SKILL.md
Twitter / X (script-mode)
Read-only access to twitterapi.io endpoints. 13 functions covering tweets, users, followers, replies, threads, quotes, articles, and trends.
All requests go through sc-proxy via core.httpclient.proxiedget. The TWITTERAPIKEY env var is auto-injected server-side, no local key needed on the agent machine.
Script Usage
Standard invocation pattern:
python3 - <<'EOF'
import sys, json
sys.path.insert(0, "/data/workspace/skills/twitter")
from exports import twitter_user_info, twitter_user_tweets
profile = twitter_user_info(username="vitalikbuterin")
print(json.dumps(profile, indent=2))
recent = twitter_user_tweets(username="vitalikbuterin")
print(f"got {len(recent.get('tweets', []))} tweets")
EOF
Tweet ID extraction from URL: the last path segment of any x.com/{user}/status/{id} or twitter.com/{user}/status/{id} URL is the tweet ID. Pass it as a string (Python int will lose precision on long IDs).
Function Reference (signatures)
All 13 functions live in exports.py. Returns are dicts straight from twitterapi.io — keys vary per endpoint, inspect once before scripting.
Tweet endpoints
| Function | Description |
|---|---|
twittersearchtweets(query, cursor=None) |
Advanced search. Operators: from:user, to:user, #tag, $cashtag, lang:en, has:media, has:links, is:reply, min_faves:N, since:YYYY-MM-DD, until:YYYY-MM-DD. |
twittergettweets(tweet_ids) |
Fetch one or more tweets by ID. tweet_ids = list of strings (also accepts comma-string). |
twittertweetreplies(tweet_id, cursor=None) |
Replies to a tweet. |
twittertweetretweeters(tweet_id, cursor=None) |
Users who retweeted. |
twittertweetthreadcontext(tweetid) |
Full thread context (parents + direct replies). |
twittertweetquote(tweet_id, cursor=None) |
Quote tweets. |
twittergetarticle(tweet_id) |
Long-form X article body. |
twittergettrends(woeid=None, country=None, category=None, limit=None) |
Trending topics; all filters optional. |
User endpoints
| Function | Description |
|---|---|
twitteruserinfo(username) |
Profile: bio, follower/following counts, tweet count, verified. |
twitterusertweets(username, cursor=None) |
User's recent tweets. |
twitteruserfollowers(username, cursor=None) |
Follower list. |
twitteruserfollowings(username, cursor=None) |
Accounts followed. |
twittersearchusers(query, cursor=None) |
Search users by name/keyword. |
username is the handle WITHOUT @ (e.g. "elonmusk", not "@elonmusk"). Pagination: when a response includes next_cursor, pass it back as cursor on the next call.
When to use this skill
- ANY
x.com/...ortwitter.com/...URL → start here, NOTweb_fetch
(Twitter blocks scrapers).
- Single tweet detail →
twittergettweets([tweet_id]). - "What's @user been posting?" →
twitterusertweets. - KOL discovery / cashtag mentions →
twittersearchtweets("$SOL min_faves:50"). - Trending topics →
twittergettrends.
Billing & cost control (READ before bulk/scheduled use)
twitterapi.io bills per item actually returned, not per request and NOT by any "max_results" you ask for. sc-proxy charges = returned-item-count × unit (tweets 45 / profiles 54 / followers 45 credits; 100k credits = $1; 3× upstream). Min 1 item per request.
The lasttweets / usertweets trap: the upstream /twitter/user/lasttweets endpoint has no page-size parameter — it always returns up to 20 tweets per page. There is no maxresults / pageSize lever, and twitterusertweets() does not accept one. So "I only need 5" still fetches and bills for ~20. Slicing the result client-side does NOT save money — the charge is already counted at the proxy from the upstream response.
⭐ Polling for "new tweets from account X" → use search, NOT last_tweets
This is the biggest, most common waste. twitterusertweets() (upstream lasttweets) has no page-size param and always bills a full ~20-tweet page every call, even when nothing new was posted. The official twitterapi.io guide recommends the advancedsearch endpoint instead, which our skill already exposes as twittersearchtweets():
# Cheap polling pattern — bills only the tweets actually in the window.
# When NO new tweet exists, the call is billed as 1 item (not 20).
import time
since = int(last_check_unix)
until = int(time.time())
q = f"from:{handle} include:nativeretweets since_time:{since} until_time:{until}"
res = twitter_search_tweets(q) # queryType defaults to Latest
Official pricing (upstream; our proxy bills 3×):
- tweets found → $0.00015 per returned tweet
- no tweets found → $0.00015 for the whole call (vs last_tweets' ~20× that)
Per-call cost in our billing makes the difference obvious:
last_tweets→ ~$0.009/call (20 tweets every time)advanced_searchempty window → ~$0.00045/call (1 item) — ~20× cheaper
Frequency vs monthly cost (single account, upstream): hourly $0.11 · 30min $0.22 · 15min $0.43 · 5min $1.30 · 1min $6.48.
Other cost levers
- Use
get_tweets([ids])when IDs are known — pay only for those exact
tweets, not a 20-item page.
- Followers/followings bill per returned profile (default page 200 → 200
billed). Only paginate as far as needed. For ID-only graph work use the bulk followers-IDs endpoint (lightweight).
- Tighten search queries (minfaves, sincetime/until_time, lang) so fewer
pages are needed.
Note: twitterapi.io also sells a managed stream/webhook product. **We do NOT
subscribe to it** — do not use the/oapi/xuserstream/*or/oapi/tweet_filter/*endpoints. For any account-monitoring need, the
advanced_search polling pattern above is the correct and only approach here.
Error handling
402 Credits is not enough→ upstream proxy credits exhausted; tell user
to top up. Don't retry.
429→ rate limited; surface to user, don't auto-retry.404 user not found→ suggest verifying the handle spelling.
Version Policy (hard rule)
This skill is script-mode (delivery: script). It does NOT register runtime tools — agent must read_file SKILL.md and call functions via bash + python3. The legacy tools.py / init.py files are kept for backward compatibility but are no longer the preferred entry point.
Bump rules:
- Any signature change, env-var change, or sc-proxy contract change → MAJOR
- New function added, response schema clarified → MINOR
- Bug fix or doc-only change → PATCH