user re-run xurl auth oauth2.
• Token refresh: OAuth 2.0 tokens auto-refresh. Nothing to do.
• Multiple apps: Each app has isolated credentials/tokens. Switch with xurl auth default or --app.
• Multiple accounts per app: Select with -u / --username, or set a default with xurl auth default APP USER.
• Token storage: ~/.xurl is YAML. In Docker, use the Hermes subprocess HOME (/opt/data/home in the official image) so tokens land under /opt/data/home/.xurl. Never read or send this file to LLM context.
• Cost: X API access is typically paid for meaningful usage. Many failures are plan/permission problems, not code problems.

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Attribution

• Upstream CLI: https://github.com/xdevplatform/xurl (X developer platform team, Chris Park et al.)
• Upstream agent skill: https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw/blob/main/skills/xurl/SKILL.md
• Hermes adaptation: reformatted for Hermes skill conventions; safety guardrails preserved verbatim.