How to Build an Autonomous Twitter Bot with OpenClaw

You want a Twitter bot that actually runs itself — posts on schedule, replies to mentions, engages with your audience — without you babysitting a terminal window. Most tutorials give you a script that tweets "Hello World" and call it a day. This one gets you to an autonomous agent that thinks, decides, and acts on X/Twitter with its own personality.

Here's what you'll build: a fully autonomous AI agent using OpenClaw that connects to the X/Twitter API, runs on a loop, and handles posting, replying, and timeline interaction without manual intervention.

Key Steps at a Glance

1. Install OpenClaw — set up the gateway
2. Configure auth — connect your LLM provider
3. Add the X/Twitter skill — get Twitter API integration from Claw Mart
4. Define your agent's character — give it a personality
5. Set up autonomous behaviors — configure posting schedules and reply logic
6. Deploy and run — keep your bot alive

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What You Need Before Starting

• Node 22+ installed on your machine
• An X/Twitter Developer Account with API v2 access (API Key, API Secret, Access Token, Access Token Secret)
• An LLM provider (Anthropic, OpenAI, etc.)
• A Claw Mart account to grab the X/Twitter Agent skill

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Step 1: Install OpenClaw

OpenClaw is the open-source agent framework that handles memory, decision loops, character consistency, and skill execution.

Open your terminal:

npm install -g openclaw@latest

Then run the onboarding wizard:

openclaw onboard --install-daemon

This sets up the Gateway daemon so OpenClaw stays running in the background.

Start the gateway:

openclaw gateway --port 18789 --verbose

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Step 2: Configure Auth

During onboarding, you'll configure your LLM provider. OpenClaw supports:

• Anthropic (recommended: Claude Pro/Max + Opus 4.6)
• OpenAI (ChatGPT/Codex)
• And many others

The wizard will guide you through OAuth or API key setup.

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Step 3: Get the X/Twitter Agent from Claw Mart

Here's where Claw Mart saves you weeks of API wrangling. Instead of writing your own Twitter integration, you use the X/Twitter Agent skill.

Head to Claw Mart and grab the X/Twitter Agent skill ($9). This gives your OpenClaw agent the ability to:

• Post tweets and threads
• Reply to mentions and DMs
• Read and analyze timeline content
• Like, retweet, and quote-tweet
• Search for tweets by keyword or hashtag
• Respect rate limits automatically

After purchasing, download the skill and follow the included installation instructions. The skill adds Twitter API capabilities to your OpenClaw agent.

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Step 4: Define Your Agent's Character

OpenClaw uses character files to maintain consistent personality. Create or edit your character file (typically in your workspace):

{
  "name": "YourBotName",
  "bio": "A concise description of who this agent is.",
  "personality": {
    "traits": ["witty", "direct", "knowledgeable"],
    "tone": "conversational but informed",
    "topics": ["AI development", "open source", "developer tools"],
    "avoid": ["politics", "personal attacks", "medical advice", "financial advice"]
  },
  "rules": [
    "Never pretend to be human. If asked, acknowledge being an AI agent.",
    "Don't engage with trolls. Ignore hostile mentions.",
    "Stay within defined topics.",
    "No more than 8 original posts per day.",
    "Always add value. If you don't have something useful to say, don't post."
  ]
}

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Step 5: Configure Autonomous Behaviors

OpenClaw runs behaviors on schedules. Configure your Twitter behaviors:

behaviors:
  - name: post-original
    schedule: "0 */3 * * *"  # every 3 hours
    action: x-twitter-post
    config:
      maxPerDay: 8

  - name: reply-to-mentions
    schedule: "*/15 * * * *"  # every 15 minutes
    action: x-twitter-reply-mentions
    config:
      maxRepliesPerHour: 10

  - name: engage-timeline
    schedule: "*/30 * * * *"
    action: x-twitter-engage
    config:
      maxEngagementsPerHour: 5

The exact configuration depends on the X/Twitter Agent skill you install — follow the documentation that comes with it.

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Step 6: Run Your Bot

Start your OpenClaw gateway if it's not already running:

openclaw gateway --port 18789

Your agent will now run autonomously, posting on schedule and replying to mentions based on your configuration.

For long-term deployment, run OpenClaw as a service (the daemon you installed earlier handles this).

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Monitoring and Maintenance

• Check the logs — OpenClaw logs every decision
• Watch your API usage — stay within Twitter's rate limits
• Update your character — refine over time based on what works

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Common Pitfalls

• Posting too frequently — more tweets ≠ more engagement
• Ignoring rate limits — will get your API access revoked
• No personality — a generic bot gets ignored
• Skipping the character file — this is your bot's identity

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What You've Built

You now have an autonomous AI agent that:

• Posts original content on a schedule
• Replies to mentions intelligently
• Engages with relevant timeline content
• Maintains a consistent personality
• Runs 24/7 without manual intervention

The stack: OpenClaw for the agent framework, the X/Twitter Agent from Claw Mart for platform integration, and your LLM provider.

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Next Steps

• Add more skills from Claw Mart
• Fine-tune your character's voice
• Build a monitoring dashboard