| name | x-for-you-growth |
| description | Grow on X (Twitter) using the open-source For You / Phoenix ranking signals. Use when the user wants more reach, impressions, followers, or replies; asks how the X algorithm works for creators; needs draft audits, hooks, threads, reply strategy, posting cadence, or a "why did my reach die" diagnosis grounded in xai-org/x-algorithm weights—not engagement pods or spam tactics. |
X For You Growth
Turn the open-source X For You algorithm (xai-org/x-algorithm) into practical drafting, posting, and engagement coaching. Prefer primary sources (repo README + home-mixer/params/param.rs) over third-party blogs. Production defaults are mirrored into the repo on a cadence; re-check weights before giving numeric advice.
This skill does not post, spam, buy engagement, or game safety systems. It drafts and coaches. Confirm before any live publish.
When to Use
- User wants more reach, impressions, followers, or replies on X/Twitter
- User asks how the X / For You / Phoenix algorithm works for creators
- Drafting hooks, threads, reply strategy, or a posting cadence for X
- Auditing a draft or account against ranking signals
- Comparing formats (text, image, video, quote, thread, link)
Don't use for: LinkedIn-only growth, ad buying playbooks, engagement pods/bots, mass follow-unfollow, or circumventing visibility/safety labels.
Prerequisites
- Optional: fetch latest weights from the public repo before numeric claims
- See also
references/param-baselines-2026-08.md in this skill (snapshot; may go stale)
Core model (what actually ranks)
Sources (parallel)
Thunder → in-network (accounts viewer follows), recent posts
Phoenix retrieval→ out-of-network two-tower similarity
SimClusters → community / engagement-cluster OON
↓
Pre-filters (age ≤ ~48h, blocks/mutes, muted keywords, already seen/served, duplicates, OON retweet/reply rules, …)
↓
Phoenix ranker → P(favorite), P(reply), P(repost), P(quote), P(share…), P(dwell…), P(follow), P(negatives…)
↓
Final Score ≈ Σ (weight_i × P(action_i))
↓
Adjustments: author diversity decay · OON discount · new-author/cold-start boost · VM-ranker diversity reorder
↓
Visibility filtering can DROP / interstitial after rank (spam, safety, labels)
Implications:
- You need candidate selection (followers + OON retrieval/clusters) and a high weighted score.
- The model optimizes predicted viewer actions, not abstract "quality."
- Negative feedback (report/mute/not interested/block) crushes score.
- Content older than the age filter (~48 hours) is out of For You consideration.
- Multiple posts from the same author in one feed are decayed (diversity).
- Out-of-network posts are discounted vs in-network (need stronger predicted engagement to surface).
Published weight baselines (mirror ~2026-08-12)
Re-fetch param.rs before treating these as current. Relative to favorite = 0.5:
| Signal | Default weight | ≈ × favorite | Creator takeaway |
|---|
| Share via copy link | 20.0 | 40× | Make something people save/forward |
| Bidirectional-follow reply boost | +15.0 on reply path | huge | Mutuals replying (and deep reply chains with people who follow each other) are elite |
| Reply | 5.0 | 10× | Optimize for conversation, not likes |
| Quote | 5.0 | 10× | Quotable, disagreeable, specific takes |
| Share via DM | 5.0 | 10× | Private "you need to see this" value |
| Follow author | 4.0 | 8× | Profile-worthy posts convert lurkers |
| Share (general) | 2.0 | 4× | Shareable one-liners / frames |
| Retweet | 1.0 | 2× | Amplification still matters |
| Favorite (like) | 0.5 | 1× | Weak alone; vanity metric |
| Click | 0.4 | 0.8× | Curiosity / expand still helps |
| Open link | 0.2 | 0.4× | External links are weak positives in-score (and often hurt stay-on-platform behavior in practice) |
| Photo expand / video open / VQV | ~0.05 | tiny | Media helps via dwell/expand, not as a magic multiplier alone |
| Continuous dwell time | 0.004 | tiny per unit | Long readable content still compounds via attention heads |
| Not dwelled | -0.02 | small neg | Instant skips hurt |
| Not interested | -43.2 | catastrophic | Topic mismatch / bait fatigue |
| Block author | -31.2 | catastrophic | Polarizing-to-hostile is risky |
| Mute author | -58.8 | catastrophic | |
| Report | -234.0 | nuke | Spam, scams, harassment, policy breaks |
Also important (not a simple weight):
- Author diversity:
decay=0.5, floor=0.25 → 2nd post from same author heavily attenuated in one feed build.
- OON factor:
0.75 (topic OON 0.5) → discovery posts need stronger predicted engagement than follower feed posts.
- Cold-start / new-author boost exists for low-impression authors (quality + early velocity still required).
- OON-style discount can also hit in-network replies/reposts when that rescoring flag is on.
Third-party "author reply = 150 likes" lore comes from older hand-tuned systems. Current public Phoenix weights emphasize reply/quote/share/copy-link/follow and mutual-reply boosts — treat old absolute multipliers as directional only unless you re-derive them from live param.rs + scorer code.
Procedure
1) Refresh algorithm facts when stakes are high
If the user needs numeric claims or the repo may have moved, re-read param.rs and the README scoring section.
Completion: you can state last-synced defaults and whether reply/share/report weights changed.
2) Diagnose the growth goal
Capture: niche, audience, current follower band, posting frequency, best/worst recent posts, link-in-bio needs, Premium or not, primary KPI (followers vs site clicks vs authority).
Completion: one-sentence goal + constraint list.
3) Account hygiene (candidate + trust layer)
Coach, do not automate abuse:
- Clear niche bio + pinned proof post (raises follow conversion when
P(follow) fires)
- Healthy follow graph (engage real peers; avoid mass follow/unfollow patterns that look inauthentic — behavioral detection / cred systems exist)
- Check Under the Hood labels if reach suddenly dies: https://x.com/i/under_the_hood
- Remove spammy media, engagement bait templates, misleading claims that drive reports/mutes
Completion: short account checklist with pass/fail.
4) Draft for high-weight actions
When writing or reviewing a post, force these properties:
- Reply bait without empty "thoughts?" — specific claim, prediction, tradeoff, or sharp question a niche peer can answer in one line.
- Quotable core — one sentence others can quote-tweet with their own spin.
- Copy-link / DM worthiness — "send this to X role" utility (checklist, non-obvious number, crisp framework).
- Follow reason — reader should know what they get by following (series, beat, POV).
- Dwell — short paragraphs, concrete nouns, media that rewards expand; threads when depth beats a blob.
- Minimize negatives — no scrape-bait, fake urgency, tag-spam, or topic bait-and-switch.
Format defaults:
| Format | Use when | Notes |
|---|
| Single text | Hot take / news reaction | Highest reply rate if opinionated and specific |
| Image + text | Diagram, screenshot, before/after | Photo expand is a real head; keep text self-contained |
| Native video | Demo, talking head, screen record | Optimize completion / VQV; native upload, not YouTube link as the post |
| Thread (3–7) | Teaching / story | First tweet is the ad; each line earns the next; end with a reply prompt |
| Quote-tweet | Commentary on a primary source | Your frame must stand alone if parent is collapsed |
| Link | Distribution of off-platform asset | Prefer value in main post, link in first reply (or later) so ranking is not wedded to weak open_link |
Link policy: score weight for open-link is low; many creators still see weaker distribution with external URLs in the root post. Default: native insight first, URL in reply unless user insists otherwise.
Completion: draft has hook, body, CTA-to-reply or follow, and optional media note.
5) Timing and first-hour ops (velocity)
For You still needs early positive actions so OON retrieval/social proof can fire:
- Post when core followers are online (use their history / analytics if available).
- Block 20–40 minutes after posting for real replies (not emoji spam).
- Reply in ways that add information (extends dwell + more reply probability on the thread).
- Soft-seed: reply thoughtfully on 3–5 niche posts before/after your post (human, on-topic — not "great post!" spam).
- Do not blast the same link 10 times; author diversity + spam labels will punish.
Completion: post plan includes time window + reply SOP.
6) Cadence vs diversity penalty
- Prefer fewer stronger posts over many near-duplicates the same hour.
- There is author diversity decay inside a single feed assembly: back-to-back near-identical posts cannibalize each other.
- There is a ~48h age cutoff for For You candidates — evergreen recycling only helps if reposted/refreshed as a new candidate with new engagement, not as infinite old inventory.
Completion: weekly calendar with spacing, not a firehose.
7) Growth loops that match the math
Priority order for organic growth:
- Conversation density on your posts (replies + your substantive replies)
- Quotes and copy-link shares (high weights)
- Follow conversions from profile-worthy posts
- In-network amplification from mutuals (bidirectional reply boost path)
- Cluster belonging via consistent niche (SimClusters + Phoenix history)
- Likes last (lowest positive engagement weight)
Avoid: pods, reply-guy spam under huge accounts, engagement bait that triggers not-interested/report.
8) Deliverables by request type
| User ask | Deliver |
|---|
| Explain algorithm | Short pipeline + weight table + caveats + links to repo |
| Write a post | 2–3 variants optimized for reply/quote/share; hook graded |
| Content audit | Score draft on reply, quote, share, follow, dwell, negative risk |
| 30-day plan | Niche pillars, cadence, reply hours, metrics to watch |
| Thread | Outline + tweet-by-tweet with completion CTA |
| "Why did reach die?" | Checklist: age, labels/UTH, spam patterns, link-only posts, diversity spam, topic drift, negatives |
Quick drafting checklist
Metrics that matter (coach the user)
Watch for 24–48h per post:
- Replies and reply rate (primary)
- Quotes + shares (incl. soft signals if available)
- Profile visits → follows
- Bookmark / share behavior if shown in analytics
- Dwell proxies: detail expands, video completion
- Negative: "not interested," blocks, reports (if visible), sudden distribution cliffs → Under the Hood
Deprioritize raw like count as the success metric.
Pitfalls
- Stale third-party weight tables. Always prefer live
param.rs. Blogs often mix 2023 hand-tuned weights with 2026 Phoenix.
- Like farming. Favorite weight is low; reply/quote/share/follow dominate.
- Link-in-root habit. Weak score contribution; often worse distribution in practice.
- Thread-as-essay dump. First tweet must earn the click; each hop needs a reason.
- Engagement bait ("like if you agree") → not-interested and mute risk.
- Spam replies under celebrities. Short-term impressions, long-term cred/label risk.
- Ignoring negatives. One report weight dwarfs many likes.
- Posting 8 near-duplicates daily. Author diversity + filters + fatigue.
- Topic whiplash. Phoenix user history + SimClusters reward coherent niches; random viral formats train the wrong retrieval neighbors.
- Promising guaranteed virality. System is personalized per viewer; same post scores differently for every user.
Verification
- Algorithm summary cites repo paths and notes param sync uncertainty.
- Every growth recommendation maps to a named signal (reply, quote, share_via_copy_link, follow_author, OON discount, age filter, diversity decay, VF/labels).
- Drafts pass the Quick drafting checklist.
- If user reports dead reach: include Under the Hood + hygiene checklist before "just post more."
Sample usage
Worked prompts and abbreviated ideal answers live in references/sample-usage.md.
Full freeze-dried agent outputs from a live skill test: references/sample-output-live.md.
| Prompt | What you should get |
|---|
| "How does For You actually rank posts?" | Pipeline + weight hierarchy + 48h/OON/diversity caveats + repo links |
| "Rewrite: Excited to share my blog… link in bio" | 2–3 variants optimized for reply/quote/share; URL moved to reply; signal map |
| "Audit this draft before I send" | Scored rubric (reply, quote, copy-link, follow, dwell, negative risk) + fix list |
| "First-hour plan after I post at 8am" | Timed SOP (seed replies, stay present, no spam duplicates) |
| "Impressions collapsed — same niche" | Ordered diagnosis (Under the Hood → bait/links → topic drift → cadence) |
| "7-day plan for a small personal-AI account" | Day-by-day format + target signal + KPI focus on replies/follows |
Quick invoke lines
- Explain X For You ranking like a creator coach.
- Rewrite this tweet for replies and quotes; put the link in a reply.
- Audit this draft against Phoenix weights.
- My reach died — run the diagnosis checklist.
Reference links
