New Version of Cyd Fixes X Support

New Version of Cyd Fixes X Support
Cyd's new Tombstone feature, helping you automatically update your X bio and lock your account

We're excited to announce a big new release of Cyd Desktop. If you're already a Cyd user, update to the latest version, or download it here.

You Can Clawback Your X Data Again

First and foremost, the new version fixes support for the X platform.

Because X is enshittified, Cyd doesn't actually rely on X's API to save and delete your data. Instead, it launches a browser that's logged in as you and clicks around – as well as monitors the network requests – to build up your archive and delete your data. This works, but it's also brittle. When X makes changes to its web design or internal structure of its API, Cyd needs to be updated to match those changes.

Recently, X changed a lot about how its website works, which made Cyd break in several different ways at once. Most notably, the internal API routes changed, and the API responses we used to rely on to archive tweets were in a totally different format.

To fix it, we basically had to rebuild the entire X platform into Cyd. Which was a huge amount of work.

One thing that's changed is direct messages. X replaced what used to be Twitter DMs with a totally different "encrypted" messaging system called X Chat. This update removes support for the old deprecated DMs from Cyd, and it doesn't implement support for X Chat yet. We likely won't support X Chat, but honestly, in the year 2026 why would anyone use X Chat when they can use Signal?

But anyway, we fixed X support! Sorry it took so long.

Also, We Have a Fiscal Sponsor Now

Even though Cyd premium accounts cost money, the Lockdown Systems collective isn't exactly something we'd refer to as a "business."

Members of the collective, including the Cyd devs, all have other jobs. We work on Lockdown Systems projects in our spare time, and we don't actually get paid for any of this work. At least not yet. 100% of the income we get from Cyd goes towards operating expenses.

Speaking of which, Lucy Parsons Labs is now our 501(c)(3) fiscal sponsor! Visit our donation page if you want to give a tax-deductible donation in the US.

Tombstone Your X Account

The new version of Cyd has a new feature called "Tombstone."

Are you ready to quit X for good? Cyd can quickly and easily tombstone your account:

  • It can update your profile banner to feature a tombstone with X's logo written on it, and if you want, you can choose to include logos for Bluesky, Mastodon, or both.
  • It can update your bio to let your followers know where to find you next.
  • And it can lock your account, so only your existing followers can see anything.

Read these docs for a full description of exactly how it works.

Other Changes

The new Cyd has a few other noteworthy changes, too.

Safer credentials storage. Cyd stores some credentials locally in its data folder on your computer. When you log in to an X account, your session cookie is stored in the browser profile. When you authenticate to a Bluesky account to migrate your tweets over, it also saves API credentials. These secret credentials are now stored in your operating system's built-in keychain, making them more secure in case someone searches or hacks your computer.

Work towards Facebook support. It's incomplete and hidden behind a feature flag, so most users won't see it, but there's been a lot of work towards Cyd's initial Facebook support.

Work towards Bluesky support. This is also incomplete and hidden behind a feature flag. You can already have total control over your Bluesky data using Cyd for Mobile, but a lot of work has gone into adding Bluesky support to the desktop app too.