xdl — X (Twitter) Media Downloader (CLI)

Keywords: x media downloader, twitter media downloader, x scraper, twitter image downloader, twitter video downloader, cli.

xdl is a local-first CLI that downloads images and videos from a single X (Twitter) profile that your logged-in session can see.

• No hosted API
• No accounts
• No telemetry
• Runs on your machine

Quality-first by design: xdl intentionally trades raw speed for higher-quality media variants and more stable behavior.

---

Download (no Go required)

Prebuilt binaries are published in GitHub Releases.

Latest release:

• https://github.com/M-e-d-u-s-a-X/xdl/releases/latest

Direct download (always latest):

• Windows (amd64): https://github.com/M-e-d-u-s-a-X/xdl/releases/latest/download/xdl-windows-amd64.exe
• Linux (amd64): https://github.com/M-e-d-u-s-a-X/xdl/releases/latest/download/xdl-linux-amd64

---

Folder layout

Put the binary and cookies in the same folder:

xdl-windows-amd64.exe (or xdl-linux-amd64)
cookies.json

---

Quick start

1) Export cookies

xdl uses your existing X login via browser cookies.

1. Log into X in your browser
2. Export cookies as JSON (for example, using the “Cookie-Editor” extension)
3. Save the file as cookies.json (same folder as the binary)

This file is read locally and is not uploaded anywhere by xdl.

2) Run

Windows (PowerShell)

(Optional) rename the file to make commands shorter:

ren .\xdl-windows-amd64.exe xdl.exe

Run:

.\xdl.exe USERNAME

Linux

Make it executable:

chmod +x ./xdl-linux-amd64

Run:

./xdl-linux-amd64 USERNAME

Example:

./xdl-linux-amd64 google

---

What to expect

• Only content that your session can see will be downloadable.
• If X stops loading older media in the web UI, results may be limited as well.
• Slower-than-expected runs are often the intended quality/stability trade-off.

---

Troubleshooting

“403” / “Unauthorized” / downloads stop

• Cookies may be missing, expired, or exported incorrectly.
• Re-export cookies and confirm the file is exactly: cookies.json (same folder as the binary).

Windows says “not a valid application”

• The wrong binary was used (e.g., Linux binary on Windows).
• Download xdl-windows-amd64.exe from Releases.

---

Build from source (optional)

Only needed if you want to modify the code.

go build ./cmd/xdl

Cross-compile from Linux (Ubuntu):

mkdir -p dist

# Linux (amd64)
env CGO_ENABLED=0 GOOS=linux GOARCH=amd64 go build -trimpath -ldflags "-s -w" -o dist/xdl-linux-amd64 ./cmd/xdl

# Windows (amd64)
env CGO_ENABLED=0 GOOS=windows GOARCH=amd64 go build -trimpath -ldflags "-s -w" -o dist/xdl-windows-amd64.exe ./cmd/xdl

---

Legal

This project is intended for educational and personal use. Users are responsible for complying with X’s Terms of Service and applicable laws.

---

License

AGPL-3.0