Bird CLI v3.0.0 — Free X/Twitter CLI

A fast, free X/Twitter CLI that uses browser cookies (GraphQL) instead of the paid X API. Post tweets, reply, read threads, search — no API key needed.

Fork of zaydiscold/bird v0.9.0 with critical fixes for June 2026 X API changes.

What's Fixed in v3.0.0

1. Transaction ID double-generation bug — prepareTransactionId() was generating a transaction ID before the URL was known, causing a mismatch. Fixed by removing it and letting fetchWithTimeout() handle all transaction ID generation from the actual request URL path.

2. Documented env file corruption issue — Writing credential env files with bash heredoc/cat corrupts tokens containing special characters. The README now includes Python-based env file writing instructions.

Requirements

• Node.js >= 22
• pnpm
• X.com account (for browser cookies)

Installation

git clone https://github.com/0xEnc0der/bird-x-cli.git
cd bird-x-cli
pnpm install
rm -rf dist && npx tsc
chmod +x dist/cli.js
ln -sf "$(pwd)/dist/cli.js" ~/.local/bin/bird

Authentication

Bird uses X.com browser cookies. You need auth_token and ct0.

Get your cookies:

1. Log into x.com in your browser
2. Open DevTools → Application → Cookies → x.com
3. Copy auth_token (40-char hex) and ct0 values

Create the env file (IMPORTANT: Use Python, NOT bash):

import os
env_path = os.path.expanduser('~/.config/bird/env')
os.makedirs(os.path.dirname(env_path), exist_ok=True)

auth_token = "your_40_char_auth_token"
ct0 = "your_ct0_token"

with open(env_path, 'w') as f:
    f.write(f'export AUTH_TOKEN="{auth_token}"\n')
    f.write(f'export CT0="{ct0}"\n')
    f.write('export GUEST_ID="v1%3A..."\n')
    f.write('export LANG="en"\n')

Verify: python3 -c "print(len(open(os.path.expanduser('~/.config/bird/env')).read().split('\"')[1]))" — must be exactly 40.

⚠️ NEVER use bash heredoc/cat to write the env file — special characters in tokens get mangled.

Quick Reference

Action	Command
Post tweet	bird tweet "Hello world!"
Reply	bird reply <id-or-url> "Reply text"
Read tweet	bird read <id-or-url>
Thread	bird thread <id-or-url>
Search	bird search "query" -n 10
Mentions	bird mentions -n 10
Replies to post	bird replies <id-or-url>
Like	bird like <id>
Repost	bird repost <id>
Bookmark	bird bookmark <id>
Check auth	bird check
JSON output	Add --json to any command

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Fix
HTTP 401 on tweet/reply	Verify auth_token is 40 chars using Python. If wrong, rewrite env with Python.
HTTP 401 on read	Same — verify env file first
HTTP 404 on search	Query ID stale — run pnpm run graphql:update and rebuild
HTTP 422 GraphQL validation	Query ID wrong — update src/lib/query-ids.json and rebuild

Updating Query IDs

X rotates GraphQL query IDs periodically:

cd bird-x-cli
pnpm run graphql:update
rm -rf dist && npx tsc

Dependencies

• x-client-transaction-id (^0.2.0) — Generates x-client-transaction-id header
• commander (^14.0.2) — CLI framework
• json5 (^2.2.3) — Config file parsing
• kleur (^4.1.5) — Terminal colors

License

MIT

Attribution

• Fork: zaydiscold/bird v0.9.0 (June 2026)
• Original: jawond/bird (steipete)
• Transaction ID: x-client-transaction-id npm package
• v3.0.0 patches: 0xEnc0der (June 2026)