X (Twitter)

Summary#

Connecting X lets Metric Vault post to your X timeline, immediately or on a schedule. X asks you to approve reading posts, writing posts, reading your profile, and keeping the connection active between sessions. The connection renews itself when you publish. Connecting is free; publishing costs 1 credit for each channel that accepts the post. X has a hard length limit inside Metric Vault: a post over 280 characters is refused before it is sent.

The channel is labelled X in the Connected channels list.

Purpose#

X rewards frequency and timing more than any other channel, which makes it the one people most want to queue in advance. The connection exists so a post drafted in Metric Vault can go out on its own schedule, alongside the same content adapted for other channels, without a second tab.

The 280-character check happens before the post leaves Metric Vault so that a long draft fails with a message you can act on, rather than being silently truncated or rejected by X with a less specific error.

Requirements#

• A Metric Vault account you are signed in to. Connecting works on every plan; publishing needs a paid plan and available credits. See Connecting social accounts.
• An X account.
• The X row must show Connect rather than Setup needed. See Connecting social accounts.
• Popups allowed for this site, because the consent window opens as a popup.

Permissions#

Any signed-in user can connect their own X account. There is no role gate, and the connection is personal: teammates do not inherit it.

X asks you to approve these.

Metric Vault only ever uses this to create the posts you send. It does not read your timeline, follow accounts, send messages, or delete anything.

Navigation Path#

Dashboard → Account & Team → Integrations

The connect control is in the Connected channels card. Publishing happens at Dashboard → Promote → Social Dashboard.

Step-by-Step Guide#

1. Open Integrations from the sidebar, under Account & Team.
2. In Connected channels, find the X row.
3. Check the status. Not connected means you can proceed. Setup needed means X is not configured for this site, and pressing Connect will say so rather than opening X. Report it.
4. Press Connect. A popup window opens onto X's authorization screen.
5. Sign in to X if you are not already, and confirm the account shown at the top of the screen is the one you want to post from.
6. Review the permission list and press Authorize app.
7. The popup shows X connected with your account, then closes itself. X has one account per login, so there is no account list to choose from.
8. The X row now shows your display name, or your handle if X returned no name, and a Disconnect button.

What you can do once connected#

Write a post in Compose a post on the Social Dashboard, select X among the channels, and press Publish. On success the result row shows View post, which links to the published post. Scheduling works the same way through Schedule. See Publishing and scheduling posts and Scheduled social posts.

The 280-character rule#

Selecting X in the composer changes the counter beside the channel chips. With X selected it reads n / 280 and turns to a warning style once you pass the limit. With X deselected it shows a plain character count.

The counter is a warning, not a block. Pressing Publish with a longer draft still sends the request, and X's row in the results comes back with the exact count and how much to cut:

Nothing was posted to X. Any other channel in the same send is unaffected and goes out normally, which is the intended behavior: one channel's rule never stops the rest.

Renewal#

X access lasts a short time, about two hours. When you publish and the stored access is within 5 minutes of expiring, Metric Vault renews it first using the renewal token X issued at connect. You do not see this happen. If the renewal fails, the post returns the expired message and you reconnect.

Tips#

• Draft for X first when you post to several channels. The shortest limit sets the shape. A draft that fits X will publish on every other text channel.
• Count links as characters here. Metric Vault counts the raw text you typed. X shortens links on its own side, so a post that Metric Vault rejects at 290 characters might have fitted on X. Shorten the draft or post that one separately.
• Emoji and accented characters count. The check is on the text in the box, and some emoji count as two.

Limitations#

• Text only. Images, video, polls, quote posts and threads are not supported. An attached image is not sent to X. A long piece cannot be split into a thread.
• 280 characters, enforced before sending.
• No replies, reposts, likes or deletions. Posts are only ever created.
• Nothing is read back. No impressions, likes or replies are returned to Metric Vault. The Social Analytics tool measures public data and does not use this connection.
• A scheduled post's text is stored up to 4,000 characters, which is well above X's own limit, so a scheduled post can still fail the 280 check when it runs.
• Disconnecting removes every X account stored for you, not only the one shown in the row.

Troubleshooting#

FAQs#

Does it post to X or to Twitter? They are the same service. The app labels the channel X.

Can I post a thread? No. Each post is sent on its own, and there is no way to chain them.

Can I attach an image? Not to X. The composer's image goes to Instagram only; X receives the text.

Why was my post rejected at 290 characters when X would have accepted it? Metric Vault counts the characters you typed. X shortens links on its side, so a link-heavy post can be under X's effective limit while over the raw count. Shorten the draft, or publish that one on X directly.

Does it cost credits? Connecting is free. Publishing costs 1 credit for each channel that accepts the post, and needs a paid plan. See Connecting social accounts.

Can my teammates publish through my X connection? No. Connections belong to the account that made them.

Do I have to reconnect X regularly? Usually not. The connection renews itself when you publish. You only reconnect if X refuses the renewal, for example after you revoke Metric Vault in X's settings.

What happens to posts I already published if I disconnect? Nothing. They stay on X. Only the ability to publish new ones from Metric Vault is removed. See Disconnecting an integration.