X (Twitter) — can an agent use it?
An official MCP server sits on top of a hostile action surface: since 02/2026 self-serve apps cannot like, follow, quote-post or reply unsolicited, and a post containing a link costs $0.20 against $0.015 without one.
Can an agent get correct information?
Machine-readable surface — 3.5/10
x.com's robots.txt blocks automated fetchers outright (our own fetch of x.com/robots.txt returned ROBOTS_DISALLOWED) and public posts sit behind a login wall with no RSS, though the v2 API and the official docs MCP return clean JSON. source
Information retrieval quality — 5.5/10
Per-unit prices ($0.015 per post, $0.200 with a URL, $0.005 per third-party post read) and per-endpoint rate limits are published openly and dated, but Enterprise terms are an interest form and the underlying content is metered and capped at 2M post reads/month. source
Documentation for machines — 7/10
docs.x.com carries per-endpoint reference, rate-limit tables, and a dated public changelog with effective dates (e.g. 16/04/2026 announcement, effective 20/04/2026), but no published OpenAPI spec and pricing detail is split across pages. source
Can an agent do the job?
Action coverage — 4.5/10
Posting, search, DMs, media upload, Articles and Activity webhooks are covered, but the 2026 changelog removed Following, Likes and Quote-Posts from all self-serve tiers and restricted programmatic replies to conversations where the author summoned the app. source
Agent protocol support — 6/10
X runs two official MCP servers (api.x.com/mcp with OAuth 2.0 PKCE, docs.x.com/mcp unauthenticated), but MCP writes reach only bookmarks and Articles — the core action, posting, is not exposed. source
Access & auth friction — 7/10
Self-serve at console.x.com issues credentials immediately with no manual review, offering OAuth 2.0 with fine-grained scopes plus app-only Bearer, though OAuth 1.0a persists for some endpoints and usage requires a funded credit balance. source
Agent payment capability — 2/10
X sells API credits and subscriptions but supports no agent payment rail — no ACP, AP2, MPP or x402 — and credits are topped up by a human in the Developer Console with no documented programmatic, spend-capped delegation. source
Cost & rate fairness — 3/10
A post containing a URL costs $0.200 versus $0.015 without — a 13x penalty aimed squarely at automated posting — and pay-per-use is hard-capped at 2M post reads/month, above which the only route is Enterprise at a reported $42,000+/month. source
Will it still work next quarter?
Permission & ToS stance — 3/10
Automation rules are published but restrictive and selectively gated — automated Likes are banned outright, AI reply bots need "prior written and explicit approval from X", redistribution is capped at 1.5M Post IDs per 30 days, and X has litigated scrapers (X Corp. v. Bright Data). source
Reliability & continuity — 2/10
Four breaking changes in three months — pay-per-use replacing the free tier 06/02/2026, the reply restriction 23/02/2026, endpoint deprecations given five days' notice (announced 20/03, effective 25/03/2026), and the 16/04/2026 repricing that raised link posts ~1,900%. source
Sources
Point-in-time assessment — services change terms, prices and APIs often. That volatility is itself scored under Reliability & continuity. Re-verified at least quarterly.
- docs.x.com/x-api/getting-started/pricing — Official pay-per-usage rate card: $0.015 per post, $0.200 per post with URL, $0.010 summoned post, $0.005 third-party post read, $0.001 owned read, $0.010 user read; 2M post reads/month cap then Enterprise (accessed 2026-07-25)
- docs.x.com/changelog — Official dated changelog: 06/02/2026 pay-per-use launch + Following/Likes/Quote-Posts removed from all self-serve tiers; 23/02/2026 programmatic replies only when the author summons the replier (Enterprise unaffected); 16/04/2026 repricing effective 20/04/2026; 20/03/2026 replay-endpoint deprecation effective 25/03/2026 (accessed 2026-07-25)
- docs.x.com/tools/mcp — Official X-operated MCP servers — api.x.com/mcp (X API, OAuth 2.0 PKCE via xurl bridge, writes limited to bookmarks and Articles) and docs.x.com/mcp (unauthenticated docs search) (accessed 2026-07-25)
- docs.x.com/x-api/getting-started/getting-access — Official onboarding: console.x.com self-serve app creation, immediate credentials, Bearer / OAuth 1.0a / OAuth 2.0 with fine-grained scopes, no manual approval gate (accessed 2026-07-25)
- help.x.com/en/rules-and-policies/x-automation — Official automation development rules (April 2026 revision): automated Likes prohibited, AI reply bots require prior written approval from X, replies/DMs only to users who indicated intent (accessed 2026-07-25)
- docs.x.com/developer-terms/policy — Official Developer Policy: redistribution capped at 1.5M Post IDs per entity per 30 days, 500 objects/day to end users by non-automated means, off-platform matching requires opt-in consent (accessed 2026-07-25)
- techcrunch.com/2026/04/22/x-makes-it-more-expensive… — Third-party coverage of the 16/04/2026 repricing — link posts raised to $0.20 (~1,900% increase), X framing it as curbing 'vectors of misuse'; Techmeme dropped links from its X posts in response (accessed 2026-07-25)
- socialcrawl.dev/blog/x-twitter-api-2026 — Third-party 2026 tier survey: Basic $200/mo and Pro $5,000/mo closed to new signups, Enterprise $42,000+/mo with 50M+ monthly reads, 2M read ceiling on pay-per-use (accessed 2026-07-25)
- postproxy.dev/blog/x-api-pricing-2026 — Third-party pricing history: free tier discontinued 02/2026 with a one-time $10 voucher for migrating users; Enterprise entry $42,000-$50,000/mo (accessed 2026-07-25)
- docs.x.com/x-api/fundamentals/rate-limits — Official rate limits, separate from billing: GET /2/tweets 3,500/15min per app, POST /2/media/upload 50,000/24h per app; 'you can be within rate limits but still incur usage costs' (accessed 2026-07-25)