| name | grok-scraper |
| description | Execute queries to Grok AI via Playwright browser automation without requiring an X API KEY. Use when the user wants to "ask Grok", search X for real-time info, or specifically requests to use Grok for free without API billing. |
Grok Scraper
Preview
Agent Context: This is a zero-cost alternative to official X APIs. It uses a real browser session (Playwright) via an X Premium account. ALWAYS use this skill when the user wants to query Grok but does not have or want to use an X API KEY.
Prerequisites
- OpenClaw must be installed on the host machine.
- A display/GUI environment is required. This skill launches a real browser window for login. It cannot run on headless cloud servers (no screen). It must be used on a local machine or a remote desktop with a display.
- The user must be logged in to x.com via the browser session saved by
npm run login. Without a valid session, all queries will fail.
First-Time Setup
Run these commands once after cloning the repo, before doing anything else:
cd scripts
npm install
npx playwright install chromium
Then log in to x.com to create a session:
npm run login
The session/ directory will be created automatically after a successful login.
Workflow
Step 1: Check Login State
- If
session/ directory does not exist: stop and ask the user to run cd scripts && npm run login.
- If it exists: proceed.
Step 2: Execute Query
scripts/run.sh "The user's detailed prompt"
run.sh handles logging, automatic retry on Grok service errors, and login-expiry detection. It is the canonical entry point for all queries.
Step 3: Read Output
- Exit Code 0 → read
output/latest.md and present the result.
- Other exit codes → see Error Handling below.
Error Handling
| Exit Code | Meaning | Action |
|---|
| 0 | Success | Read output/latest.md |
| 2 | Session expired | Ask user to run cd scripts && npm run login |
| 3 | Grok service error | run.sh already retried once; report failure to user |
| 1 | Extraction failed | Check if output/debug-dom.json was written → if yes, DOM selectors may have broken — see dom-selector-fix.md |
DOM Selectors Breaking
Twitter/X redeploys its front-end regularly, which changes the CSS class names this scraper relies on. If extraction fails with Method: none, follow the fix guide:
→ dom-selector-fix.md
Examples
Standard query
scripts/run.sh "Search for the latest AI news and format as markdown"
Session expired
- Run
scripts/run.sh → Exit Code 2
- Tell user: "Session expired, please run
cd scripts && npm run login"
DOM selectors broken
- Run
scripts/run.sh → Exit Code 1, output/debug-dom.json exists
- Follow dom-selector-fix.md to identify new classes and update
SELECTORS in scripts/scrape.js
Debugging
When diagnosing scraper issues directly, use the bare command — it skips logging and retry logic, making failures easier to inspect.
| Flag | Example | Description |
|---|
| (none) | npm run scrape | Run with default prompt |
"prompt" | npm run scrape -- "Your question" | Custom prompt |
--record | npm run scrape -- --record | Record video to output/grok-<timestamp>.webm |
--record <path> | npm run scrape -- --record out.webm | Record video to custom path (relative → output/) |
--size WxH | npm run scrape -- --record --size 1920x1080 | Set recording resolution (default: 1280x800) |
All flags can be combined:
cd scripts
npm run scrape -- "Your prompt" --record --size 1920x1080
When --record is active, the browser runs in headed mode (visible window) with slowMo: 50ms; without it, headless mode is used.
