XQueue

A file-based post scheduler for X (Twitter). Your file system is the UI.

How It Works

Create a folder structure with days and times. Drop tweet files into the time slots. A cron job checks every 15 minutes — if it's the right day and time and there's content, it posts and cleans up.

xqueue/
  config.json
  backlog/
    ebook-launch-thread.md
    ai-tools-roundup.md
  Sunday/
    10am/
      my-tweet.md
      photo.jpg
  Monday/
    9am/
      thread-about-shipping.md
    12pm/
    5pm/
  Tuesday/
    ...

The schedule cycles weekly. Monday's 9am slot fires every Monday at 9am. If the folder is empty, it pulls the oldest file from backlog/ (sorted alphabetically). If there's content in the slot, it posts that and backlog waits. This means you can schedule up to a week of specific content, and dump everything else in backlog — it'll fill empty slots automatically.

After posting, files are deleted (by default) so they don't repeat.

Setup

Run the setup command to create your queue:

python3 xqueue-setup.py

This asks you:

1. How many times per day do you want to post?
2. What times? (or let it pick optimal times)
3. What timezone?
4. Any X communities to post to?
5. Thread separator preference (default: ---)
6. Delete after posting? (recommended yes — if off, posts may send twice)

Creates the full folder structure + config.json.

Tweet Format

Simple tweet

Just write the text in a .md or .txt file:

This is my tweet. It can be up to 280 characters.

Tweet with community

Start with Post to [community name]: on the first line:

Post to Build in Public: Just shipped my first ClawHub skill. File-based tweet scheduler, no frontend needed.

Thread

One file, tweets separated by your configured separator (default ---):

I built a file-based tweet scheduler with no frontend. Your filesystem is the UI.
---
Drop a .md file into Monday/9am/ and a cron job posts it. Empty slot? It pulls from a backlog/ folder automatically.
---
No database, no app, no dashboard. Just folders and text files. Sometimes the simplest architecture wins.

Tweet with media

Put image/video files in the same time folder as the tweet. Supported: JPG, PNG, GIF (under 5MB for images, 15MB for GIF).

9am/
  tweet.md        ← the text
  progress.png    ← gets attached

If multiple media files exist, they attach in alphabetical order (max 4 per tweet).

Config

xqueue/config.json:

{
  "timezone": "America/Chicago",
  "separator": "---",
  "deleteAfterPost": true,
  "communities": {
    "Build in Public": "community_id",
    "Indie Hackers": "community_id"
  },
  "logFile": "xqueue/posted.log",
  "dryRun": false
}

During setup, paste the community URL (like x.com/i/communities/123456) or the numeric ID directly. The script extracts the ID and asks for a display name. Plain names without an ID are rejected — everything needed to post is captured upfront.

Backlog

The xqueue/backlog/ folder holds tweets that aren't scheduled for a specific slot. When the cron fires and a time slot is empty, it pulls the oldest file from backlog (alphabetical sort — prefix with numbers like 01-, 02- to control order).

This lets you batch-write content without worrying about fitting it into exactly the right number of weekly slots. Schedule what's time-sensitive, backlog the rest.

Cron Integration

The skill includes a cron job that runs every 15 minutes:

• Checks current day + time against folder structure
• If slot has content → post it
• If slot is empty → pull oldest from backlog/
• If both are empty → skip
• Logs results to posted.log
• Deletes posted files (if deleteAfterPost is on)

What Goes Where

Important

• deleteAfterPost: true (default) means each file posts once then gets removed. If you turn this off, the same content will post again next week when the cycle repeats.
• Tweets over 280 characters are rejected (logged as error, not posted).
• Thread tweets are each checked for 280 char limit individually.
• Empty folders are silently skipped.
• The cron checks every 15 minutes, so posts go out within 0-15 min of the scheduled time.