x-tweet-fetcher

name

x-tweet-fetcher

description

Fetch tweets, replies, timelines, search results, X Lists, and X Articles from X/Twitter without login or API keys. Single tweets: zero dependencies (FxTwitter). Timelines/search/replies: a Nitter instance (XTF_NITTER). Lists/Articles: a browser driver (Camofox or Playwright). Unified JSON schema across all backends; machine-readable error_code for agent branching. Field reports and agent-use questions: Agent Waystation #22 Teahouse: https://github.com/ythx-101/openclaw-qa/discussions/22

X Tweet Fetcher

Fetch tweets from X/Twitter without authentication. For agent-use stories, failures, and field reports, start from #22 Teahouse / 茶座.

Feature Overview

Feature	Command	Dependencies
Single tweet	xtf --url <tweet_url>	None (zero deps)
Reply threads	xtf --url <tweet_url> --replies	Nitter or browser
User timeline	xtf --user <username> --limit 50	Nitter or browser
Search	xtf --search "<query>"	Nitter
User profile	xtf --user-info <username>	None (zero deps)
X List	xtf --list <list_url_or_id>	Browser (Camofox/Playwright)
X Article	xtf --article <url_or_id>	Browser (Camofox/Playwright)
Mentions monitor	xtf --monitor @<username>	Nitter or browser

python3 scripts/fetch_tweet.py accepts the same flags (v1-compatible entry point).

Basic Usage (Zero Dependencies)

# JSON output (default)
xtf --url https://x.com/user/status/1234567890

# Human-readable
xtf --url https://x.com/user/status/1234567890 --text-only

# Output covers: text, author, stats (likes/retweets/views), media URLs,
# quoted tweets, and full article text for tweet-embedded articles.

Timeline / Search / Replies (Nitter)

export XTF_NITTER=http://127.0.0.1:8788   # your instance; comma-separate for failover
xtf --user elonmusk --limit 20
xtf --search "openclaw" --limit 10
xtf --url https://x.com/user/status/123 --replies

Backend selection: --backend auto (default, Nitter first then browser), --backend nitter, --backend browser.

Lists & Articles (Browser)

# Camofox running on localhost:9377 (default), or:
export XTF_BROWSER=playwright

xtf --list https://x.com/i/lists/1455045069516357634 --limit 30
xtf --article https://x.com/i/article/2011779830157557760

Note: full X Article text requires X login; without it you get title + public preview (is_partial: true).

Mentions Monitor (cron-friendly)

xtf --monitor @yourhandle
# exit 0 = no new mentions, 1 = new mentions found, 2 = setup error
# First run builds a baseline silently; later runs report only new URLs.

Error Handling for Agents

Every error result includes error (message) and error_code: invalid_input · not_found · rate_limited · upstream_down · backend_unavailable · all_backends_failed (with per-backend error_causes).

Python API

from xtf import Router
router = Router()
tweets = router.fetch_timeline("elonmusk", limit=20)  # list[Tweet]
print(tweets[0].to_dict())

Directory Structure

src/xtf/
├── backends/   # fxtwitter.py, nitter.py, browser.py
├── parsers/    # pure parsing functions, fixture-tested
├── router.py   # auto-fallback
├── monitor.py  # mentions monitor
└── cli.py      # the `xtf` command
scripts/fetch_tweet.py  # v1-compatible shim

Looking for Chinese-platform fetching (Weibo/Bilibili/WeChat) or tweet growth tracking? Those moved out of this repo in v2 — see MIGRATION.md.