xfetch

xfetch - X/Twitter CLI Data Fetcher

xfetch is a cookie-based X/Twitter scraper CLI. It requires no API keys - just browser cookies for authentication. It's installed globally as xfetch (or can be run via npx @lxgic/xfetch / bunx @lxgic/xfetch).

Prerequisites

Authentication must be set up first. Check with:

xfetch auth check

If not authenticated, extract cookies from the user's browser:

xfetch auth extract --browser chrome          # or firefox, safari, arc, brave
xfetch auth extract --browser chrome --profile "Profile 1"  # specific profile

Or set tokens directly:

xfetch auth set --auth-token  --ct0 

Command Reference

Single Tweet

Accepts a tweet URL or numeric ID:

xfetch tweet https://x.com/user/status/123456789
xfetch tweet 123456789

Also works with X Article URLs (/article/ID).

User Profile

xfetch user @handle        # by handle (@ is optional)
xfetch user 12345678       # by numeric ID

User Tweets

xfetch tweets @handle                     # latest 20 tweets
xfetch tweets @handle -n 50              # 50 per page
xfetch tweets @handle --replies           # include replies
xfetch tweets @handle --all              # all pages (paginated)
xfetch tweets @handle --max-pages 5      # limit to 5 pages

Thread / Conversation

xfetch thread     # full conversation thread

Search

xfetch search "query"                          # top results
xfetch search "query" --type latest            # latest tweets
xfetch search "query" --type people            # user results
xfetch search "query" --type photos            # photo tweets
xfetch search "query" --type videos            # video tweets
xfetch search "from:handle since:2024-01-01"   # advanced operators
xfetch search "query" -n 100 --all             # all pages

Search types: top (default), latest, people, photos, videos.

Timelines

xfetch home                    # algorithmic home timeline
xfetch home --following        # chronological (following only)
xfetch bookmarks               # your bookmarks
xfetch likes @handle           # user's liked tweets

Followers / Following

xfetch followers @handle -n 100
xfetch following @handle -n 100

Lists

xfetch lists @handle                        # user's lists
xfetch list                 # list details
xfetch list-members         # list members
xfetch list-tweets  -n 50   # list timeline

Direct Messages

xfetch dms                                  # inbox overview
xfetch dms inbox                            # same as above
xfetch dms conversation    # messages in a conversation
xfetch dms                 # shortcut for above

Notifications

xfetch notifications                  # all notifications
xfetch mentions                       # mentions only
xfetch verified-notifications         # from verified accounts

Auth Management

xfetch auth check                             # show auth status
xfetch auth extract --browser chrome          # extract cookies
xfetch auth set --auth-token  --ct0     # set tokens manually
xfetch auth clear                             # clear saved auth
xfetch auth browsers                          # list available browsers + profiles

Query ID Management

xfetch query-ids --refresh    # fetch latest query IDs from X frontend
xfetch query-ids --list       # show cached query IDs

Pagination Options

All list-like commands (tweets, search, followers, following, likes, bookmarks, home, notifications, mentions, list-members, list-tweets, dms inbox, dms conversation) support these pagination options:

Output Formats

Control output with --format:

xfetch tweets @handle --format json      # pretty-printed JSON (default)
xfetch tweets @handle --format jsonl     # newline-delimited JSON (streaming)
xfetch tweets @handle --format csv       # CSV with headers
xfetch tweets @handle --format sqlite --db tweets.db   # SQLite database

Additional output flags:

• --json — shorthand for --format json
• --plain — disable pretty printing

Pipe to files with shell redirection:

xfetch tweets @handle -n 100 --format csv > tweets.csv
xfetch search "AI" --all --format jsonl > results.jsonl

Global Options

These can be passed to any command:

Tips for Effective Use

• When fetching large datasets, prefer --format jsonl for streaming output (avoids buffering entire result set in memory).
• Use --max-pages instead of --all when you only need a sample — it's faster and avoids rate limits.
• If a request fails with a 404 or query ID error, try xfetch query-ids --refresh to update cached query IDs — X periodically rotates these.
• Pipe JSON output through jq for filtering: xfetch tweets @handle | jq '.[].text'
• For SQLite output, always specify --db: xfetch tweets @handle --format sqlite --db data.db
• Rate limits are handled internally with jitter, but high-volume scraping benefits from --delay 2000 or higher.