X Research

What it does

When your agent uses it

• User says x research
• Search twitter for
• What are people saying about
• Whats twitter saying

Example prompts

• “x research”
• “search x for”
• “search twitter for”
• “/x-research”

Requirements

• Python 3
• A credential in X_BEARER_TOKEN
• A credential in XAI_API_KEY
• Pre-approved tools (allowed-tools): Bash, Read, Grep, Glob, Write, WebFetch

Workflow steps

6 steps, taken from the step headings in SKILL.md.

1. 1Decompose the Question into Queries
2. 2Search and Extract
3. 3Follow Threads
4. 4Deep-Dive Linked Content
5. 5Synthesize
6. 6Save

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 6d05be4. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

• Tool permissions

  Pre-approves these tools, so the agent can use them without asking each time:

  • Bash
  • Read
  • Grep
  • Glob
  • Write
  • WebFetch

  From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

• Runs code

  Ships 6 files in scripts/ (Python), which the agent can run.

  Shell commands in SKILL.md call:

  • uv
  • pip

  From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.

• Network

  Links to these hosts (documentation or services it may open):

  • docs.astral.sh

  From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.

• Credentials

  Names these keys or tokens, usually read from environment variables:

  • X_BEARER_TOKEN
  • XAI_API_KEY

  From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

Context cost

X Research loads about 1.9k tokens when it runs, and up to ~3k if it reads all its reference files. Until then it costs about 161 tokens; SKILL.md has 581 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it

~161

When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches

~1.9k

With references · SKILL.md plus every file in references/, read only if the agent opens them

~3k

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

• NotePre-approves every shell command (allowed-tools: Bash)SKILL.md

  allowed-tools: Bash, Read, Grep, Glob, Write, WebFetch

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); the scripts in this folder are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from trailofbits/skills-curated at commit 6d05be4, republished under its CC-BY-SA-4.0 licence (© trailofbits). 581 words, ~1,869 tokens.

name

x-research

description

Searches X/Twitter for real-time perspectives, dev discussions, product feedback, breaking news, and expert opinions using the X API v2. Provides search with engagement sorting, user profiles, thread fetching, watchlists, and result caching. Use when: (1) user says "x research", "search x for", "search twitter for", "what are people saying about", "what's twitter saying", "check x for", "x search", (2) user needs recent X discourse on a topic (library releases, API changes, product launches, industry events), (3) user wants to find what devs/experts/community thinks about a topic. NOT for: posting tweets or account management.

allowed-tools

Bash, Read, Grep, Glob, Write, WebFetch

uv run {baseDir}/skills/x-research/scripts/x_search.py search "<query>" [options]

uv run {baseDir}/skills/x-research/scripts/x_search.py search "claude code" --sort likes --limit 10
uv run {baseDir}/skills/x-research/scripts/x_search.py search "from:anthropic" --sort recent
uv run {baseDir}/skills/x-research/scripts/x_search.py search "(cursor OR windsurf) AI editor" --pages 2 --save
uv run {baseDir}/skills/x-research/scripts/x_search.py search "AI agents" --quick
uv run {baseDir}/skills/x-research/scripts/x_search.py search "AI agents" --quality --quick

uv run {baseDir}/skills/x-research/scripts/x_search.py profile <username> [--count N] [--replies] [--json]

uv run {baseDir}/skills/x-research/scripts/x_search.py thread <tweet_id> [--pages N]

uv run {baseDir}/skills/x-research/scripts/x_search.py tweet <tweet_id> [--json]

uv run {baseDir}/skills/x-research/scripts/x_search.py watchlist                        # Show all
uv run {baseDir}/skills/x-research/scripts/x_search.py watchlist add <user> [note]      # Add account
uv run {baseDir}/skills/x-research/scripts/x_search.py watchlist remove <user>           # Remove
uv run {baseDir}/skills/x-research/scripts/x_search.py watchlist check                   # Check recent

uv run {baseDir}/skills/x-research/scripts/x_search.py cache clear

uv run {baseDir}/skills/x-research/scripts/x_search.py thread <tweet_id>

### [Theme/Finding Title]

[1-2 sentence summary]

- @username: "[key quote]" (NL, NI) [Tweet](url)
- @username2: "[another perspective]" (NL, NI) [Tweet](url)

Resources shared:
- [Resource title](url) -- [what it is]

skills/x-research/
  SKILL.md           (this file)
  scripts/
    x_search.py      (CLI entry point, run with uv)
    x_api.py         (X API wrapper)
    x_cache.py       (file-based cache, 15min TTL)
    x_format.py      (terminal + markdown formatters)
  data/
    watchlist.json   (accounts to monitor)
    cache/           (auto-managed)
  references/
    x-api.md         (X API endpoint reference)

© trailofbits, CC-BY-SA-4.0. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file

Files

SKILL.md and 8 other files (scripts, references) in plugins/x-research/skills/x-research of trailofbits/skills-curated.

• SKILL.md
• data/watchlist.example.json
• references/x-api.md
• scripts/pyproject.toml
• scripts/x_api.py
• scripts/x_cache.py
• scripts/x_format.py
• scripts/x_search.py
• scripts/x_xai.py

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 6d05be4