X Articles

X Articles — Viral Long-Form for Twitter

Beat the algorithm. Create and publish X (Twitter) Articles with proven viral patterns. AI-powered formatting, hook patterns, and browser automation. Handles Draft.js quirks, embed limitations, and image uploads.

Content Formatting Rules (CRITICAL)

X Articles uses Draft.js editor with specific quirks: Line breaks = paragraph breaks - Each newline creates a new paragraph block with spacing Join sentences on ONE LINE - All sentences in the same paragraph must be on a single line Use plain text, not markdown - X Articles uses rich text, not markdown No em dashes (—) - Replace with colons or rewrite sentences Wrong: Sentence one. Sentence two. Sentence three. Right: Sentence one. Sentence two. Sentence three.

Embed Limitation (IMPORTANT)

Embedded posts ALWAYS render at the END of the content block, not inline. Workarounds: Structure article to reference "see posts below" Accept visual flow: text → text → embeds at bottom Use Insert > Posts menu (don't paste URLs)

Image Specs

TypeAspect RatioRecommended SizeCover/Header5:21792x716 or similarInline images16:9 or 4:31792x1024 (DALL-E HD)

The Template

• HOOK (hit insecurity or opportunity)
• WHAT IT IS (1-2 paragraphs with social proof)
• WHY MOST PEOPLE WON'T DO IT (address objections)
• THE [X]-MINUTE GUIDE
• Step 1 (time estimate)
• Step 2 (time estimate)
• ...
• YOUR FIRST [N] WINS (immediate value)
• Win 1: copy-paste example
• Win 2: copy-paste example
• THE COST (value comparison)
• WHAT TO DO AFTER (next steps)
• THE WINDOW (urgency)
• CTA (soft or hard)

Hook Patterns That Work

Insecurity/FOMO: everyone's talking about X... and you're sitting there wondering if you missed the window Big Opportunity: this is the biggest opportunity of our lifetime News Hook: X just open sourced the algo. Here's what it means for you: RIP Pattern: RIP [profession]. This AI tool will [action] in seconds. WTF Pattern: WTF!! This AI Agent [does amazing thing]. Here's how: Personal Story: When I was young, I was always drawn to people who...

CTA Patterns

Hard CTA (engagement bait): RT + follow + reply 'KEYWORD' and I'll send the cheat sheet Soft CTA: If you take this advice and build something, let me know! Simple: Feel free to leave a like and RT if this helped.

Damian Player Style (Tactical)

All lowercase (deliberate) Urgent, tactical tone 1500+ words Heavy step-by-step detail Hard CTA with lead magnet

Alex Finn Style (Motivational)

Normal capitalization Warm, motivational tone 800-1200 words Mix of WHY and HOW Soft CTA + product links

Dan Koe Style (Philosophical)

Long-form essay (2000+ words) Personal storytelling opener Named frameworks ("The Pyramid Principle") Deep teaching, not just tactics Newsletter CTA

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Short articles under 500 words Facts without story/emotion No clear sections or headers No objection handling No immediate wins section No CTA Generic AI-sounding language Em dashes (—) everywhere Excessive emojis Pasting tweet URLs instead of using Insert menu

Prerequisites

clawd browser running on CDP port 18800 Logged into X on the browser

Navigate to Article Editor

# Open new article agent-browser --cdp 18800 navigate "https://x.com/compose/article" # Take snapshot to see current state agent-browser --cdp 18800 snapshot

Paste Content

# Put content in clipboard cat article.txt | pbcopy # Click content area, select all, paste agent-browser --cdp 18800 click '[contenteditable="true"]' agent-browser --cdp 18800 press "Meta+a" agent-browser --cdp 18800 press "Meta+v"

Upload Cover Image

# Upload to file input agent-browser --cdp 18800 upload 'input[type="file"]' /path/to/cover.png # Wait for Edit media dialog, click Apply agent-browser --cdp 18800 snapshot | grep -i apply agent-browser --cdp 18800 click @e5 # Apply button ref

Publish

# Find and click Publish button agent-browser --cdp 18800 snapshot | grep -i publish agent-browser --cdp 18800 click @e35 # Publish button ref # Confirm in dialog agent-browser --cdp 18800 click @e5 # Confirm

Cleanup (Important!)

# Close tab after publishing agent-browser --cdp 18800 tab list agent-browser --cdp 18800 tab close 1

Troubleshooting: Stale Element Refs

If clicks fail due to stale refs, use JS evaluate: agent-browser --cdp 18800 evaluate "(function() { const btns = document.querySelectorAll('button'); for (let btn of btns) { if (btn.innerText.includes('Publish')) { btn.click(); return 'clicked'; } } return 'not found'; })()"

Convert Markdown to X-Friendly Format

# scripts/format-for-x.sh #!/bin/bash # Converts markdown to X Articles format INPUT="$1" OUTPUT="${2:-${INPUT%.md}-x-ready.txt}" cat "$INPUT" | \ # Remove markdown headers, keep text sed 's/^## /\n/g' | \ sed 's/^### /\n/g' | \ sed 's/^# /\n/g' | \ # Remove markdown bold/italic sed 's/\*\*//g' | \ sed 's/\*//g' | \ # Remove em dashes sed 's/ — /: /g' | \ sed 's/—/:/g' | \ # Join lines within paragraphs (keeps blank lines as separators) awk 'BEGIN{RS=""; FS="\n"; ORS="\n\n"} {gsub(/\n/, " "); print}' \ > "$OUTPUT" echo "Created: $OUTPUT"

Pre-Publish Checklist

Hook grabs attention in first line Objections addressed early Step-by-step with time estimates Immediate wins section included CTA at the end No em dashes (—) Sentences joined on single lines Cover image 5:2 aspect ratio Embeds referenced as "see below" Proofread for AI-sounding language

Tweetable Quote Patterns

For promoting your article: Result + Cost: I gave an AI agent full access to my MacBook. It checks email, manages calendar, pushes code. Costs $20/month. A VA costs $2000. You Don't Need X: You don't need a Mac Mini. You don't need a server. I'm running my AI agent on an old MacBook Air from a drawer. Gap Warning: The gap between 'has AI agent' and 'doesn't' is about to get massive. I set mine up in 15 minutes. Urgency: Most people will bookmark this and never set it up. Don't be most people. The window is closing.

Example Workflow

Write article in markdown with clear sections Run format script to convert to X-friendly plain text Generate cover image with DALL-E (1792x716 or 5:2 ratio) Open X article editor via browser automation Paste content and add section headers manually in editor Upload cover image via file input Add inline images at section breaks Insert embeds (they'll appear at bottom) Preview and proofread Publish Post promotional tweet with hook + article link

Related Skills

bird - X/Twitter CLI for posting tweets de-ai-ify - Remove AI jargon from text ai-pdf-builder - Generate PDFs (for lead magnets) Built by @NextXFrontier