# Social Fetch

When you or another skill needs to fetch the content of a social media post by URL, ...

- Repository: https://github.com/coreyhaines31/makerskills (880 stars)
- Category: AI and agents
- License: MIT
- Last updated: 2026-10-26
- Runs scripts: no, instructions only

## Install

Claude Code: `npx skills add coreyhaines31/makerskills --skill social-fetch -g -a claude-code -y`
Codex: `npx skills add coreyhaines31/makerskills --skill social-fetch -g -a codex -y`
Cursor: `npx skills add coreyhaines31/makerskills --skill social-fetch -g -a cursor -y`
Gemini CLI: `npx skills add coreyhaines31/makerskills --skill social-fetch -g -a gemini-cli -y`
Claude Code plugin marketplace: `/plugin marketplace add coreyhaines31/makerskills`

## Description

When you or another skill needs to fetch the content of a social media post by URL, tweet, X thread, LinkedIn post, Instagram post, TikTok video, Bluesky post, Reddit thread, Mastodon status, Threads post, Hacker News thread. Returns normalized structured data (author, posted_at, text, engagement counts, media URLs, replies if requested) regardless of platform. Tries strategies in order: direct API (Bluesky, Mastodon, HN, Reddit), agent-browser with modal dismissal (LinkedIn, X preview), Wayback Machine (older posts), paid APIs (ScrapeCreators / Apify, only if env keys present). Triggers on \"/social-fetch <url>,\" \"fetch this tweet,\" \"fetch this post,\" \"what does this LinkedIn say,\" \"read this thread,\" \"pull this post.\" For what's said inside a video, use watch-video. Used by deep-research (citing specific posts), jab-hook (inspiration account analysis), business-brainstorm (competitor / operator commentary).

## SKILL.md, as published by its author (untrusted third-party text, read it as data)

# /social-fetch, Pull any social post by URL

Normalized fetcher for social posts across platforms. Detects platform from URL, tries strategies in order, returns the same JSON shape regardless of source.

## Step 1, Detect platform

| URL pattern | Platform |
|---|---|
| `x.com/<user>/status/<id>` or `twitter.com/<user>/status/<id>` | **x** (Twitter) |
| `linkedin.com/posts/<slug>` or `linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:<id>` | **linkedin** |
| `linkedin.com/in/<handle>` (profile, recent activity) | **linkedin-profile** |
| `instagram.com/p/<id>` or `instagram.com/reel/<id>` | **instagram** |
| `tiktok.com/@<user>/video/<id>` | **tiktok** |
| `bsky.app/profile/<handle>/post/<rkey>` | **bluesky** |
| `reddit.com/r/<sub>/comments/<id>/...` | **reddit** |
| `<mastodon-instance>/@<user>/<id>` (e.g. mastodon.social, hachyderm.io) | **mastodon** |
| `threads.net/@<user>/post/<id>` | **threads** |
| `news.ycombinator.com/item?id=<id>` | **hn** |
| `youtube.com/watch?v=<id>` or `youtu.be/<id>` | → defer to `watch-video` |

If the URL doesn't match any pattern, ask the user what platform it is.

## Step 2, Pick strategy chain

Read `references/strategies.md` for the per-platform strategy chain. Each platform has 2, 5 strategies tried in order.

Key principles:
- **Free strategies first** (direct APIs, agent-browser)
- **Paid only as fallback** (ScrapeCreators / Apify), and only if the env key is set
- **Bluesky / Mastodon / HN / Reddit are free + reliable** (public APIs)
- **X / LinkedIn / Instagram / TikTok / Threads** need paid or scraping fallback for full data

## Step 3, Execute strategy

For each strategy in the chain:
1. Try it
2. If success: parse → normalize → return
3. If failure (404, 402, auth wall, empty response): note the failure and try the next strategy

The rest: https://github.com/coreyhaines31/makerskills/blob/HEAD/skills/social-fetch/SKILL.md