xurl — Agent Skill Reference

xurl is a CLI tool for the X API. It supports both shortcut commands (human/agent‑friendly one‑liners) and raw curl‑style access to any v2 endpoint. All commands return JSON to stdout.

Installation

Homebrew (macOS)

brew install --cask xdevplatform/tap/xurl

npm

npm install -g @xdevplatform/xurl

Shell script

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/xdevplatform/xurl/main/install.sh | bash

Installs to ~/.local/bin. If it's not in your PATH, the script will tell you what to add.

Go

go install github.com/xdevplatform/xurl@latest

Prerequisites

This skill requires the xurl CLI utility: https://github.com/xdevplatform/xurl.

Before using any command you must be authenticated. Run xurl auth status to check.

First-Time Setup

If xurl auth status shows no apps registered, walk the user through these three steps before doing anything else. Each step requires the user to act manually outside the agent session — never pass credentials inline through the agent.

Step 1 — Register your app (user runs this manually, outside agent/LLM context):

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

The user must obtain CLIENT_ID and CLIENT_SECRET from the X developer portal.

Step 2 — Set it as the default app:

xurl auth default my-app

Step 3 — Authenticate via OAuth 2.0:

xurl auth oauth2

This opens a browser for the OAuth flow. After completing it, tokens are saved to ~/.xurl and all subsequent commands will use them automatically.

Confirm setup is complete by running xurl auth status and xurl whoami before proceeding with the user's actual task.

Secret Safety (Mandatory)

• Never read, print, parse, summarize, upload, or send ~/.xurl (or copies of it) to the LLM context.
• Never ask the user to paste credentials/tokens into chat.
• The user must fill ~/.xurl with required secrets manually on their own machine.
• Do not recommend or execute auth commands with inline secrets in agent/LLM sessions.
• Warn that using CLI secret options in agent sessions can leak credentials (prompt/context, logs, shell history).
• Never use --verbose / -v in agent/LLM sessions; it can expose sensitive headers/tokens in output.
• Sensitive flags that must never be used in agent commands: --bearer-token, --consumer-key, --consumer-secret, --access-token, --token-secret, --client-id, --client-secret.
• To verify whether at least one app with credentials is already registered, run: xurl auth status.

Register an app (recommended)

App credential registration must be done manually by the user outside the agent/LLM session. After credentials are registered, authenticate with:

xurl auth oauth2

For multiple pre-configured apps, switch between them:

xurl auth default prod-app          # set default app
xurl auth default prod-app alice    # set default app + user
xurl --app dev-app /2/users/me      # one-off override

Other auth methods

Examples with inline secret flags are intentionally omitted. If OAuth1 or app-only auth is needed, the user must run those commands manually outside agent/LLM context.

If X does not return your username reliably through /2/users/me, pass an explicit handle to keep the token correctly associated:

xurl auth oauth2 YOUR_USERNAME

Tokens are persisted to ~/.xurl in YAML format. Each app has its own isolated tokens. Do not read this file through the agent/LLM. Once authenticated, every command below will auto‑attach the right Authorization header.

Clear Authentication

xurl auth clear --all                         # Remove all tokens across all apps
xurl auth clear --oauth1                      # Remove OAuth 1.0a tokens only
xurl auth clear --oauth2-username USERNAME    # Remove a specific OAuth 2.0 user token
xurl auth clear --bearer                      # Remove the bearer token only

Redirect URI Management

When working with multiple apps or custom callback URLs, you can inspect and update stored redirect URIs without touching credentials:

# View effective redirect URI (shows env override vs stored vs built-in default)
xurl auth apps redirect-uri get my-app

# Store a per-app redirect URI (env var REDIRECT_URI overrides at runtime)
xurl auth apps redirect-uri set my-app http://localhost:8080/callback

# Update app credentials without re-registering (no inline secrets in agent sessions)
# Run manually by the user outside agent/LLM context:
# xurl auth apps update my-app --client-id NEW_ID --client-secret NEW_SECRET

Quick Reference

Post IDs vs URLs: Anywhere POST_ID appears above you can also paste a full post URL (e.g. https://x.com/user/status/1234567890) — xurl extracts the ID automatically.

Usernames: Leading @ is optional. @elonmusk and elonmusk both work.

Command Details

Posting

# Simple post
xurl post "Hello world!"

# Post with media (upload first, then attach)
xurl media upload photo.jpg          # → note the media_id from response
xurl post "Check this out" --media-id MEDIA_ID

# Multiple media
xurl post "Thread pics" --media-id 111 --media-id 222

# Reply to a post (by ID or URL)
xurl reply 1234567890 "Great point!"
xurl reply https://x.com/user/status/1234567890 "Agreed!"

# Reply with media
xurl reply 1234567890 "Look at this" --media-id MEDIA_ID

# Quote a post
xurl quote 1234567890 "Adding my thoughts"

# Delete your own post
xurl delete 1234567890

Reading

# Read a single post (returns author, text, metrics, entities)
xurl read 1234567890
xurl read https://x.com/user/status/1234567890

# Search recent posts (default 10 results)
xurl search "golang"
xurl search "from:elonmusk" -n 20
xurl search "#buildinpublic lang:en" -n 15

User Info

# Your own profile
xurl whoami

# Look up any user
xurl user elonmusk
xurl user @XDevelopers

Timelines & Mentions

# Home timeline (reverse chronological)
xurl timeline
xurl timeline -n 25

# Your mentions
xurl mentions
xurl mentions -n 20

Engagement

# Like / unlike
xurl like 1234567890
xurl unlike 1234567890

# Repost / undo
xurl repost 1234567890
xurl unrepost 1234567890

# Bookmark / remove
xurl bookmark 1234567890
xurl unbookmark 1234567890

# List your bookmarks / likes
xurl bookmarks -n 20
xurl likes -n 20

Social Graph

# Follow / unfollow
xurl follow @XDevelopers
xurl unfollow @XDevelopers

# List who you follow / your followers
xurl following -n 50
xurl followers -n 50

# List another user's following/followers
xurl following --of elonmusk -n 20
xurl followers --of elonmusk -n 20

# Block / unblock
xurl block @spammer
xurl unblock @spammer

# Mute / unmute
xurl mute @annoying
xurl unmute @annoying

Direct Messages

# Send a DM
xurl dm @someuser "Hey, saw your post!"

# List recent DM events
xurl dms
xurl dms -n 25

Media Upload

# Upload a file (auto‑detects type for images/videos)
xurl media upload photo.jpg
xurl media upload video.mp4

# Specify type and category explicitly
xurl media upload --media-type image/jpeg --category tweet_image photo.jpg

# Check processing status (videos need server‑side processing)
xurl media status MEDIA_ID
xurl media status --wait MEDIA_ID    # poll until done

# Full workflow: upload then post
xurl media upload meme.png           # response includes media id
xurl post "lol" --media-id MEDIA_ID

Global Flags

These flags work on every command:

Raw API Access

The shortcut commands cover the most common operations. For anything else, use xurl's raw curl‑style mode — it works with any X API v2 endpoint:

# GET request (default)
xurl /2/users/me

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

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

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

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

# Multipart/form-data file upload
xurl -X POST -F path/to/file.mp4 '/2/media/upload?command=APPEND&media_id=MEDIA_ID&segment_index=0'

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

Raw API Flags

Direct Media Upload (Advanced)

For large or non-standard media, you can drive the chunked upload API directly with raw mode:

# 1. Initialize: declare file size, type, and category
xurl -X POST '/2/media/upload?command=INIT&total_bytes=FILE_SIZE&media_type=video/mp4&media_category=tweet_video'

# 2. Append chunks (repeat for each chunk with segment_index=0, 1, 2, …)
xurl -X POST -F path/to/file.mp4 '/2/media/upload?command=APPEND&media_id=MEDIA_ID&segment_index=0'

# 3. Finalize
xurl -X POST '/2/media/upload?command=FINALIZE&media_id=MEDIA_ID'

# 4. Check processing status (videos need server-side processing time)
xurl '/2/media/upload?command=STATUS&media_id=MEDIA_ID'
# or use the shortcut:
xurl media status --wait MEDIA_ID

For most images and short videos, the xurl media upload shortcut handles all of this automatically.

Streaming

Streaming endpoints are auto‑detected. Known streaming endpoints include:

• /2/tweets/search/stream
• /2/tweets/sample/stream
• /2/tweets/sample10/stream
• /2/tweets/firehose/stream/lang/en
• /2/tweets/firehose/stream/lang/ja
• /2/tweets/firehose/stream/lang/ko
• /2/tweets/firehose/stream/lang/pt

You can force streaming on any endpoint with -s:

xurl -s /2/some/endpoint

Webhooks

xurl can spin up a temporary local webhook server backed by ngrok for development and testing:

# Start local server + ngrok tunnel
xurl webhook start

# Custom port and log POST bodies to file
xurl webhook start -p 8081 -o webhook_events.log

The command outputs a public ngrok URL (e.g. https://abc123.ngrok-free.app/webhook). Use that URL to register a webhook with the X API:

# Register the webhook (use app authentication)
xurl --auth app /2/webhooks -d '{"url": "https://abc123.ngrok-free.app/webhook"}' -X POST

xurl webhook start handles the CRC handshake automatically and logs incoming POST events. Set NGROK_AUTHTOKEN in the environment to skip the interactive ngrok authtoken prompt.

Output Format

All commands return JSON to stdout, pretty‑printed with syntax highlighting. The output structure matches the X API v2 response format. A typical response looks like:

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

Errors are also returned as JSON:

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

Common Workflows

Post with an image

# 1. Upload the image
xurl media upload photo.jpg
# 2. Copy the media_id from the response, then post
xurl post "Check out this photo!" --media-id MEDIA_ID

Reply to a conversation

# 1. Read the post to understand context
xurl read https://x.com/user/status/1234567890
# 2. Reply
xurl reply 1234567890 "Here are my thoughts..."

Search and engage

# 1. Search for relevant posts
xurl search "topic of interest" -n 10
# 2. Like an interesting one
xurl like POST_ID_FROM_RESULTS
# 3. Reply to it
xurl reply POST_ID_FROM_RESULTS "Great point!"

Check your activity

# See who you are
xurl whoami
# Check your mentions
xurl mentions -n 20
# Check your timeline
xurl timeline -n 20

Set up multiple apps

# App credentials must already be configured manually outside agent/LLM context.
# Authenticate users on each pre-configured app
xurl auth default prod
xurl auth oauth2                       # authenticates on prod app

xurl auth default staging
xurl auth oauth2                       # authenticates on staging app

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

Error Handling

• Non‑zero exit code on any error.
• API errors are printed as JSON to stdout (so you can still parse them).
• Auth errors suggest re‑running xurl auth oauth2 or checking your tokens.
• If a command requires your user ID (like, repost, bookmark, follow, etc.), xurl will automatically fetch it via /2/users/me. If that fails, you'll see an auth error.

Notes

• Rate limits: The X API enforces rate limits per endpoint. If you get a 429 error, wait and retry. Write endpoints (post, reply, like, repost) have stricter limits than read endpoints.
• Scopes: OAuth 2.0 tokens are requested with broad scopes. If you get a 403 on a specific action, your token may lack the required scope — re‑run xurl auth oauth2 to get a fresh token.
• Token refresh: OAuth 2.0 tokens auto‑refresh when expired. No manual intervention needed.
• Multiple apps: Each app has its own isolated credentials and tokens. Configure credentials manually outside agent/LLM context, then switch with xurl auth default or --app.
• Multiple accounts: You can authenticate multiple OAuth 2.0 accounts per app and switch between them with --username / -u or set a default with xurl auth default APP USER.
• Default user: When no -u flag is given, xurl uses the default user for the active app (set via xurl auth default). If no default user is set, it uses the first available token.
• Token storage: ~/.xurl is YAML. Each app stores its own credentials and tokens. Never read or send this file to LLM context.
• client-forbidden / client-not-enrolled errors: If OAuth succeeds but reads (like xurl whoami) fail with these errors, the fix is to move the app to the Pay-per-use package in the Production environment via the X developer console (Apps → Manage apps → Move to package). This is an X platform enrollment issue, not a local xurl issue.
• Username not returned by /2/users/me: On some X developer accounts, /2/users/me may not reliably return your username after auth. Work around this by authenticating with an explicit handle: xurl auth oauth2 YOUR_USERNAME.