X (Twitter) Search

The x_search tool lets the agent search X (Twitter) posts, profiles, and threads directly. It's backed by xAI's built-in x_search tool on the Responses API at ` — Grok itself runs the search server-side and returns synthesized results with citations to the originating posts.

Use this instead of web_search when you specifically want current discussion, reactions, or claims on X. For general web pages, keep using web_search / web_extract.

x_search vs xurl

Hermes can expose two different X surfaces:

Surface	Use it for	Do not use it for
x_search	Read-only public X discovery: current discussion, reactions, claims, profiles, threads, and synthesized answers with citations.	Posting, replying, liking, DMs, media upload, deleting, or proving that an authenticated X account changed state.
xurl skill	Exact or authenticated X API work: post, reply, read, like, dm, timelines, mentions, media upload, account-specific reads, and raw v2 endpoints.	Broad Grok-synthesized public X research when x_search is available and no authenticated account context is needed.

For mixed workflows, use x_search to discover candidate public posts, then switch to xurl read or another exact xurl command after the target post/user/action is clear. Any state-changing X action must be confirmed by xurl output or the X API response; an x_search answer is never evidence that a write happened.

TIP

If you're paying Portal for an xAI model anyway, Live Search calls bill against the same xAI key configured for chat. See Nous Portal.

Authentication

x_search registers when either xAI credential path is available:

Credential	Source	Setup
SuperGrok / X Premium+ OAuth	Browser login at accounts.x.ai, refreshed automatically	hermes auth add xai-oauth — see xAI Grok OAuth (SuperGrok / X Premium+)
XAI_API_KEY (preferred)	Paid xAI API key	Set in ~/.hermes/.env

Both hit the same endpoint with the same payload — the only difference is the bearer token. When both are configured, the explicit XAI_API_KEY wins — the subscription OAuth bearer authorizes /v1/responses but answers x_search in a degraded Grok explanatory mode with no citations, while the API key returns real posts. Note this means x_search runs against metered API billing when a key is set; remove XAI_API_KEY to fall back to your subscription quota (with the degraded-answer caveat).

The tool's check_fn runs the xAI credential resolver every time the model's tool list is rebuilt. A True return means the bearer is fetchable AND non-empty AND (if it had expired) successfully refreshed. Revoked tokens with a failed refresh hide the tool from the schema; the model simply can't see it.

Enabling the tool

Auto-enables when xAI credentials (OAuth token or XAI_API_KEY) are present. Disable explicitly via hermes tools → Search → x_search if you don't want this.

hermes tools
# → 🐦 X (Twitter) Search   (press space to toggle on)

The picker offers two credential choices:

1. xAI Grok OAuth (SuperGrok / Premium+) — opens the browser to accounts.x.ai if you're not already logged in
2. xAI API key — prompts for XAI_API_KEY

Either choice satisfies the gating. You can pick whichever credentials you already have; the tool works identically with both. If both end up configured, OAuth is preferred at call time.

Configuration

# ~/.hermes/config.yaml
x_search:
  # xAI model used for the Responses call.
  # grok-4.5 is the recommended default; any Grok model
  # with x_search tool access works.
  model: grok-4.5

  # Optional reasoning effort: low, medium, high, or xhigh. When omitted,
  # the selected model's default applies. xhigh is supported only by
  # models that document it, such as grok-4.20-multi-agent.
  # reasoning_effort: low

  # Request timeout in seconds. x_search can take 60–120s for
  # complex queries — the default is generous. Minimum: 30.
  timeout_seconds: 180

  # Number of automatic retries on 5xx / ReadTimeout / ConnectionError.
  # Each retry backs off (1.5x attempt seconds, capped at 5s).
  retries: 2

reasoning_effort is sent to the xAI Responses API as reasoning: {effort: ...}. Leave it unset for models that do not support configurable reasoning. Invalid values fail before an API request is made.

Tool parameters

The agent calls x_search with these arguments:

Parameter	Type	Description
query	string (required)	What to look up on X.
allowed_x_handles	string array	Optional list of handles to include exclusively (max 10). Leading @ is stripped.
excluded_x_handles	string array	Optional list of handles to exclude (max 10). Mutually exclusive with allowed_x_handles.
from_date	string	Optional YYYY-MM-DD start date.
to_date	string	Optional YYYY-MM-DD end date.
enable_image_understanding	boolean	Ask xAI to analyze images attached to matching posts.
enable_video_understanding	boolean	Ask xAI to analyze videos attached to matching posts.

The tool returns JSON with:

• answer — synthesized text response from Grok
• citations — citations returned by the Responses API top-level field
• inline_citations — url_citation annotations extracted from the message body (each with url, title, start_index, end_index)
• degraded — true when any narrowing filter (allowed_x_handles, excluded_x_handles, from_date, to_date) was set AND both citation channels came back empty. In that case the answer was synthesized from the model's own knowledge rather than the X index, so treat it as unsourced. false otherwise (including the "no filters set" case — a broad unsourced answer is just an answer, not a filter miss)
• degraded_reason — short string naming which filters were active, or null when degraded is false
• credential_source — "xai-oauth" if OAuth resolved, "xai" if API key resolved
• model, query, provider, tool, success

Date validation

from_date / to_date are validated client-side before the HTTP call:

• Both, if provided, must parse as YYYY-MM-DD.
• When both are set, from_date must be on or before to_date.
• from_date must not be later than today UTC — no posts can exist in a window that hasn't started yet, so the call would be guaranteed to return zero citations.
• to_date in the future is allowed (callers may legitimately request "from yesterday to tomorrow" to catch posts as they arrive).

Validation failures surface as a structured {"error": "..."} tool result, never as an HTTP call to xAI.

Example

Talking to the agent:

What are people on X saying about the new Grok image features? Focus on responses from @xai.

The agent will:

1. Call x_search with query="reactions to new Grok image features", allowed_x_handles=["xai"]
2. Get back a synthesized answer plus a list of citations linking to specific posts
3. Reply with the answer and references

If the next user request is "reply to the best one" or "like that post", the agent should switch to the xurl skill, confirm the exact target post, and use the X API action. x_search remains a discovery tool.

Troubleshooting

"No xAI credentials available"

The tool surfaces this when both auth paths fail. Either set XAI_API_KEY in ~/.hermes/.env or run hermes auth add xai-oauth and complete the browser login. Then restart your session so the agent re-reads the tool registry.

"x_search is not enabled for this model"

The configured x_search.model doesn't have access to the server-side x_search tool. Switch to grok-4.5 (the default) or another Grok model that supports it. Check the xAI documentation for the current list.

Tool doesn't appear in the schema

Two possible causes:

1. Toolset not enabled. Run hermes tools and confirm 🐦 X (Twitter) Search is checked.
2. No xAI credentials. The check_fn returns False, so the schema stays hidden. Run hermes auth status to confirm xai-oauth login state, and check that XAI_API_KEY is set (if you're using the API-key path).

degraded: true — answer with no citations

When you used allowed_x_handles, excluded_x_handles, or a date range and the response comes back with degraded: true, xAI's X index returned no matching posts but Grok still produced a synthesized answer from its own training data. The answer is unsourced — do not treat it as a real X result.

Causes worth checking:

• Typo in the handle. Strip the @, double-check spelling, and confirm the account exists.
• Date range too narrow or sliding past today's posts; widen and retry.
• xAI index gap. Some active accounts intermittently fail to surface in x_search even when they post regularly. Retry after a few minutes, or use the xurl skill for direct X API reads when you need an exact handle's timeline.

See Also

• xAI Grok OAuth (SuperGrok / Premium+) — the OAuth setup guide
• xurl skill — official X API CLI for authenticated account actions
• Web Search & Extract — for general (non-X) web search
• Tools Reference — full tool catalog