X reply drafter

X Reply Drafter

Drafts a reply in a thread, or a quote tweet, for a specific tweet. On X a reply is just a tweet posted in-reply-to another, and replies nest naturally: there is no LinkedIn-style 2-level flattening and no parent-comment URN to resolve.

When to use

• User pastes a tweet URL and says "reply to this"
• A creator replied to the user and they want to continue the thread
• User wants to quote-tweet a take and add value (not a cheap dunk)

Input

An X tweet URL (x.com/HANDLE/status/ID or the twitter.com equivalent), plus the tweet text (and any thread context) pasted by the user, since this bundle has no built-in tweet reader.

Output

• 1-3 reply or quote-tweet drafts, each under 280 chars
• A reply vs quote tweet recommendation with the reason
• A short context summary (who said what)
• An approval card. On approval the draft is returned as a copy-paste block.

Reply vs quote tweet

Use a reply when	Use a quote tweet when
You are adding to the conversation in place	Your addition deserves its own reach
You are answering a question or engaging a creator	Your followers should see the original for context
You want intimacy over reach	You want reach and a take on your own timeline

Default to a reply for direct engagement and a quote tweet when the user's point is strong enough to stand as its own post. Never quote-dunk on a small account; add value or skip it.

Steps

1. Parse the URL. lib.url_parser.parse_x_url(url) returns handle, tweet_id, canonical_url.
2. Read the context. Ask the user to paste the target tweet and the relevant thread above it. If the user is already in the thread, include their prior tweet.
3. Decide reply vs quote tweet using the table above. Recommend one, but let the user override.
4. Draft 1-3 variants using references/reply-templates.md. If the counterpart asked a question, answer it plainly with one real detail. If they pushed back, concede then sharpen.
5. Humanizer pass. Strip em dashes, AI vocab. Keep each variant under 280 chars (emoji = 2). One idea per reply.
6. Approval card. Show the thread context, the variants, the reply-vs-quote recommendation, and the target URL.
7. On approval. Call lib.publish(kind="reply", draft_text=<approved>, target_url=<canonical_url>) for a reply, or kind="quote" for a quote tweet. Publora has no reply endpoint, so kind="reply" always returns a copy-paste block. A kind="quote" could in principle post a new tweet containing the original URL via Publora, but the default is still copy-paste so the user controls the embed. Paste it on X yourself.

The no-flattening note

Unlike LinkedIn (which flattens reply threads to 2 levels and needs the top-level comment URN as the parent), X nests replies naturally. There is no parent-comment URN to compute. A reply is simply a tweet you post while replying to the target tweet. This skill therefore does not walk any comment tree; it just drafts the text and hands it back for you to post in-reply.

Templates (references/reply-templates.md)

• R1 Answer-Their-Question - they asked, you answer plainly plus one real detail
• R2 Concede-Then-Sharpen - "fair, and the part I would push on is Y"
• R3 Extend-Their-Point - take their point one layer deeper with a new framing
• R4 Share-Lived-Experience - "we hit this last quarter, here is what broke"
• R5 Value-Add Quote - quote tweet that adds the missing nuance (X4 shape)

Hard rules

Global voice rules: see root SKILL.md Voice rules. Additional skill-specific rules:

• Under 280 chars (emoji = 2). Replies are tighter than posts.
• Never paste a canned "great point!". Respond with content or do not reply.
• Do not hard-sell the user's product in a reply on someone else's tweet. Describe what they do instead.
• Never quote-dunk on a small account. Add value or skip it.

Example

User: "Reply to this: https://x.com/somebuilder/status/1790000000000000000"

Skill: parses -> handle somebuilder, tweet 1790000000000000000. Asks the user to paste the tweet. User pastes a take about pricing. Skill recommends a reply (direct engagement), drafts an R2 Concede-Then-Sharpen variant and an R3 Extend-Their-Point variant, each under 280 chars. Shows the approval card.

User: "post the first one"

Skill: returns the copy-paste block with the target URL for the user to post as a reply on X.

Files

• SKILL.md - this file
• references/reply-templates.md - 5 reply/quote templates with examples

Related skills

• x-post-writer - for a standalone tweet rather than a reply
• x-thread-builder - for a multi-tweet response
• x-humanizer - scrub the reply before posting