X Launches Hosted MCP Servers: Connect Cursor, Claude, and Grok to the X API

June 30, 2026: @XDevelopers announced hosted MCP servers — agents can call the X API without building a custom integration. Elon Musk quoted the thread: "Try it out." The same week Cursor shipped its iOS app, X closed the loop on real-time social data inside agent workflows.

If you already use MCP in Cursor or Claude Code, this is the first first-party hosted MCP from a major platform at production scale — search posts, pull trends, manage bookmarks, even draft and publish Articles, all with your account's OAuth permissions.

Official docs: docs.x.com/tools/mcp. Full doc index for LLMs: docs.x.com/llms.txt.

TL;DR — two servers, one workflow

Browse more MCP servers: explainx.ai/mcp-servers — our searchable directory with categories from devtools to CRM.

Why hosted MCP matters

Until now, giving an agent live X data meant: register a developer app, wire REST endpoints, handle rate limits, refresh tokens, and wrap everything in a custom MCP server you maintain. That is exactly the N×M problem Model Context Protocol was designed to collapse.

X's move is different from a random npm package:

1. Hosted Streamable HTTP at api.x.com/mcp (protocol 2025-06-18, serverInfo: xmcp)
2. Official docs MCP so agents look up endpoint schemas without hallucinating parameters
3. First-class client configs for Cursor, Claude, Grok Build, and VS Code in the official guide

For teams building agentic research loops, social listening, or content pipelines — the agent can query the same real-time graph humans scroll, with structured tools instead of scraped HTML.

Architecture — why you still run xurl mcp

X's OAuth requires your own developer app. There is no dynamic client registration, and api.x.com/mcp does not advertise native MCP OAuth discovery. So X ships a local bridge:

MCP client (Cursor, Grok, …)
    → stdio JSON-RPC
xurl mcp (local bridge)
    → HTTPS + Bearer token
api.x.com/mcp
    ↔ OAuth2 PKCE login + auto-refresh

The bridge:

• Runs via npx — no separate install step required
• Opens your browser once on first run for OAuth login
• Caches and auto-refreshes tokens in ~/.xurl
• Sends diagnostics to stderr; stdout stays clean JSON-RPC

Docs MCP skips the bridge — it is read-only documentation search over HTTPS.

X MCP capabilities

Writes (bookmarks, article_publish) hit stricter rate limits than reads — expect occasional 429s and backoff.

Before you begin

1. Create an X app in the X Developer Portal with OAuth 2.0 enabled
2. Register redirect URI http://localhost:8080/callback (or set REDIRECT_URI env and register that)
3. Copy CLIENT_ID and CLIENT_SECRET
4. Node.js installed (for npx)
5. Optional: install xurl natively:

brew install --cask xdevplatform/tap/xurl
# or
npm install -g @xdevplatform/xurl

Headless servers: authenticate out-of-band first:

xurl auth oauth2 --headless

Then start your MCP client — the bridge reuses the cached token.

Connect Cursor

Create ~/.cursor/mcp.json (all projects) or .cursor/mcp.json (single repo):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "xapi": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@xdevplatform/xurl", "mcp", "https://api.x.com/mcp"],
      "env": {
        "CLIENT_ID": "YOUR_X_APP_CLIENT_ID",
        "CLIENT_SECRET": "YOUR_X_APP_CLIENT_SECRET"
      }
    },
    "x-docs": {
      "url": "https://docs.x.com/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Then:

1. Open Cursor → Settings → MCP
2. Confirm xapi shows a green dot and tools populate
3. On first use, your browser opens for OAuth — complete once

Pair with Cursor for iOS and you can monitor agent runs on your phone while the desktop session calls X tools.

Startup timeout: if the client times out waiting for browser login, set startup timeout ≥ 300 seconds in clients that support it (Grok Build documents this explicitly).

Connect Claude Desktop

Edit claude_desktop_config.json:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "xapi": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@xdevplatform/xurl", "mcp", "https://api.x.com/mcp"],
      "env": {
        "CLIENT_ID": "YOUR_X_APP_CLIENT_ID",
        "CLIENT_SECRET": "YOUR_X_APP_CLIENT_SECRET"
      }
    },
    "x-docs": {
      "url": "https://docs.x.com/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Desktop. X tools appear in the tools menu. See our full Claude Code MCP servers guide for project-level configs and /mcp troubleshooting.

Connect Grok Build

One command:

grok mcp add xapi npx \
  -e CLIENT_ID=YOUR_X_APP_CLIENT_ID \
  -e CLIENT_SECRET=YOUR_X_APP_CLIENT_SECRET \
  -- -y @xdevplatform/xurl mcp https://api.x.com/mcp

Verify:

grok mcp doctor xapi
grok mcp list

Add Docs MCP in ~/.grok/config.toml:

[mcp_servers.x-docs]
url = "https://docs.x.com/mcp"
enabled = true

Same week as Grok 4.5 private beta, xAI and X are tightening the Musk-stack agent loop — model + social graph + dev docs in one config file.

Connect VS Code (GitHub Copilot Agent mode)

Add to .vscode/mcp.json:

{
  "servers": {
    "xapi": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@xdevplatform/xurl", "mcp", "https://api.x.com/mcp"],
      "env": {
        "CLIENT_ID": "YOUR_X_APP_CLIENT_ID",
        "CLIENT_SECRET": "YOUR_X_APP_CLIENT_SECRET"
      }
    },
    "x-docs": {
      "url": "https://docs.x.com/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Docs MCP — documentation search only

Hosted at https://docs.x.com/mcp. Tools:

Minimal config (works in any URL-capable MCP client):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "x-docs": {
      "url": "https://docs.x.com/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Use both servers together: docs MCP when the agent needs parameter shapes; xapi when it needs live data.

App-only shortcut (read-only, no bridge)

For read endpoints only, advanced users can point a client directly at the URL with a static App-only Bearer token — no auto-refresh, no user context:

# Grok example
[mcp_servers.xapi_direct]
url = "https://api.x.com/mcp"
enabled = true

[mcp_servers.xapi_direct.headers]
Authorization = "Bearer YOUR_APP_ONLY_BEARER_TOKEN"

The xurl bridge is recommended for bookmarks, Articles, and anything acting as you.

Troubleshooting

Test the bridge manually:

npx -y @xdevplatform/xurl mcp https://api.x.com/mcp

Grok users: grok mcp doctor xapi for end-to-end check.

Security and best practices

• Treat ~/.xurl and tokens as secrets — never paste into chats or commit to git
• Prefer env vars in config over hard-coded secrets; use per-project .cursor/mcp.json in .gitignore
• Create a dedicated X app with minimum scopes for MCP
• The bridge is local — credentials leave your machine only as TLS Bearer calls to api.x.com
• Read MCP security guide for trust boundaries across all servers

If you are new to the protocol, start with What is MCP? before adding production API access.

OpenAPI and custom agents

Machine-readable spec: https://api.x.com/2/openapi.json

curl https://api.x.com/2/openapi.json -o openapi.json

Use it for Postman import, client generation, or feeding a custom MCP server if you outgrow the hosted tools.

Where this fits in the June 2026 agent stack

Three launches in one week:

X MCP is the data layer — Cursor iOS is the control layer — Grok is the model layer. Together they sketch the SpaceX-adjacent agent stack without waiting for Composer 3.

Explore more MCP servers on explainx.ai

X is one server. The ecosystem has thousands. On explainx.ai/mcp-servers you can:

• Browse by category — devtools, databases, search, CRM, browser automation
• Compare profiles — descriptions, install hints, related servers
• Pair with skills — see Introducing MCP servers on explainx.ai for how MCP + agent skills fit together

Building your own? Our MCP Bootcamp and top MCP directories roundup cover discovery beyond a single vendor.

Related reading

• Cursor's Google Workspace plugins: Gmail, Drive, Calendar in the IDE
• Cloudflare Monetization Gateway — x402 MCP payments
• What is MCP? Complete architecture guide
• Claude Code MCP servers — connect any tool
• Introducing MCP servers on explainx.ai
• MCP security guide (2026)
• Build your first MCP server
• Cursor for iOS launch (June 29)
• xAI Grok Voice Agent Builder — MCP in production phone agents
• Browse MCP servers

X MCP server URLs, xurl bridge behavior, and OAuth requirements accurate as of June 30, 2026 per docs.x.com/tools/mcp. Verify current setup steps before production use.