X Intel

x_intel — X (Twitter) information gathering

x_intel lets an agent pull posts, search results, timelines and user profiles from X (Twitter) through xurl, the X developer platform's official CLI. This skill is read-only by design — it intentionally omits posting, replying, deleting, DM-sending and any other write surface. For a separate publishing skill, see follow-up work.

Use this skill for:

• looking up a single post by ID or URL
• searching posts with the X search query syntax (from:user, lang:en, #hashtag, ...)
• reading the agent operator's home timeline, mentions, bookmarks, likes
• inspecting a user profile by handle
• walking the social graph (who someone follows / is followed by)
• raw read access to any X API v2 GET endpoint when the shortcuts don't fit

Credential safety (mandatory)

Critical rules when invoked inside an agent session:

• Never read, print, parse, summarize, upload or quote ~/.xurl into chat context. It is a YAML token store.
• Never ask the user to paste credentials/tokens into the conversation.
• Never suggest or run the auth commands with inline secrets in an agent session.
• Never pass --verbose / -v — it prints auth headers to stdout.
• The only credential-touching command this skill ever runs is xurl auth status (status only, no secrets).

Forbidden flags in any agent-issued command (each accepts inline secrets): --bearer-token, --consumer-key, --consumer-secret, --access-token, --token-secret, --client-id, --client-secret.

App registration and the OAuth 2.0 PKCE flow must be performed by the user outside the agent session (see "User setup" below). Tokens persist in ~/.xurl (YAML); OAuth 2.0 refreshes automatically.

Install

The agent should verify, not install. Direct the user to install if missing.

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

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

# Go (cross-platform)
go install github.com/xdevplatform/xurl@latest

Verify:

xurl --help
xurl auth status

User setup (user runs these, NOT the agent)

The agent must not perform these steps — they involve pasting secrets. Direct the user to this section verbatim.

1. Open the X developer dashboard: https://developer.x.com/en/portal/dashboard
2. In the app's User Authentication Settings, set the redirect URI to http://localhost:8080/callback and the app type to Web app, automated app or bot.
3. Copy the app's Client ID and Client Secret.
4. Register the app locally:

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

5. Authenticate (this opens a browser for OAuth 2.0 PKCE):

   xurl auth oauth2 --app my-app
   

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

   xurl auth oauth2 --app my-app YOUR_HANDLE
   

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

   xurl auth default my-app
   

7. Verify:

   xurl auth status
   xurl whoami
   

Most common mistake: omitting --app my-app from xurl auth oauth2. The OAuth token then lands in the built-in default profile, which has no client-id/client-secret, and every later read fails. Re-run xurl auth oauth2 --app my-app and xurl auth default my-app to fix.

Read-only command reference

All commands return JSON to stdout. The agent parses JSON directly; no extra tooling needed.

Notes:

• POST_ID accepts a full https://x.com/user/status/... URL — xurl extracts the ID.
• Handles work with or without the leading @.

Search query language

X's search supports operators inside the quoted query string:

xurl search "from:elonmusk -is:retweet" -n 20
xurl search "#buildinpublic lang:en since:2026-01-01" -n 25
xurl search "OR" -n 10                        # literal OR — must be quoted
xurl search "(rust OR go) lang:en" -n 10
xurl search "to:NASA -is:reply" -n 10

Common operators: from:, to:, @, #, is:retweet, is:reply, is:quote, lang:, since:, until:, has:media, has:links. See the X search syntax docs for the full list.

Raw v2 read access

For anything beyond the shortcuts, hit any v2 GET endpoint directly:

# Public user fields
xurl /2/users/by/username/elonmusk?user.fields=public_metrics,description,verified

# Single tweet with metrics + author expansion
xurl /2/tweets/1234567890?tweet.fields=public_metrics,created_at&expansions=author_id

# Recent search with extra fields (paid tier)
xurl /2/tweets/search/recent?query=langchain&tweet.fields=created_at,public_metrics&max_results=25

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

Streaming endpoints are auto-detected; force with -s if needed. Streaming endpoints can be expensive — do not start one without confirming intent with the user.

Common workflows

Profile a user

xurl user @handle
xurl /2/users/by/username/handle?user.fields=public_metrics,description,verified,created_at
xurl following --of handle -n 20    # who they pay attention to

Triage a trending term

xurl search "topic lang:en -is:retweet" -n 25
# Pick interesting IDs from the JSON, then drill in:
xurl read 1234567890
xurl user @ORIGINAL_POSTER

Catch up on activity

xurl whoami
xurl mentions -n 20
xurl timeline -n 20
xurl bookmarks -n 10

Conversation context

xurl read https://x.com/user/status/1234567890
# Conversation expansion via raw v2
xurl /2/tweets/search/recent?query=conversation_id:1234567890&max_results=25

Output format

Every command emits X API v2 shape JSON to stdout:

{
  "data": { "id": "1234567890", "text": "Hello world!" },
  "includes": { "users": [{ "id": "...", "username": "..." }] }
}

Errors are also JSON:

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

The non-zero exit code distinguishes errors from empty results.

Agent workflow

1. Verify prerequisites: xurl --help (the command exists) and xurl auth status (the user has at least one app with oauth2 tokens, marked ▸ as default).
2. Parse auth status output before any other command. If the default app shows oauth2: (none) but a non-default app has valid tokens, instruct the user to run xurl auth default <that-app> — this is the most common config glitch and does not require a re-login.
3. If auth status shows no apps or no tokens, stop. Tell the user to follow the "User setup" section. Do not attempt to register apps or run any auth flow yourself.
4. Start with the cheapest read first (xurl whoami / xurl user @handle / xurl search ... -n 3) to confirm reachability and the request shape.
5. Treat 401 / 403 / 429 distinctly: 401 → re-auth needed, 403 → scope or plan, 429 → wait and retry (X rate-limits per-endpoint).
6. Never paste ~/.xurl content back into the conversation, even when troubleshooting.
7. When in doubt about cost: X's API has paid tiers and per-endpoint rate limits. Do not run unbounded loops or streams without the user's explicit confirmation.

Troubleshooting

Notes

• Cost: X API access is paid for meaningful usage. Many failures are plan or rate-limit problems, not skill problems.
• Scopes: OAuth 2.0 tokens use broad scopes; a 403 on a specific read 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: xurl --app NAME ... runs one read against a specific app without changing the default.
• Token storage: ~/.xurl is YAML. Treat it like a private key. Never read or send it to LLM context.

Attribution

• Underlying CLI: https://github.com/xdevplatform/xurl (X developer platform).
• This skill wraps the CLI's read commands and documents agent-side safety rules. No code is shipped beyond this SKILL.md.