xurl

What this skill does

# 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 posts 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.

---

## 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.

---

## Installation

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

```bash
# 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:

```bash
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.

---

## 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):
   ```bash
   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):
   ```bash
   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+):
   ```bash
   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:
   ```bash
   xurl auth default my-app
   ```
7. Verify:
   ```bash
   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:
> ```bash
> 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.

---

## 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 `@`.

---

## Command Details

### Posting

```bash
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

```bash
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:

```bash
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

```bash
xurl whoami
xurl user elonmusk
xurl user @XDevelopers

xurl timeline -n 25
xurl mentions -n 20
```

### Engagement

```bash
xurl like 1234567890
xurl unlike 1234567890

xurl repost 1234567890
xurl unrepost 1234567890

xurl bookmark 1234567890
xur