X has one of the most powerful search engines on the social web, hidden behind a syntax nobody can remember. The official advanced-search form only exposes a fraction of it — and only on desktop.
The short version: operators like from:, min_faves: and since: stack into surgical queries. Our free X Advanced Search Builder is a form with every operator that still works — fill in what you want, copy the query, or open it directly on X. No login, nothing stored.
The cheat sheet
| Operator | What it does | Example |
|---|---|---|
from:user |
Posts by an account | from:naval |
to:user |
Replies to an account | to:naval |
"exact phrase" |
Match the phrase exactly | "build in public" |
-word |
Exclude a word | ai -crypto |
min_faves:n |
Minimum likes | min_faves:100 |
min_retweets:n |
Minimum reposts | min_retweets:50 |
since: / until: |
Date window (YYYY-MM-DD) | since:2026-01-01 until:2026-06-30 |
filter:links |
Only posts with links | filter:links |
filter:media |
Only posts with images/video | filter:media |
-filter:replies |
Exclude replies | -filter:replies |
lang:xx |
Language | lang:en |
They all combine. That's the entire trick: each operator narrows the pile, and five narrow operators beat one clever keyword.
Five searches worth stealing
1. Your own greatest hits — from:yourhandle min_faves:50 -filter:replies. Every post of yours that cleared 50 likes. This is the raw material for an evergreen strategy: your best posts deserve a second life, and if you'd rather see your complete history, your X archive has every post you've ever made.
2. The reply goldmine — "anyone recommend" (scheduler OR "social media tool") -filter:replies since:2026-08-01. People actively asking for what you know about. If you spend most of your X time in other people's replies — as you probably should — this search is your feed. Pair it with the daily reply list builder.
3. Proven content in your niche — "content calendar" min_retweets:20 lang:en since:2026-01-01. What actually resonated this year on a topic, not what people claim resonates. Study the hooks; our hook analyzer can tell you why they worked.
4. What people say about a competitor — "toolname" -from:toolname filter:links min_faves:5. Unfiltered user opinion, minus the company's own posts.
5. Did anyone already say my take? — "your exact phrasing" before you post. Thirty seconds that occasionally saves you from being the fifth person this week with the same insight.
Quirks worth knowing
- Dates are UTC, and
until:is exclusive — add a day to include it. min_favesetc. are undocumented — they've worked for years, but X has never promised them. If a query silently returns less than it should, drop the engagement filters first.- Search ≠ complete. X search doesn't index everything forever, and accounts with visibility limits may not appear at all — that's the basis of the search-ban checks in our shadowban self-test.
- Log in first. Logged-out search is heavily restricted these days.
Stop memorizing
Bookmark the Advanced Search Builder: every operator above as a form field, assembled into a copyable query, with one click to run it on X. It's part of our free tools collection — no signup for any of them.
