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X Research

  • 163 installs
  • 194 repo stars
  • Updated January 23, 2026
  • bradautomates/head-of-content

Mine X.com for practitioner posts, threads, and sentiment on a topic to inform content calendars, positioning, hooks, and distribution experiments.

About

x-research uses X.com search to gather practitioner voices, trending takes, and engagement patterns so growth and content teams can craft calendars, positioning, and distribution plays grounded in what builders and creators actually post—not generic SEO guesses.

  • Searches real X posts beyond web snippets
  • Surfaces influencer patterns and hooks
  • Informs content calendar and positioning
  • Captures community sentiment quickly
  • Pairs with head-of-content workflows

X Research by the numbers

  • 163 all-time installs (skills.sh)
  • Ranked #1,021 of 1,879 Marketing & SEO skills by installs in the Skillselion catalog
  • Data as of Aug 5, 2026 (Skillselion catalog sync)
npx skills add https://github.com/bradautomates/head-of-content --skill x-research

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Listed on Skillselion
Installs163
repo stars194
Last updatedJanuary 23, 2026
Repositorybradautomates/head-of-content

What it does

Mine X.com for practitioner posts, threads, and sentiment on a topic to inform content calendars, positioning, hooks, and distribution experiments.

Files

SKILL.mdMarkdownGitHub ↗

X/Twitter Research

Research high-performing tweets from tracked accounts, identify outliers, and optionally analyze video content for hooks and structure.

Prerequisites

  • APIFY_TOKEN environment variable or in .env
  • GEMINI_API_KEY environment variable or in .env (for video analysis)
  • apify-client and google-genai Python packages
  • Accounts configured in .claude/context/x-accounts.md

Verify setup:

python3 -c "
import os
try:
    from dotenv import load_dotenv
    load_dotenv()
except ImportError:
    pass
from apify_client import ApifyClient
assert os.environ.get('APIFY_TOKEN'), 'APIFY_TOKEN not set'
" && echo "Prerequisites OK"

Workflow

1. Create Run Folder

RUN_FOLDER="x-research/$(date +%Y-%m-%d_%H%M%S)" && mkdir -p "$RUN_FOLDER" && echo "$RUN_FOLDER"

2. Fetch Tweets

python3 .claude/skills/x-research/scripts/fetch_tweets.py \
  --days 30 \
  --max-items 100 \
  --output {RUN_FOLDER}/raw.json

Parameters:

  • --days: Days back to search (default: 30)
  • --max-items: Max tweets per account (default: 100)
  • --handles: Override accounts file with specific handles

API Limits: Minimum 50 tweets per query required. Wait a couple minutes between runs.

3. Identify Outliers

python3 .claude/skills/x-research/scripts/analyze_posts.py \
  --input {RUN_FOLDER}/raw.json \
  --output {RUN_FOLDER}/outliers.json \
  --threshold 2.0

Output JSON contains:

  • total_posts: Number of tweets analyzed
  • outlier_count: Number of outliers found
  • topics: Top hashtags, mentions, and keywords
  • content_patterns: Analysis of what formats perform well
  • accounts: List of accounts analyzed
  • outliers: Array of outlier tweets with engagement metrics

4. Analyze Videos with AI (Optional)

If outliers contain video content:

python3 .claude/skills/video-content-analyzer/scripts/analyze_videos.py \
  --input {RUN_FOLDER}/outliers.json \
  --output {RUN_FOLDER}/video-analysis.json \
  --platform x \
  --max-videos 5

Note: X/Twitter is primarily text-based. Video analysis is optional and only useful when outliers contain video posts.

5. Generate Report

Read {RUN_FOLDER}/outliers.json (and optionally {RUN_FOLDER}/video-analysis.json), then generate {RUN_FOLDER}/report.md.

Report Structure:

# X/Twitter Research Report

Generated: {date}

## Summary

- **Total tweets analyzed**: {total_posts}
- **Outlier tweets identified**: {outlier_count}
- **Outlier rate**: {percentage}%

## Top Performing Tweets (Outliers)

### 1. @{username} ({name})

> {tweet_text}

- **URL**: {url}
- **Date**: {created_at}
- **Engagement**: {likes} likes | {retweets} RTs | {replies} replies | {bookmarks} bookmarks
- **Engagement Score**: {score}
- **Engagement Rate**: {rate}%
- **Followers**: {followers}

[Repeat for top 15 outliers]

## Top Performing Hooks (if video analysis available)

### Hook 1: {technique} - @{username}
- **Opening**: "{opening_line}"
- **Why it works**: {attention_grab}
- **Replicable Formula**: {replicable_formula}
- [Watch Video]({url})

## Trending Topics

### Top Hashtags
[From outliers.json topics.hashtags]

### Top Keywords
[From outliers.json topics.keywords]

### Top Mentions
[From outliers.json topics.mentions]

## Content Patterns in Outliers

| Pattern | Count | Percentage |
|---------|-------|------------|
| Contains media | {count} | {pct}% |
| Contains external link | {count} | {pct}% |
| Thread format | {count} | {pct}% |
| Quote tweet | {count} | {pct}% |
| Asks a question | {count} | {pct}% |
| List/numbered format | {count} | {pct}% |
| Short (<100 chars) | {count} | {pct}% |
| Medium (100-200 chars) | {count} | {pct}% |
| Long (>200 chars) | {count} | {pct}% |

## Actionable Takeaways

[Synthesize patterns into 4-6 specific recommendations]

## Accounts Analyzed

[List accounts]

Focus on actionable insights. Content patterns and trending topics are key for X/Twitter research.

Quick Reference

Full pipeline:

RUN_FOLDER="x-research/$(date +%Y-%m-%d_%H%M%S)" && mkdir -p "$RUN_FOLDER" && \
python3 .claude/skills/x-research/scripts/fetch_tweets.py -o "$RUN_FOLDER/raw.json" && \
python3 .claude/skills/x-research/scripts/analyze_posts.py -i "$RUN_FOLDER/raw.json" -o "$RUN_FOLDER/outliers.json"

With video analysis (optional):

python3 .claude/skills/video-content-analyzer/scripts/analyze_videos.py -i "$RUN_FOLDER/outliers.json" -o "$RUN_FOLDER/video-analysis.json" -p x

Then read JSON files and generate the report.

Engagement Metrics

Engagement Score (weighted):

  • Bookmarks: 4x (highest signal - saved for reference)
  • Replies: 3x (active conversation)
  • Retweets: 2x (amplification)
  • Quotes: 2x (engagement with commentary)
  • Likes: 1x (passive approval)

Outlier Detection: Tweets with engagement rate > mean + (threshold x std_dev)

Engagement Rate: (score / followers) x 100

Output Location

All output goes to timestamped run folders:

x-research/
└── {YYYY-MM-DD_HHMMSS}/
    ├── raw.json            # Raw tweet data from Apify
    ├── outliers.json       # Outliers with metadata and topics
    ├── video-analysis.json # AI video analysis (optional)
    └── report.md           # Final report

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