X Search Via Hermes

X Search via Hermes

Use this skill for read-only X/Twitter research through Hermes. The user-facing goal is X-sourced information; Hermes and xAI auth are dependencies.

Do not use this skill for posting, liking, following, DMs, deletion, or other X account mutations. Use an account-control skill/tool for those workflows.

Fast Path

For any X search request, check only what is needed:

which hermes
hermes status --all
hermes tools list

Proceed directly to search when:

• hermes exists.
• hermes status --all shows xAI/Grok OAuth logged in or active.
• hermes tools list shows x_search enabled.

x_search is a Hermes built-in toolset, not necessarily an MCP server. Do not treat hermes mcp list showing no MCP servers as a failure.

If Hermes Is Missing

If which hermes fails, install Hermes if the harness can run shell commands with user approval:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/main/scripts/install.sh | bash

If the installer enters an interactive setup wizard:

• If the harness can control an interactive terminal, select xAI/Grok OAuth during setup.
• If the harness cannot control an interactive terminal, ask the user to finish setup in their terminal.
• If Hermes prints an xAI auth URL, show that URL to the user clearly and ask them to complete browser login.
• Do not ask the user to paste tokens or inspect Hermes auth files.

After install/setup, rerun:

which hermes
hermes status --all
hermes tools list

If xAI Auth Is Missing

If Hermes is installed but xAI/Grok OAuth is not logged in, run or ask the user to run:

hermes auth add xai-oauth

If browser callback is awkward or the session is remote:

hermes auth add xai-oauth --manual-paste

If Hermes prints an auth URL, repeat it to the user. The user must complete the browser login. Do not read or print ~/.hermes/auth.json.

Then verify:

hermes status --all

If Provider or Model Is Unset

If xAI OAuth is logged in but Hermes has no usable active provider/model, prefer direct config:

hermes config set model.provider xai-oauth
hermes config set model.default grok-4.3

If direct config fails or Hermes has changed its config keys, ask the user to run:

hermes model

They should choose xAI/Grok OAuth and a Grok model.

If X Search Is Disabled

Check:

hermes tools list

Expected output includes:

enabled  x_search  X (Twitter) Search

If disabled, run:

hermes tools enable x_search

If that fails or requires interaction, ask the user to run:

hermes tools

or:

hermes setup tools

Then select or enable X search.

Search Prompts

Once x_search is enabled, do not run an extra ping. Search the user's topic directly.

General latest-news search:

hermes -z "Use X search to find the latest posts and news about TOPIC. Summarize confirmed facts, social reactions, rumors or commentary, and include X links."

Account-specific search:

hermes -z "Use X search to find recent posts by @HANDLE about TOPIC. Return direct X links and a concise summary."

Rumor-sensitive search:

hermes -z "Use X search for TOPIC. Separate confirmed announcements from speculation. Include dates and source links."

Operational/research search:

hermes -z "Use X search for practical posts about TOPIC. Return concise findings, dates, and source links when available."

Reporting

When answering the user:

• Say that Hermes searched X.
• Include direct X links when Hermes provides them.
• Include dates when available.
• Distinguish confirmed information from reactions, rumors, or commentary.
• If X results are sparse or source links are missing, say so plainly.

Failure Branches

• Network or DNS failure: rerun with network approval or ask the user to run Hermes in a normal terminal.
• Read-only ~/.hermes or auth lock errors: ask the user to run the Hermes auth/setup command in a normal terminal.
• xAI 401 or auth failure: rerun hermes auth add xai-oauth.
• xAI 403: likely subscription or entitlement issue; ask the user to check Grok/xAI access.
• x_search missing: run hermes update, then recheck hermes tools list.

Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: arthurkatcher
• Source: arthurkatcher/x-search-via-hermes
• License: MIT
• Homepage: https://github.com/arthurkatcher/x-search-via-hermes

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.