Twitter API (X)

Social Media

Intermediate

Overview

The Twitter API (now X API) provides developers with programmatic access to Twitter data. You can use it to search for tweets, retrieve user profiles, post tweets, analyze trends, and more. The API is essential for building applications that integrate with the Twitter platform.

Integration Guide

Step 1: Apply for API Access

To use the Twitter API, you need to apply for access through the Twitter Developer Portal.

Go to the Twitter Developer Portal
Sign in with your Twitter account
Apply for a developer account by describing your use case
Once approved, create a project and an app within that project
Generate the necessary API keys and tokens

Important Note

Twitter has different access tiers with varying rate limits and capabilities. The Basic tier is free but has limitations, while the Enterprise tier offers more extensive access.

Step 2: Authentication

Twitter API v2 supports several authentication methods:

OAuth 2.0 Authorization Code with PKCE: For user-context requests (acting on behalf of a user)
OAuth 1.0a: Legacy authentication still supported for user-context requests
App-only Bearer Token: For app-context requests (not on behalf of a user)

For this example, we'll use the App-only Bearer Token authentication, which is simpler for read-only operations.

Step 3: Set Up Your Project

Create the necessary files for your Twitter API integration:

index.html - The HTML structure
styles.css - CSS for styling
twitter-api.js - JavaScript for API integration

Step 4: Implement the Code

Copy the following code into your project files:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="UTF-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
  <title>Twitter API Demo</title>
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="styles.css">
</head>
<body>
  <div class="container">
    <header>
      <h1>Twitter Explorer</h1>
    </header>
    
    <div class="search-section">
      <h2>Search Tweets</h2>
      <div class="search-container">
        <input type="text" id="search-input" placeholder="Enter search query...">
        <button id="search-btn" class="btn primary-btn">Search</button>
      </div>
      <div class="search-options">
        <label>
          <input type="checkbox" id="include-images" checked>
          Include images
        </label>
        <label>
          <input type="checkbox" id="include-metrics" checked>
          Include metrics
        </label>
        <label>
          <input type="number" id="max-results" min="10" max="100" value="20">
          Max results
        </label>
      </div>
    </div>
    
    <div class="user-lookup-section">
      <h2>User Lookup</h2>
      <div class="search-container">
        <input type="text" id="username-input" placeholder="Enter username (without @)">
        <button id="user-lookup-btn" class="btn primary-btn">Look Up</button>
      </div>
    </div>
    
    <div id="results-container" class="results-container">
      <!-- Results will be displayed here -->
    </div>
    
    <div id="user-profile" class="user-profile">
      <!-- User profile will be displayed here -->
    </div>
    
    <div id="user-tweets" class="tweets-container">
      <!-- User tweets will be displayed here -->
    </div>
  </div>
  
  <script src="twitter-api.js"></script>
</body>
</html>

Step 5: Replace the Bearer Token

Replace YOUR_BEARER_TOKEN in the JavaScript file with your actual Bearer Token from the Twitter Developer Portal.

Security Note

In a production environment, you should never expose your Bearer Token in client-side code. Use a server-side solution to make API requests and proxy them to the client.

Step 6: Test Your Implementation

Open your HTML file in a browser to test your Twitter API integration. You should be able to:

Search for tweets using keywords
Look up user profiles by username
View a user's recent tweets
See tweet metrics and media

Error Handling

Common Errors

401 Unauthorized: Invalid or expired credentials
403 Forbidden: Valid credentials but insufficient permissions
404 Not Found: The requested resource doesn't exist
429 Too Many Requests: Rate limit exceeded
503 Service Unavailable: Twitter is temporarily unavailable

Rate Limiting

Twitter API has rate limits that vary by endpoint and access level. The API returns rate limit information in response headers:

x-rate-limit-limit: The rate limit ceiling for that endpoint
x-rate-limit-remaining: The number of requests left for the time window
x-rate-limit-reset: The time at which the rate limit resets, in epoch seconds

Best Practice

Monitor these headers and implement exponential backoff for retries when you encounter rate limiting. Also, consider caching responses for frequently accessed data to reduce the number of API calls.

Error Response Format

When an error occurs, the Twitter API returns a JSON response with error details:

{
  "errors": [
    {
      "title": "Invalid Request",
      "detail": "One or more parameters to your request was invalid.",
      "type": "https://api.twitter.com/2/problems/invalid-request",
      "parameter": "query",
      "value": ""
    }
  ]
}

Your error handling should check for this structure and extract meaningful information to display to users or log for debugging.

API Details

Base URL: https://api.twitter.com/2
Authentication: OAuth 1.0a / OAuth 2.0 / Bearer Token
Documentation: Official Docs

Endpoints

GET
/tweets/{id}
Returns a variety of information about a single Tweet specified by the requested ID
Parameters
- id*
  string - The unique identifier of the Tweet
- expansions
  string - Comma-separated list of fields to expand (e.g., author_id,attachments.media_keys)
- tweet.fields
  string - Comma-separated list of Tweet fields to include (e.g., created_at,public_metrics)
- user.fields
  string - Comma-separated list of User fields to include (e.g., name,username,profile_image_url)
- media.fields
  string - Comma-separated list of Media fields to include (e.g., preview_image_url,type)
GET
/users/{id}
Returns information about a user specified by the requested ID
Parameters
- id*
  string - The unique identifier of the User
- expansions
  string - Comma-separated list of fields to expand (e.g., pinned_tweet_id)
- user.fields
  string - Comma-separated list of User fields to include (e.g., created_at,description,public_metrics)
- tweet.fields
  string - Comma-separated list of Tweet fields to include (e.g., created_at,text)
GET
/tweets/search/recent
Search for Tweets published in the last 7 days
Parameters
- query*
  string - One query for matching Tweets (512 characters max)
- max_results
  integer - The maximum number of results to return (10-100, default: 10)
- expansions
  string - Comma-separated list of fields to expand
- tweet.fields
  string - Comma-separated list of Tweet fields to include
- user.fields
  string - Comma-separated list of User fields to include
- media.fields
  string - Comma-separated list of Media fields to include
- place.fields
  string - Comma-separated list of Place fields to include
- poll.fields
  string - Comma-separated list of Poll fields to include
GET
/users/{id}/tweets
Returns Tweets composed by a single user, specified by the requested user ID
Parameters
- id*
  string - The unique identifier of the User
- max_results
  integer - The maximum number of results to return (5-100, default: 10)
- exclude
  string - Comma-separated list of the types of Tweets to exclude (e.g., retweets,replies)
- expansions
  string - Comma-separated list of fields to expand
- tweet.fields
  string - Comma-separated list of Tweet fields to include
- user.fields
  string - Comma-separated list of User fields to include
POST
/tweets
Creates a Tweet on behalf of an authenticated user
Parameters
- text*
  string - The text of the Tweet (max 280 characters)
- reply
  object - Object containing information for a reply Tweet
- quote_tweet_id
  string - Link to the Tweet being quoted
- poll
  object - Object containing poll options
- media
  object - Object containing media information