---
title: Start reading X
description: Turn a public X URL into Markdown. No API key, login, or SDK needed.
sidebar:
  label: Quickstart
  order: 0
  icon: rocket
---

x.md turns a public X URL into Markdown your agent can read. The rule is one sentence: replace `x.com` with `x.pcstyle.dev` and keep the rest of the URL. Nothing to install, no key, no login.

1. **Tell your agent the rule**

    Paste this into the chat, or into `AGENTS.md`, `CLAUDE.md`, or whatever instruction file your agent reads:

    ```text
    To read an X (Twitter) post, thread, or profile, swap x.com for
    x.pcstyle.dev in the URL and fetch it. For search, fetch
    https://x.pcstyle.dev/search?q=<query>. The response is Markdown.
    ```

    Any agent that can fetch a URL now reads X. No further setup.

2. **Ask it something**

    ```text
    Summarize https://x.com/trq212/status/2052809885763747935 and its replies.
    ```

    The agent fetches `https://x.pcstyle.dev/trq212/status/2052809885763747935` and gets the post text, source links, and thread context back as Markdown. Add `?thread=off` to that URL to read only the requested post.

3. **Give it tools instead (optional)**

    If your agent speaks MCP, connect it once and skip the prompt entirely. Claude Code:

    ```bash
    claude mcp add --transport http x-md https://x.pcstyle.dev/mcp
    ```

    Codex, Cursor, OpenCode, Antigravity, and Amp are on [the MCP page](/mcp#connect). Skills-aware agents can [install the `browse-x` skill](/agents) instead.

## Reading it yourself

The same host swap works in a browser or a script. The API is documented in full under [Posts and threads](/posts), [Search](/search), and [Profiles](/profiles); the short version:

```bash
# A post, as Markdown
curl -sS 'https://x.pcstyle.dev/trq212/status/2052809885763747935'

# Search, as JSON with fields instead of prose
curl -sS 'https://x.pcstyle.dev/search?q=typescript&feed=latest&format=json'
```

Search returns up to **20 results**; pick Latest, Top, Photos, Videos, or Users with `feed`. JSON responses include the rendered `markdown` too. [See response formats](/responses).

## When to use x.md

Reach for x.md when the job is reading one piece of public X content right now:

- An agent needs the text of a public X post, thread, or X Article and cannot run a browser or log into X.
- You are resolving an `x.com`, `twitter.com`, or `t.co` link found in a document, issue, changelog, or chat log.
- You want a public profile's bio and latest original posts without holding X credentials.
- You are checking who a public account follows, or who follows it.
- You need X search results as structured data rather than a rendered timeline.
- You are saving a post into notes or a vault — `?format=obsidian` emits YAML frontmatter.

One plain `GET`, no key, no OAuth. Send `Accept: text/markdown` for Markdown or `Accept: application/json` for JSON.

## When not to use it

- **Anything that writes.** x.md never posts, replies, follows, likes, bookmarks, or sends direct messages, and it accepts no X credentials.
- **Private, protected, suspended, or deleted content.** Never available; no parameter unlocks it.
- **X Lists, direct messages, notifications, the home timeline, analytics.** Not supported.
- **Bulk or firehose collection.** The service is rate limited and cached for interactive use; a page walk stops at ten pages of twenty.
- **Guaranteed completeness.** Results come from public upstream providers and can be delayed or truncated. Check `warnings` rather than inferring.
- **Anything needing an SLA.** x.md is a free, best-effort, MIT-licensed project.

## For agents

| Surface | Where |
| --- | --- |
| OpenAPI 3.1 description | [`/openapi.json`](https://x.pcstyle.dev/openapi.json) |
| MCP server | `https://x.pcstyle.dev/mcp` — see [the MCP page](/mcp) |
| Documentation index for LLMs | [`/llms.txt`](https://x.pcstyle.dev/llms.txt) |
| Versioned machine routes | [`/api/v1/*`](/versioning) |
| Error codes | [Catalogue](/errors) |

Any documentation page can be fetched as Markdown: append `.md` to its URL, or send `Accept: text/markdown`.

## Next steps

**[Posts and threads](/posts)**

Read a post, follow a thread, or include the surrounding conversation.

**[Search](/search)**

Find posts, photos, videos, or people with the same feeds as X.

**[Profiles](/profiles)**

Read an account and its followers or following.

**[For agents](/agents)**

The MCP server, the skill, and what an unattended client should handle.

**[Pagination](/pagination)**

Fetch the next page with a cursor.

**[Error catalogue](/errors)**

Every machine code, what it means, and how to recover.

**[Versioning](/versioning)**

What `/api/v1` promises and how a deprecation is announced.

**[Self-hosting](/self-hosting)**

Run the service from your own Vercel project.