Just Give Muse a Link: Read X Posts, Threads, and Long-Form Posts in Full

Give Muse a link, and it can read the contents of an X post or thread. If there's a post you want to summarize, quote, or use as background for research, paste the URL and ask.

The tool that makes this work is called "x_thread".

What is x_thread?

x_thread consists of a custom connector and a skill, distributed in the GitHub repository nyanshiba/muse-tan. It was published on 2026-11-08 under the MIT license.

You use it by importing a tool built by another Muse into your own Muse environment.

How it works

x_thread uses neither the official X API nor FxTwitter. It reads posts by combining an unofficial, undocumented syndication endpoint with the HTML of public pages that can be viewed without logging in.

  • No credentials or API keys are needed
  • No browser is needed
  • It is read-only and cannot write
  • It costs nothing

The implementation is a single file written with only the Python standard library. It sends requests to just two destinations, the syndication host and the public pages on x.com, and uses only GET. The only thing carried in the requests is a browser user-agent string. No account information or other user data is sent.

Thread retrieval happens in two stages.

  1. Using the syndication data, it follows each reply's parent back to the start of the thread.
  2. For each candidate continuation found on the page, it checks the candidate against syndication one at a time, and chains only the author's own self-replies into the thread body.

This checking step is why other people's replies don't get mixed into the thread body. Quoted posts are fetched again through syndication, and the tool follows them for as long as the quotes continue.

How it differs from other ways of reading

There are other ways to have Muse read X, and each suits a different purpose.

  • The official X API: Requires developer registration and an API key. Reads are pay-per-use at $0.005 each. It is the official route and accurate, but even for the purpose of having Muse read posts, you still have to deal with developer registration and key management.
  • Opening the page in a browser and having Muse read it: This depends on the browser's login state and what is displayed on screen. With long threads or long-form posts, Muse has to work through the displayed content, which makes it easier to miss sections.
  • Mirror and embed services such as FxTwitter: These exist to display or share a single post. They are not tools for gathering a whole thread in order or for getting the full text of a long-form post.
  • Copying the text by hand and pasting it: Fine for a short post. However, the nesting of quoted posts is lost, links tend to stay as shortened URLs, and copying becomes a lot of work once you're dealing with a whole thread.
  • x_thread: Uses no authentication and no browser. Give it a URL and it reconstructs the thread and retrieves the full text of long-form posts. It is a tool designed specifically to let Muse read X posts.

Different purposes call for different tools.

Installation

Installation means bringing the connector and skill from the repository into your own Muse environment.

Before running a connector someone else built, it is safer to check its code. The person presenting x_thread reviewed its entire source file and verified the following before introducing it here.

  • It has only two destination hosts
  • It uses only GET
  • It does not handle credentials or API keys
  • It has no write functionality

When you install other connectors, the points to check are the same. Read the code, and look at the destinations, the type of communication, how credentials are handled, and whether there is any write functionality.

Usage

Muse accepts input in the following forms.

  • A status URL on x.com or twitter.com
  • A mirror URL on fxtwitter.com or vxtwitter.com
  • A URL wrapped in an oembed from publish.twitter.com
  • A bare numeric post ID

The default is a mode that reads the whole thread. Even if you pass the URL of a post in the middle or at the end of a thread, or of a post that is a reply, the tool follows the reply links back to the start (the root) and reconstructs the entire thread in order. If you want to read just a single post, you can specify single-post mode. That mode fetches with only one request to syndication and does not fetch the public page, so for long-form posts the body may be cut off partway, and a warning to that effect is shown.

What it can read

  • Post text. Links are returned in expanded form
  • The author's entire self-thread
  • Nested quote chains, following quotes of quotes
  • The full text of long-form note posts
  • The full text of article-type posts
  • Other people's replies
  • When you pass a post from the middle of a thread, other people's posts that come before the post you passed (the path back to the start)

For article-type posts, the full text is reconstructed in order, with headings preserved, from the content blocks embedded in the page. Code blocks, such as copy-and-paste prompts, are also included in their original positions in the body.

Other people's replies and the other people's posts on the path back to the start are both returned as separate groups, apart from the thread body.

You can also receive the result in JSON format. It comes with the following diagnostic information.

  • Whether the chain was connected correctly
  • Whether the starting post is included
  • Whether the full text of long-form posts was retrieved
  • Whether any unexpanded shortened links remain

The agent can use these diagnostics to check retrieval status before summarizing or quoting the results.

Caveats

  • Only public posts can be read. Deleted posts, private accounts, and age-restricted posts cannot be read
  • Images and videos themselves cannot be retrieved. What comes back is text and expanded links
  • Other people's replies are limited to what is visible without logging in
  • Full-text retrieval for long-form posts applies to the thread body. The full text of long-form posts inside quoted posts or replies is not retrieved
  • Very long threads have a limit on how far the tool will follow
  • Because it relies on an unofficial, undocumented mechanism, it may stop working without notice if X makes changes

Try it out

Give Muse the link to an X post you're curious about. If it's a self-thread, you'll get it back in order from the start, even if the link points to a post in the middle.

Originally published in Japanese on note. This English edition was translated and edited with AI assistance; all commands and facts are unchanged from the original.