View Trends & Explore — Tutorial

Step-by-step guide to viewing trending topics, browsing the Explore tab, and scraping trend data on X/Twitter using XActions scripts.

Works on: Node.js (Puppeteer)
Difficulty: Beginner
Time: 2-5 minutes
Requirements: Node.js environment with Puppeteer, or logged into x.com

Prerequisites

• Node.js >= 18 installed with XActions dependencies (npm install)
• A Puppeteer page authenticated with your X session cookie
• Or: logged into x.com in your browser for manual exploration

Quick Start

1. Set up a Puppeteer page with your X session cookie (see XACTIONS_SESSION_COOKIE in .env)
2. Import functions from src/discoveryExplore.js
3. Call getTrends() or getExploreFeed() with your page instance
4. Process the returned data
5. Export or display results

Configuration

The discoveryExplore.js module provides several functions with configurable options:

getTrends

import { getTrends } from './src/discoveryExplore.js';

const result = await getTrends(page, {
  location: 'global',   // Location context (for display purposes)
});

getExploreFeed

import { getExploreFeed } from './src/discoveryExplore.js';

const result = await getExploreFeed(page, {
  limit: 30,             // Max items to collect
  tab: 'trending',       // 'foryou', 'trending', 'news', 'sports', 'entertainment'
});

Step-by-Step Guide

Getting Trending Topics

Step 1 -- Import and call

import { getTrends } from './src/discoveryExplore.js';

const { location, trends, scrapedAt } = await getTrends(page);

Step 2 -- Process results

console.log(`Trends scraped at ${scrapedAt}`);
console.log(`Location: ${location}`);

trends.forEach(trend => {
  console.log(`#${trend.rank} ${trend.name} (${trend.category}) - ${trend.tweetCount}`);
});

Example output:

Trends scraped at 2026-03-30T14:00:00.000Z
Location: global
#1 #AI (Technology) - 125K posts
#2 Bitcoin (Crypto) - 98K posts
#3 #OpenAI (Technology) - 67K posts
#4 March Madness (Sports) - 45K posts
#5 Taylor Swift (Entertainment) - 38K posts

Step 3 -- Export to JSON

import fs from 'fs';

const trendData = await getTrends(page);
fs.writeFileSync(
  `trends-${new Date().toISOString().slice(0, 10)}.json`,
  JSON.stringify(trendData, null, 2)
);

Browsing the Explore Feed

Step 1 -- Get the For You explore feed

import { getExploreFeed } from './src/discoveryExplore.js';

const { tab, items, scrapedAt } = await getExploreFeed(page, {
  limit: 50,
  tab: 'foryou',
});

console.log(`${items.length} items from ${tab} feed`);
items.forEach(item => {
  console.log(`@${item.author}: ${item.text.substring(0, 80)}...`);
});

Step 2 -- Browse different tabs

// Get trending content
const trending = await getExploreFeed(page, { tab: 'trending', limit: 20 });

// Get news
const news = await getExploreFeed(page, { tab: 'news', limit: 20 });

// Get sports
const sports = await getExploreFeed(page, { tab: 'sports', limit: 20 });

// Get entertainment
const entertainment = await getExploreFeed(page, { tab: 'entertainment', limit: 20 });

Tracking Trends Over Time

Combine getTrends with a scheduled job to track how trends change:

import { getTrends } from './src/discoveryExplore.js';
import fs from 'fs';

const snapshot = async () => {
  const data = await getTrends(page);
  const filename = `trends-${new Date().toISOString().replace(/:/g, '-')}.json`;
  fs.writeFileSync(filename, JSON.stringify(data, null, 2));
  console.log(`Saved ${data.trends.length} trends to ${filename}`);
};

// Run every hour (if using with a scheduler)
await snapshot();

Combining with Search

Use trends to power targeted searches:

import { getTrends, searchTweets } from './src/discoveryExplore.js';

// Get current trends
const { trends } = await getTrends(page);

// Search for tweets about the top trend
const topTrend = trends[0];
console.log(`Searching for top trend: ${topTrend.name}`);

const tweets = await searchTweets(page, topTrend.name, {
  limit: 20,
  tab: 'latest',
});

console.log(`Found ${tweets.length} recent tweets about "${topTrend.name}"`);

Tips & Tricks

• Trends update frequently. Scrape multiple times per day for comprehensive tracking.
• The "For You" tab is personalized. Results vary based on your account's interests and activity.
• Tweet counts are approximate. X rounds tweet counts (e.g., "125K posts").
• Combine tabs for a full picture. Scrape all five explore tabs to get a comprehensive view of what is happening on X.
• Export regularly. Save trend snapshots to build a historical dataset for analysis.

Troubleshooting

Related Scripts

• src/discoveryExplore.js -- Full Node.js module for search, trends, and explore
• src/saveSearch.js -- Save and manage searches (browser script)
• src/topicManager.js -- Follow topics related to trending subjects
• src/timelineViewer.js -- View and export your For You/Following timelines