To get a daily summary of what people are saying on X about a topic, you have four realistic options: check X's own search and Lists yourself, ask Grok, xAI's assistant, which can run a prompt every morning, build an automation on the X API, or add an X search to a daily Avos email briefing next to the news.
This is for founders, marketers, analysts and anyone who follows a topic on X but doesn't want to scroll for it every day. It is about a daily read of the conversation, not full social listening: if you need every mention, sentiment scores or share-of-voice charts, the last section says where to look. Full disclosure: Avos is our product. Facts about X and xAI come from their own pages, linked below.
What can X itself do?
X has the raw material, and it's where the conversation happens first. Three features help:
- Search. Advanced search narrows posts by words, exact phrases, accounts, dates and language, and you can save a search to run it again.
- Lists. A List groups accounts into their own timeline, public or private, so you read only the people who matter on a topic.
- Notifications. In the app, you can turn on notifications for an account's posts from its profile (mobile notifications).
All three are free, and none of them summarizes. You still read every post, and you still have to go to X to do it.
Can Grok summarize what people are saying on X?
Yes, and it's the most direct route. When xAI made Grok available to everyone on X in December 2024, it said Grok draws on posts from X to understand what's happening in real time. Ask it "What are people on X saying about the new EU AI rules today?" and you get a written answer.
To make it daily, xAI launched Automations on 16 July 2026: you describe the task once, choose daily, weekdays, weekly or another schedule at a time in your timezone, and get the result by email, app notification or both. In xAI's words: "Scheduled automations are available to everyone; email triggers are included with SuperGrok." The announcement doesn't say how much of X a run reads.
For more, Grok Bot, an always-on agent in beta since August 2026, can search posts, read your timeline and check your mentions. xAI's pricing docs include Grok Bot on the Premium plan at $30 a month and above. Our Avos and Grok comparison goes deeper.
Can you build a daily X digest yourself?
If you're comfortable with an automation tool, yes. X's recent search returns posts from the last 7 days and is available to all developers. X's pricing page says "The X API uses pay-per-usage pricing", with no subscriptions: you buy credits in advance, a post read costs "$0.005 per resource", and pay-per-usage plans are capped at 3 million post reads per monthly billing cycle. Tools such as n8n have an X node with a "Search tweets" operation, so a workflow can run your query every morning, pass the posts to an AI model to summarize, and email the result.
You get full control over the query, the volume and the prompt. You also maintain it, and pay for the API reads, the model and the automation tool separately.
How do the options compare?
Checked on 6 November 2026 against X's help pages on advanced search, Lists and notifications, xAI's announcements of Automations and Grok Bot and X, xAI's pricing docs, the X API docs on search and pricing, and n8n's X node docs.
| Option | What you get | How it reaches you | Cost | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| X search, Lists and notifications | The posts themselves, unsummarized | You open X; push notifications for accounts you pick | Free | Following the conversation live |
| Grok (chat or Automations) | A written answer to your prompt about what X is saying | In Grok, or by email or app notification on a schedule | Scheduled automations for everyone; plans on xAI's pricing docs | A quick daily summary on one question |
| Grok Bot | An agent that searches posts, reads your timeline and checks your mentions | Grok's apps | From Premium, $30 a month | Your own timeline and mentions |
| X API with an automation tool | Exactly the posts your query returns, summarized by the model you choose | Wherever your workflow sends it | Pay-per-usage, $0.005 per post read, plus the model and the tool | Developers who want full control |
| Avos News | An X search and X accounts as a section of your daily briefing, beside the news on the same topic | One newsletter email at your time, also on the web; or an alert | Free Starter plan; X feeds use extra credits each run; see pricing | A daily read on X next to the news |
Which route fits you?
- You'll read X yourself: a saved search or a List, with notifications on for the few accounts that matter.
- You want the easiest automated summary: a Grok Automation that asks your question every morning and emails the answer.
- You're a developer: the X API's recent search plus n8n and an AI model, for full control over the query, the volume and the prompt.
- You want X next to the news: Avos, with an X search, a few X accounts and a news search on the same topic in one briefing.
How does Avos turn X into a daily summary?
An Avos briefing is built from sections, and each News section reads the feeds you pick. Two of them come from X:
- X search: what people on X are posting about a topic, found by searching X each time the section runs, such as "reactions to the Fed rate decision". One per section.
- X account: an account's recent posts, by handle, such as @federalreserve. Add the few people whose posts you always want.
AI reads the posts, keeps the ones that fit the section's filter ("Skip promotional posts and giveaways"), and writes them up in the format you pick, each linked to the post. Put a news search on the same topic in the next section and you see the reaction and the story it's reacting to in one email. Each section skips what it sent you in recent issues, and a quiet day reads short.
Avos isn't a rival model to Grok: on paid plans an AI section can write with Grok, GPT, Claude, Gemini and others. What Avos adds is the sources, the schedule, the design and the delivery.
How it's billed. Every feed kind, X included, is on every plan, Starter too. An X search or X account uses extra credits each time the section generates, and the X search's settings show the cost before you add it. A search that finds no posts isn't charged, and neither is one that fails. X feeds count toward the section's feed limit, which your plan sets.
What it reads. An X search reads a sample of recent posts on your topic each time it runs. That suits a daily pulse on what people are saying; it isn't complete coverage of every post, and it comes with no analytics such as mention counts or sentiment. It doesn't read your timeline, your mentions or your messages.
How do you set it up in Avos?
- Describe it to the AI editor. "Every weekday at 8, what people on X are saying about solid-state batteries, then the news on it." The editor can search X while it researches the topic; each search that finds posts uses credits.
- Check the feeds. In the section's Feeds settings, the X search has its topic, and you can add X accounts by handle.
- Write a filter in plain words: "Skip promotional posts, keep posts from engineers and analysts."
- Pick the window and format. Timeframe: Last 24 hours. Format: Headlines with descriptions.
- Add the news in a second section on the same topic.
- Schedule it daily or on chosen weekdays, at your time and in your timezone. Generate an issue now to see it.
For one thing you're waiting for, use an alert instead: a news alert can watch an X search or an X account with a condition such as "a major carmaker announces a solid-state battery deal". X feeds in alerts are checked less often than an alert's other feeds because each check costs more, and the alert form lets you choose how often. News monitoring has the details.
When is another option the better choice?
- You need full social listening. Every mention across networks, sentiment over time and share-of-voice reports belong to dedicated media monitoring tools; our guide to cheap media monitoring compares them. Avos reads a sample of posts and summarizes it.
- You want your own timeline and mentions. That's Grok Bot's territory.
- You need it live. X with notifications on is faster than any daily email.
- You want to ask follow-ups. A chat with Grok beats a newsletter for "why is everyone talking about this?"
- You need volume or exact control. The X API returns what your query matches, at a known price per post.
FAQ
Can Avos read my X timeline or mentions?
No. Avos reads the X searches and X accounts you add to a section or alert. Your timeline, mentions and messages stay on X.
How much does an X search cost in Avos?
It uses extra credits each time the section generates or the alert checks, and the feed's settings show the amount. Searches that find no posts aren't charged. Plans and credit allowances are on the pricing page.
Is this social listening?
No. It's a daily summary of a sample of recent posts on your topic, written next to the news. It has no sentiment scores, mention counts or share-of-voice charts.
Can I follow several topics on X?
Yes, one X search per section, so give each topic its own section. Each section can also follow several X accounts within its feed limit.