Get Twitter/X Data in 3 Lines of Python (No Official API Needed)

ApiTwitter — Fri, 13 Mar 2026 11:21:42 +0000

Twitter's official API requires an approval process that can take weeks, costs $100+/mo, and limits what you can do on lower tiers.

Here's how to get Twitter data in 3 lines of Python — no developer portal, no approval, no waiting.

Install the SDK

pip install apitwitter

3 Lines. That's it.

from apitwitter import ApiTwitter

client = ApiTwitter("your-api-key")
user = client.get_user("elonmusk")

Output:

{
  "id": "44196397",
  "userName": "elonmusk",
  "name": "Elon Musk",
  "followers": 236446942,
  "following": 1294,
  "statuses_count": 99031,
  "is_blue_verified": true,
  "profile_image_url": "https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/..."
}

No OAuth dance. No token refresh. No 40-page documentation to read first.

Where to get the API key

Sign up at apitwitter.com
You get 10,000 free credits instantly
Go to Dashboard → API Keys → Create Key

That's your "your-api-key" string. It starts with tda_.

More examples

Search tweets

results = client.search("python programming", count=5)

for tweet in results["tweets"]:
    print(f"@{tweet['author']['userName']}: {tweet['text'][:100]}")

Get user's tweets

tweets = client.get_user_tweets("elonmusk")

for tweet in tweets["tweets"]:
    print(tweet["text"][:120])
    print(f"  ❤️ {tweet.get('likes', 0)}  🔁 {tweet.get('retweets', 0)}")
    print()

Get followers

result = client.get_followers("elonmusk", count=10)

for follower in result["followers"]:
    print(f"@{follower['userName']} — {follower['name']}")

Pagination

all_followers = []
cursor = None

while True:
    result = client.get_followers("username", count=200, cursor=cursor)
    all_followers.extend(result["followers"])

    cursor = result.get("next_cursor")
    if not cursor:
        break

print(f"Total: {len(all_followers)} followers")

Write operations

Read endpoints (above) use a server-side pool — you only need your API key.

For write operations (posting tweets, liking, following, DMs), you need your own Twitter cookies and a proxy:

COOKIE = "ct0=...;auth_token=..."
PROXY = "http://user:pass@host:port"

# Post a tweet
client.create_tweet("Hello from Python!", COOKIE, PROXY)

# Like a tweet
client.like("1234567890", COOKIE, PROXY)

# Follow someone
client.follow("44196397", COOKIE, PROXY)

# Send a DM
client.send_dm("44196397", "Hey!", COOKIE, PROXY)

Error handling

from apitwitter.exceptions import (
    AuthenticationError,
    InsufficientCreditsError,
    RateLimitError,
)

try:
    user = client.get_user("someone")
except AuthenticationError:
    print("Check your API key")
except InsufficientCreditsError:
    print("Time to top up credits")
except RateLimitError as e:
    print(f"Slow down — retry in {e.retry_after}s")

What's available

The SDK covers all 56 endpoints:

Category	Endpoints
Users	get by username, get by ID, batch, followers, following, likes, media, replies, blocked, muted
Tweets	user tweets, lookup by ID, create, delete, retweet, pin/unpin
Search	full search with filters (Top, Latest, People, Photos, Videos)
Engagement	like, unlike, follow, unfollow
DM	send message, block, unblock
Bookmarks	add, remove, list
Timeline	For You, Latest
Lists	full CRUD, members, subscribers
Communities	explore, join, leave, tweets, media
Topics	info, follow, unfollow

Pricing

Pay-per-use. No subscriptions.

Read operations: $0.14 per 1,000 requests
User profiles: $0.16 per 1,000 requests
Write operations: $2.25 per 1,000 requests
10,000 free credits on signup

If your server errors out (5xx), credits are auto-refunded.

Also available for JavaScript/TypeScript

npm install @apitwitter/sdk

import { ApiTwitter } from "@apitwitter/sdk";

const client = new ApiTwitter("your-api-key");
const user = await client.getUser("elonmusk");
console.log(user.name, user.followers);

Links

Questions? Drop a comment — happy to help.

DEV Community: ApiTwitter