How to Configure Twitter/X Authentication with Cookies in Agent Reach

Agent Reach requires two authentication cookies (auth_token and ct0) from X (formerly Twitter) to enable API access, which can be configured manually via CLI or extracted automatically from supported browsers.

To enable Twitter/X integration, Agent Reach must authenticate using session cookies from your X account. According to the Agent-Reach source code, the application specifically looks for the auth_token and ct0 cookies, storing them persistently in your local configuration. You can supply these credentials either by manually pasting them into the CLI or by allowing the tool to extract them directly from Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Brave, or Opera.

Required Authentication Cookies

X (Twitter) uses two distinct cookies to maintain an authenticated session. Agent Reach maps these to internal configuration keys:

• auth_token → stored as twitter_auth_token in ~/.agent-reach/config.yaml
• ct0 → stored as twitter_ct0 in the same configuration file

These values are defined as required keys in agent_reach/config.py【https://github.com/Panniantong/Agent-Reach/blob/main/agent_reach/config.py#L22-L25】, where the Config class manages persistence. When set, the CLI automatically synchronizes these credentials to downstream tools including twitter-cli, xfetch, and bird-cli.

Configuration Methods

Agent Reach provides two distinct paths for supplying Twitter/X credentials. Both methods ultimately write to the same configuration keys and validate access by invoking twitter status via subprocess.

Manual Configuration via CLI

The most direct method uses the configure twitter-cookies command. The CLI accepts either individual cookie values or a raw header string.

Provide cookies as separate arguments:

agent-reach configure twitter-cookies YOUR_AUTH_TOKEN_VALUE YOUR_CT0_VALUE

Or paste a raw cookie header (copied directly from Chrome's "Copy > Copy Cookies"):

agent-reach configure twitter-cookies "auth_token=AAA; ct0=BBB; other=ignore"

The parsing logic in agent_reach/cli.py handles both formats through _parse_twitter_cookie_input (lines 24-42)【https://github.com/Panniantong/Agent-Reach/blob/main/agent_reach/cli.py#L24-L42】. After successful storage, the CLI runs a validation check and outputs:

✅ Twitter cookies configured!
Testing Twitter access... ✅ Twitter access works!

Automatic Extraction from Browser

For convenience, Agent Reach can extract cookies directly from your local browser profile using the rookiepy or browser-cookie3 libraries.

Run the browser extraction command:

agent-reach configure --from-browser chrome

Replace chrome with firefox, edge, brave, or opera as needed.

Under the hood, configure_from_browser in agent_reach/cookie_extract.py iterates through supported platforms, extracts the specific cookies, and persists them:

# Excerpt from agent_reach/cookie_extract.py

if "twitter" in extracted:
    tc = extracted["twitter"]
    if "auth_token" in tc and "ct0" in tc:
        config.set("twitter_auth_token", tc["auth_token"])
        config.set("twitter_ct0", tc["ct0"])
        _sync_xfetch_session(tc["auth_token"], tc["ct0"])

This method also syncs credentials to legacy tool locations, including ~/.config/xfetch/session.json and ~/.config/bird/credentials.env【https://github.com/Panniantong/Agent-Reach/blob/main/agent_reach/cookie_extract.py#L18-L35】.

Validation and Storage Sync

Once configured, Agent Reach validates the cookies by executing twitter status and checking for "ok: true" in the output. If validation fails, the CLI reports an error and allows reconfiguration.

The credentials propagate to three destinations:

1. Agent Reach config (~/.agent-reach/config.yaml) - Persistent YAML storage via Config.set()
2. Environment variables (TWITTER_AUTH_TOKEN, TWITTER_CT0) - Injected into the process environment for twitter-cli calls【https://github.com/Panniantong/Agent-Reach/blob/main/agent_reach/cli.py#L65-L78】
3. Legacy tool files - Synchronized to xfetch and bird configuration paths for backward compatibility

Summary

• Agent Reach requires two specific cookies: auth_token and ct0 from X (Twitter).
• Storage location: ~/.agent-reach/config.yaml under keys twitter_auth_token and twitter_ct0.
• Manual method: Use agent-reach configure twitter-cookies with either separate values or a raw cookie header.
• Automatic method: Use agent-reach configure --from-browser <browser> to extract from Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Brave, or Opera.
• Validation: The CLI tests cookies by running twitter status and checking for "ok: true".
• Sync: Credentials automatically propagate to twitter-cli, xfetch, and bird tools.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where does Agent Reach store the Twitter cookies?

Agent Reach persists the auth_token and ct0 values in ~/.agent-reach/config.yaml under the keys twitter_auth_token and twitter_ct0. This file is managed by the Config class in agent_reach/config.py. The values are also synchronized to environment variables and legacy tool configuration files for compatibility with xfetch and bird-cli.

Can I use a raw cookie header string instead of individual values?

Yes. The CLI accepts a full cookie header string (such as "auth_token=AAA; ct0=BBB; other=ignore") and parses it automatically using the _parse_twitter_cookie_input helper function in agent_reach/cli.py. This is useful when copying cookies directly from browser developer tools.

Which browsers are supported for automatic cookie extraction?

Agent Reach supports automatic extraction from Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Brave, and Opera. The configure_from_browser function in agent_reach/cookie_extract.py uses rookiepy or browser-cookie3 libraries to read the browser's SQLite cookie database and extract the specific X (Twitter) authentication cookies.

How does Agent Reach validate the configured cookies?

After storing the cookies, Agent Reach validates them by invoking twitter status via subprocess.run and checking the output for "ok: true". This verification step is implemented in the _cmd_configure function in agent_reach/cli.py (lines 65-78). If the check fails, the CLI displays an error message, allowing you to re-run the configuration.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "instagit": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "instagit@latest"]
    }
  }
}