Yesterday, X shipped a hosted Model Context Protocol server at https://api.x.com/mcp. It is the first time X has offered MCP access to its platform without requiring developers to run their own server.

Any MCP-compatible client — Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf, or a custom agent — can now connect to the X API through a standard MCP endpoint using the user’s own account permissions. No cloning a GitHub repo, no managing OAuth plumbing, no maintaining local infrastructure.

What the Server Exposes

X launched two MCP servers simultaneously:

Primary server (api.x.com/mcp) — 200+ tools auto-generated from X’s OpenAPI spec. Coverage includes:

  • Search posts (recent and archive)
  • Read and fetch user timelines
  • Create and delete posts
  • Look up users by username or ID
  • Manage likes, bookmarks, and lists
  • Read and write X Articles (long-form content)

Streaming and webhook endpoints are excluded by design. The server gives agents read/write access to X’s data API; real-time stream subscriptions remain outside MCP scope.

Docs server — A second MCP server exposing X’s developer documentation as a queryable tool source. Agents can reference API specs and integration guides programmatically during build workflows, without fetching from the web.

How Authentication Works

X solved the OAuth problem with a small open-source bridge called xurl. The flow:

  1. Register an X developer app once (standard app creation in the X Developer Portal)
  2. Configure xurl as the local bridge — it handles the OAuth 2.0 authorization code flow
  3. xurl injects a fresh Bearer token on every MCP call, eliminating token management in the agent

The actual MCP server is hosted — xurl only handles token injection locally. That means there is no local MCP server process to start or manage; xurl is a thin credential bridge, not a server.

For developers who want full control, the underlying server is also open source at github.com/xdevplatform/xmcp and can be self-hosted. The self-hosted version supports configuration via environment variables, starts at http://127.0.0.1:8000/mcp by default, and is configurable on host and port.

Pricing

X moved to pay-per-use API pricing in January 2026. The hosted MCP routes through the same billing:

Operation Cost
Read a post ~$0.005
Post / user lookup ~$0.01

There is no minimum subscription or fixed monthly tier. Agent costs scale directly with call volume. An agent that reads 100 posts per run costs roughly $0.50 per run.

No separate pricing has been announced for the hosted MCP layer itself — X is treating it as a delivery mechanism for standard API calls, not a premium product.

Tool Allowlisting

By default the hosted server exposes every available tool. For most agent use cases that is too broad. X provides an allowlist mechanism via the X_API_TOOL_ALLOWLIST environment variable:

X_API_TOOL_ALLOWLIST="searchPostsRecent,getUsersByUsername,createPosts,likePost"

This is not optional for production agents. An agent with unrestricted tool access to an authenticated X account can post, delete, and interact with any endpoint the account can reach. Scope down to exactly what the agent needs before deploying.

What This Unlocks

Real-time social data in agents. Until now, connecting an agent to live X data meant self-hosting an MCP server, managing OAuth, and handling rate limits independently. The hosted server reduces that to: authenticate once, point your MCP client at the endpoint.

Monitoring and alerting agents. An agent can watch for posts matching a search query, extract content, and trigger downstream actions — all through standard MCP tool calls. No X API client library required.

Brand and competitive intelligence. Agents can track mentions, monitor competitor accounts, and summarize engagement data. These were possible before through direct API calls; MCP makes them composable with other tools in an agentic workflow without custom glue code.

Grok native advantage. Grok is xAI’s own LLM. xAI owns X. The hosted MCP gives Grok first-party access to X’s data in a way that is structurally ahead of any third-party integration. Builders who are evaluating Grok as an agent backbone should weight this: Grok + X MCP is a native integration, not a bolt-on.

What to Watch

Rate limits under load. Pay-per-use pricing without rate limit documentation is a cost visibility risk for agents that run on a schedule or in response to events. Monitor spend closely in early deployments.

Tool surface area. 200+ auto-generated tools from an OpenAPI spec means the tool list will change as X updates its API. Tools may appear or disappear between versions. Pin to a specific OpenAPI spec version if your agent depends on tool stability.

Account permissions scope. The hosted MCP acts with the permissions of the connected X account. A compromised or misconfigured agent has write access to the associated account. Treat the OAuth credentials for any MCP-connected X app as high-value secrets.

xurl dependency. The hosted server relies on xurl for credential injection. It is open source but not part of the official X Developer platform in the same way the API itself is. Track its maintenance status.

X’s hosted MCP is the most significant expansion of X’s developer surface in 2026. It removes the biggest friction point for AI integrations — credential management and local server operation — and makes X data a first-class tool in any MCP-aware agent stack. The 200+ tool surface, combined with pay-per-use pricing, means the default posture should be aggressive allowlisting rather than open access.