X MCP Server - Enhanced Edition

An enhanced Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for X that adds OAuth 2.0 support, v2 API media uploads, and comprehensive rate limiting to the original implementation.
✨ Features
- Post Tweets: Create text tweets with optional media attachments (images, GIFs)
- Search Tweets: Search X with customizable result count
- Delete Tweets: Remove your tweets programmatically
- Dual Authentication: Support for both OAuth 1.0a and OAuth 2.0
- Media Upload: Post images using the appropriate API version for each auth method
- Rate Limiting: Built-in protection for X's API limits
- Type Safety: Full TypeScript implementation with Zod validation
🔄 API Version Handling
This server intelligently uses different X API versions based on authentication method and operation:
OAuth 1.0a
- Tweet operations: Uses v2 API endpoints
- Media upload: Uses v1.1 endpoint (
upload.twitter.com)
- Delete fallback: Automatically falls back to v1.1 when v2 fails
OAuth 2.0
- All operations: Uses v2 API endpoints exclusively
- Media upload: Uses v2 endpoint (
api.x.com/2/media/upload)
- No v1.1 access: Cannot fall back to v1.1 due to authentication restrictions
Why Different Endpoints?
- v1.1: Legacy API, being phased out but still works with OAuth 1.0a
- v2: Modern API with better features but some endpoints have issues
- Media: OAuth 2.0 tokens cannot access v1.1 media endpoints, must use v2
- Delete: v2 delete endpoint currently has issues (500 errors), v1.1 works as fallback
📋 Prerequisites
Before you begin, you'll need:
- An X Developer Account (sign up at developer.x.com)
- An X App created in the Developer Portal
- API credentials (detailed setup below)
- Node.js 18+ installed
🔐 Authentication Setup
This server supports two authentication methods. Choose based on your needs:
- OAuth 1.0a: Simpler setup, works with all features including v1.1 fallbacks
- OAuth 2.0: Modern authentication, required for some newer features
Setting Up Your X App
-
Create a Developer Account:
- Go to developer.x.com
- Sign in with your Twitter account
- Apply for developer access if you haven't already
-
Create a New App:
- Navigate to the Twitter Developer Portal
- Click "Projects & Apps" → "New Project"
- Give your project a name
- Select your use case
- Create a new App within the project
-
Configure App Permissions:
- In your app settings, go to "User authentication settings"
- Click "Set up"
- Enable OAuth 1.0a and/or OAuth 2.0
- Set App permissions to "Read and write"
- Add Callback URLs:
- For OAuth 1.0a:
http://localhost:3000/callback
- For OAuth 2.0:
http://localhost:3000/callback
- Set Website URL (can be your GitHub repo)
OAuth 1.0a Setup
-
Get Your Credentials:
- In your app's "Keys and tokens" tab
- Copy your API Key and API Key Secret
- Generate Access Token and Secret (click "Generate")
- Make sure the access token has "Read and Write" permissions
-
Required Credentials:
API_KEY=your_api_key_here
API_SECRET_KEY=your_api_secret_key_here
ACCESS_TOKEN=your_access_token_here
ACCESS_TOKEN_SECRET=your_access_token_secret_here
OAuth 2.0 Setup
-
Get Your Client Credentials:
- In your app's "Keys and tokens" tab
- Find OAuth 2.0 Client ID and Client Secret
- Save these for the next step
-
Generate User Tokens:
Option A - Use our helper script:
# Clone this repository first
git clone https://github.com/mbelinky/x-mcp-server.git
cd x-mcp-server/twitter-mcp
npm install
# Run the OAuth2 setup script
node scripts/oauth2-setup.js
Option B - Manual setup:
- Use the OAuth 2.0 flow with PKCE
- Required scopes:
tweet.read, tweet.write, users.read, media.write, offline.access
- Exchange authorization code for access token
-
Required Credentials:
AUTH_TYPE=oauth2
OAUTH2_CLIENT_ID=your_client_id_here
OAUTH2_CLIENT_SECRET=your_client_secret_here
OAUTH2_ACCESS_TOKEN=your_access_token_here
OAUTH2_REFRESH_TOKEN=your_refresh_token_here
🚀 Installation
For Claude Desktop
-
Install via NPM (Recommended):
Edit your Claude Desktop configuration file:
- Windows:
%APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
- macOS:
~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
Add this configuration:
{
"mcpServers": {
"twitter-mcp": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "@mbelinky/x-mcp-server"],
"env": {
"API_KEY": "your_api_key_here",
"API_SECRET_KEY": "your_api_secret_key_here",
"ACCESS_TOKEN": "your_access_token_here",
"ACCESS_TOKEN_SECRET": "your_access_token_secret_here"
}
}
}
}
For OAuth 2.0:
{
"mcpServers": {
"twitter-mcp": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "@mbelinky/x-mcp-server"],
"env": {
"AUTH_TYPE": "oauth2",
"OAUTH2_CLIENT_ID": "your_client_id",
"OAUTH2_CLIENT_SECRET": "your_client_secret",
"OAUTH2_ACCESS_TOKEN": "your_access_token",
"OAUTH2_REFRESH_TOKEN": "your_refresh_token"
}
}
}
}
-
Install from Source:
git clone https://github.com/mbelinky/x-mcp-server.git
cd x-mcp-server/twitter-mcp
npm install
npm run build
Then update your config to point to the local installation:
{
"mcpServers": {
"twitter-mcp": {
"command": "node",
"args": ["/path/to/twitter-mcp/build/index.js"],
"env": {
// ... your credentials
}
}
}
}
-
Restart Claude Desktop
For Claude Code (CLI)
Install the server globally and add it to Claude:
# For OAuth 1.0a
claude mcp add twitter-mcp "npx" "-y" "@mbelinky/x-mcp-server" --scope user \
--env "API_KEY=your_api_key" \
--env "API_SECRET_KEY=your_secret_key" \
--env "ACCESS_TOKEN=your_access_token" \
--env "ACCESS_TOKEN_SECRET=your_access_token_secret"
# For OAuth 2.0
claude mcp add twitter-mcp "npx" "-y" "@mbelinky/x-mcp-server" --scope user \
--env "AUTH_TYPE=oauth2" \
--env "OAUTH2_CLIENT_ID=your_client_id" \
--env "OAUTH2_CLIENT_SECRET=your_client_secret" \
--env "OAUTH2_ACCESS_TOKEN=your_access_token" \
--env "OAUTH2_REFRESH_TOKEN=your_refresh_token"
🛠️ Available Tools
Once installed, Claude can use these tools:
post_tweet
Post a new tweet with optional media attachments and replies.
Example prompts:
- "Post a tweet saying 'Hello from Claude!'"
- "Tweet this image with the caption 'Check out this view!'" (attach image)
- "Reply to tweet ID 123456789 with 'Great point!'"
search_tweets
Search for tweets with customizable result count (10-100).
Example prompts:
- "Search for tweets about #MachineLearning"
- "Find 50 recent tweets mentioning @ClaudeAI"
- "Search for tweets about TypeScript tutorials"
delete_tweet
Delete a tweet by its ID.
Example prompts:
- "Delete tweet with ID 1234567890"
- "Remove my last tweet (provide the ID)"
Note: Due to temporary Twitter API issues, OAuth 1.0a uses v1.1 fallback for deletion.
📸 Media Upload Notes
When using Claude to post tweets with images:
- Use file paths: Save your image to disk and provide the file path
- Base64 limitation: While the server supports base64 encoded images, Claude cannot extract base64 from pasted images
- Other clients: Base64 support remains available for programmatic use and other MCP clients
Example usage:
# ✅ Recommended for Claude
"Post tweet with image at /Users/me/photos/sunset.png"
# ❌ Not currently supported in Claude
"Post this image: [pasting an image directly]"
# ✅ Works programmatically
// In code, you can still use base64
{
"text": "Hello world!",
"media": [{
"data": "iVBORw0KGgoAAAANS...",
"media_type": "image/png"
}]
}
🧪 Testing
The project includes comprehensive tests:
# Run all tests
npm test
# Run specific test suites
npm test -- --testNamePattern="OAuth"
npm test -- --testPathPattern="unit"
🔧 Development
Setup
git clone https://github.com/mbelinky/x-mcp-server.git
cd x-mcp-server/twitter-mcp
npm install
Commands
npm run build # Build TypeScript
npm run dev # Run in development mode
npm test # Run tests
npm run lint # Lint code
npm run format # Format code
Environment Variables
Create a .env file for local development:
# OAuth 1.0a
API_KEY=your_api_key
API_SECRET_KEY=your_api_secret_key
ACCESS_TOKEN=your_access_token
ACCESS_TOKEN_SECRET=your_access_token_secret
# OAuth 2.0 (if using)
AUTH_TYPE=oauth2
OAUTH2_CLIENT_ID=your_client_id
OAUTH2_CLIENT_SECRET=your_client_secret
OAUTH2_ACCESS_TOKEN=your_access_token
OAUTH2_REFRESH_TOKEN=your_refresh_token
# Optional
DEBUG=true # Enable debug logging
✅ OAuth 2.0 Media Upload Support
Media uploads now work with both OAuth 1.0a and OAuth 2.0!
- OAuth 1.0a uses the v1.1 media upload endpoint ✓
- OAuth 2.0 uses the v2 media upload endpoint ✓
- Both authentication methods support posting tweets with images (JPEG, PNG, GIF)
Note: OAuth 2.0 requires the media.write scope for media uploads.
⚠️ Known Issues