agent-reach

name

agent-reach

description

MUST USE when the user wants to research/search/look up/find anything on the internet across social and content platforms — e.g. "research this topic on Twitter", "do a deep dive on X across Reddit", "search the web for X", "see what people say about X on XiaoHongShu", "look this up on YouTube". Also MUST USE when the user mentions any platform or shares any URL/link: Twitter/X, Reddit, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, GitHub, Bilibili, XiaoHongShu, Xiaoyuzhou Podcast, LinkedIn/jobs/recruiting, V2EX, Xueqiu (stocks), RSS. 15 platforms, multi-backend routing (OpenCLI / per-platform CLIs / APIs). Run `agent-reach doctor --json` to see which backend serves each platform right now. NOT for: writing reports/analysis/translation (this skill only FETCHES internet content); posting/commenting/liking (write operations); generic web scraping of arbitrary URLs (use the scrapling-agent's Scrapling tools for that).

agent-reach — internet capability router

agent-reach is a capability layer, not yet another fetcher. It sits one level above any specific implementation: it handles selection, installation, health checks, and routing for 15 platforms. The actual reading is done by you (the agent) calling the upstream CLI it tells you to use. There is no wrapper layer.

When to use

• The user names a platform: "search Twitter for X", "read this Reddit thread", "what's on XiaoHongShu about Y", "transcribe this YouTube video", "read this GitHub repo".
• The user shares a URL from any of the 15 supported platforms.
• The user asks to "research" or "deep dive" across social/content platforms.

When NOT to use

• Generic web scraping of an arbitrary URL with anti-bot bypass → use Scrapling (get / fetch / stealthy_fetch tools).
• Writing reports, analysis, or translation from fetched content → fetch first with agent-reach, then do the writing yourself.
• Posting, commenting, liking, or any write operation → agent-reach is fetch-only.

First step: diagnose what's available

agent-reach doctor --json

This prints, per platform, which backend is currently active (OpenCLI / per-platform CLI / MCP) and what's broken. Use it to decide which command to call. If agent-reach is not installed, install it first:

pip install agent-reach
agent-reach install --env=auto           # core channels (lightweight, zero-config)
agent-reach install --env=auto --channels=twitter,xiaohongshu   # + optional channels
agent-reach install --env=auto --channels=all                   # everything

The 15 platforms and their commands

Platform	Read with	Search with	Setup
Web (any URL)	jina (Jina Reader, zero config)	—	Zero config
Twitter/X	twitter tweet <id> / twitter thread <id>	twitter search "query"	Cookie (twitter-cli)
YouTube	yt-dlp (transcripts + metadata)	yt-dlp "ytsearch10:query"	Zero config
GitHub	gh repo view, gh issue list, gh pr view	gh search repos "query"	gh auth login
Bilibili	bili hot / bili rank / bili search "query"	bili search "query"	Zero config (bili-cli)
Reddit	opencli reddit ... (desktop) / rdt ... (server)	opencli reddit search "query"	Login required
Facebook	opencli facebook search "query" / opencli facebook profile <id>	opencli facebook search "query"	OpenCLI (desktop Chrome)
Instagram	opencli instagram search "query" / opencli instagram profile <id>	opencli instagram search "query"	OpenCLI (desktop Chrome)
XiaoHongShu	opencli xiaohongshu ... (desktop) / xiaohongshu-mcp (server)	opencli xiaohongshu search "query"	OpenCLI or xiaohongshu-mcp
LinkedIn	mcporter call 'linkedin.get_person_profile(...)'	mcporter call 'linkedin.search_people(...)'	linkedin-scraper-mcp
V2EX	v2ex hot / v2ex node <name> /

Always run agent-reach doctor --json first to confirm which backend is active for the platform you're about to query — the active backend can change when an access path dies and agent-reach re-routes.

Multi-backend routing

Each platform is an ordered backend list (primary + fallbacks). When a backend breaks, agent-reach switches to the next. Examples:

• Twitter: twitter-cli → OpenCLI → bird
• Bilibili: bili-cli → OpenCLI → search API (yt-dlp retired, 412-blocked)
• Reddit: OpenCLI → rdt-cli (no zero-config path, login required)
• XiaoHongShu: OpenCLI (desktop) → xiaohongshu-mcp (server) → xhs-cli (legacy)

agent-reach doctor --json tells you exactly which one is active right now.

Privacy

Cookies stay local. Never uploaded. agent-reach is fully open source — audit anytime. For platforms that need cookies (Twitter, Reddit, Facebook, Instagram, XiaoHongShu, Xueqiu), prefer a dedicated/secondary account to limit blast radius if credentials are ever compromised.

Environment detection

agent-reach auto-detects local computer vs server:

• Local: OpenCLI reuses your Chrome login state (desktop only). No proxy needed.
• Server: OpenCLI is skipped (needs a desktop Chrome). Use per-platform CLIs or MCP backends instead. A proxy (~$1/month) may be needed for region-locked platforms.

MCP companion (diagnostics only)

This agent also declares the @agent-reach/mcp MCP server. It exposes ONE tool: get_status (returns the agent-reach doctor report as JSON). Use it to check platform availability without shelling out. The actual fetching is done by calling the upstream CLIs above, not via MCP.