Simple X Buttons – Share, Follow, Mention & Hashtag for WordPress

Simple X Buttons adds X (Twitter) buttons to your WordPress posts and pages — the right way.

Why not use X’s official embed buttons?

X’s embed infrastructure (platform.twitter.com/widgets.js) has been unreliable since 2023, hitting HTTP 429 rate limits at scale and causing embeds to fail silently or load slowly. X has not committed to fixing this.

This plugin takes a different approach entirely.

What are X Web Intents?

Web Intents are plain URLs provided by X for sharing, following, mentioning, and more. They open a lightweight native X popup — no JavaScript SDK, no third-party cookies, no external scripts loaded on page load. You click, a popup opens, done.

That means:

• No API key required — zero setup friction
• No external scripts — nothing loads until the user clicks
• No rate limits — static URLs, no API calls
• GDPR-friendly — no cookies or tracking on page load
• Fast — the plugin CSS is ~1 KB, loaded only when a button is on the page

Four button types

• Share — opens X compose pre-filled with the post title, permalink, hashtags, and via handle
• Follow — opens X’s native follow dialog for your account
• Mention — opens X compose pre-filled with @yourhandle so visitors can tweet at you
• Hashtag — opens X compose pre-filled with #yourtag; optionally pulls in the post’s own tags automatically

Features

• Auto-insert before and/or after post content — choose which buttons and which post types per placement
• Per-placement button control — show Share on all posts, Follow only on certain post types, etc.
• Post tags as hashtags — Share and Hashtag buttons can automatically pull the post’s tags (capped at 5 to keep tweets writable)
• 4 Gutenberg blocks — X Share, Follow, Mention, and Hashtag blocks with live editor previews
• 4 Shortcodes — [sxb-share], [sxb-follow], [sxb-mention], [sxb-hashtag]
• Template tags — sxb_share_button() and sxb_button_bar() for theme developers
• Three button styles — Dark, Outline, Ghost
• Popup or new-tab intent window

Integration

Four ways to add buttons to your site:

1. Auto-insert (recommended): Enable a placement in Settings → Simple X Buttons. Buttons appear automatically on every matching post type.
2. Shortcode: [sxb-share], [sxb-follow handle="yourhandle"], [sxb-mention handle="yourhandle"], [sxb-hashtag tag="travel"] anywhere in content.
3. Block: Search for “X Share Button”, “X Follow Button”, “X Mention Button”, or “X Hashtag Button” in the Gutenberg block inserter.
4. Template tag: <?php sxb_share_button(); ?> or <?php sxb_button_bar(); ?> in theme templates.

Compatibility

• WordPress 5.8 or higher
• PHP 7.2 or higher
• No API key required
• No external JavaScript loaded on page load
• Works with any theme