What is X MCP?
X MCP is the X Developer Platform's official route from an AI client to the X API. Since 30 June 2026 X has run a hosted Streamable HTTP server at api.x.com/mcp, reached through xurl, X's open-source command-line client, which handles the OAuth 2.0 login and keeps the token fresh. The documented capabilities are reading posts and who liked, reposted or quoted them, full-archive post search, user search, news search, user lookups, timelines and mentions, bookmarks and bookmark folders, news and trends, and creating and publishing Articles.
There is also a self-hosted version, xdevplatform/xmcp, a Python server that turns X's OpenAPI specification into tools at startup, skipping streaming and webhook endpoints. Its README lists 119 tools, including creating and deleting posts, media upload, post analytics, direct messages, follows and likes. It has about 870 GitHub stars, carries no licence file and was last changed on 9 April 2026, so the hosted server is the one X is investing in.
How to install X MCP
npx -y @xdevplatform/xurl mcp https://api.x.com/mcpIs X MCP worth it?
Being official is the main argument for X MCP. Most X servers on GitHub scrape the website or drive a logged-in browser session, which stops working whenever the site changes. This one calls the documented API with a token scoped to your own developer app, and the docs, xurl and the server all come from X's own developer platform team. The hosted endpoint advertises MCP protocol 2025-06-18 and needs nothing installed beyond Node.js for npx.
There are two ways in. An app-only Bearer token pasted into the client's headers gives read-only access with no user context. The xurl bridge runs a browser login once, caches the token in ~/.xurl and refreshes it on its own; that route acts as you, and is needed for bookmarks, Articles and anything else that writes. X's docs warn that the login authorises whichever X account is signed in to the browser at the time, not necessarily the one that owns the app.
The safety control to know is read_only. Adding ?read_only=true to the URL drops every tool that posts, sends messages or changes anything, and the server refuses such calls even if the token has write scopes. Without it, nothing on X's side asks before a post goes out; the only check is your MCP client's own tool-approval prompt, which most clients let you switch off. Anyone connecting an autonomous agent to a brand account should start read-only and add writes deliberately.
The catch: cost and visibility. Every post fetched costs $0.005 and every user lookup $0.010, so an agent that reads 2,000 posts a day spends about $10 before it does anything useful, though repeat reads of the same post within a UTC day are not charged again. Creating a post with a link costs $0.200, about 13 times a plain post. X does not publish the hosted server's full tool list outside an authenticated session, and its capability table omits media upload. The self-hosted xmcp exposes far more, but in our reading of server.py its MCP endpoint has no authentication of its own, and the README suggests ngrok for remote clients, which would put an open endpoint that can post as you on the internet.
Our take: treat it like a company card with a spending limit. Set a cap in the Developer Console, connect read-only first, and give an agent write access to X only for a job you would be comfortable seeing published unreviewed.
Where it earns its place
A communications analyst at a 50-person public-affairs agency
Track what is being said about a client this week and who is driving it
Connect read-only and have the agent search recent posts, pull the most-quoted ones and summarise the accounts behind them. At $0.005 a post, a 1,000-post sweep costs about $5; set a spending limit first.
A developer advocate who bookmarks dozens of threads a week
Turn saved bookmarks into a weekly reading digest
Through the xurl bridge the agent lists bookmark folders, fetches the posts and drafts a summary. Bookmark actions cost $0.005 each; keep publishing tools out by using read_only once the folders are set up.
A two-person start-up running its own X account
Draft and publish a long-form launch Article
The agent can create an Article draft and publish it under the account signed in through xurl. Keep human review in the loop: the server publishes when asked, and only the client's approval prompt stands in the way.
Before you commit
- Setup
- Create an X app with OAuth 2.0 in the Developer Console, register http://localhost:8080/callback, put CLIENT_ID and CLIENT_SECRET in the client config and run npx -y @xdevplatform/xurl mcp https://api.x.com/mcp. Allow a startup timeout of 300 seconds for the first browser login. The app must be on the Pay-per-use package.
- Integrations
- Documented for Grok Build, Cursor, Claude Desktop and VS Code, and any client that runs stdio servers or remote servers with custom headers. A separate docs MCP at docs.x.com/mcp searches X's developer documentation.
- Data and privacy
- Prompts and fetched posts pass from X to your model provider. xurl keeps OAuth tokens in ~/.xurl on your machine and sends them only to api.x.com over TLS. The self-hosted xmcp holds OAuth 1.0a tokens in memory, listens on 127.0.0.1:8000 and logs every request URL by default.
- Cost at scale
- Pay-per-use credits with no subscription: $0.005 per post read, $0.010 per user, follower or DM read, $0.015 per post or DM created, $0.200 per post with a URL. Pay-per-use is capped at 3 million post reads a month; beyond that X sells Enterprise plans.
- Limits
- Writes have stricter rate limits than reads and return 429s under load. Streaming and webhook endpoints are excluded from xmcp. Without user context the app-only token cannot act as you. Deduplication of charges is described by X as a soft guarantee.
What’s good
- Official API access, not scraping
- Server-enforced read_only mode
- Hosted; no server to run
- Token refresh handled by xurl
What’s not
- Needs your own X developer app and credits
- No confirmation before posts or Articles publish
- Hosted tool list not published openly
- Self-hosted xmcp is unlicensed and unauthenticated
Best for
Developers and social teams who already pay for X API access and want an agent to research, monitor or publish through the official API.
X MCP alternatives
X MCP: common questions
- Is X MCP worth it?
- The legitimate way to give an agent your X account, with a real read-only switch, but you bring your own developer app, pay for every post it reads and get no confirmation before it publishes. We rate it 3.8 out of 5.
- How much does X MCP cost?
- No charge for the MCP server; calls bill as X API pay-per-use credits. Post reads $0.005 each, user reads $0.010, creating a post $0.015 ($0.200 with a URL); capped at 3 million post reads a month.
- What are the downsides of X MCP?
- Needs your own X developer app and credits; no confirmation before posts or Articles publish; hosted tool list not published openly; self-hosted xmcp is unlicensed and unauthenticated.
- Who is X MCP best for?
- Developers and social teams who already pay for X API access and want an agent to research, monitor or publish through the official API.
- How much does X MCP cost for a team or in production?
- Pay-per-use credits with no subscription: $0.005 per post read, $0.010 per user, follower or DM read, $0.015 per post or DM created, $0.200 per post with a URL. Pay-per-use is capped at 3 million post reads a month; beyond that X sells Enterprise plans.
- Is X MCP safe for company data?
- Prompts and fetched posts pass from X to your model provider. xurl keeps OAuth tokens in ~/.xurl on your machine and sends them only to api.x.com over TLS. The self-hosted xmcp holds OAuth 1.0a tokens in memory, listens on 127.0.0.1:8000 and logs every request URL by default.
- What are the best X MCP alternatives?
- The closest alternatives we have reviewed are Upload-Post MCP and Slack MCP Server.
Answers checked Nov 13, 2026.