How to Create a Twitter App
Apply for Access
Introduction¶
This article will walk you through the steps to create a simple Twitter App using Python.
Requirements¶
Prior to creating a Twitter App, you will need the following:
- Python 3.6 or later installed
- A Twitter Account
Instructions¶
The process to create a Twitter App is broken down into the following steps:
Step 1 - Apply for a Developer Account
Step 2 - Create an App in Twitter
Step 3 - Create Keys and Tokens for your App
Step 4 - Install Python-Twitter Library
Step 5 - Create a Python Script that Posts to Twitter
Step 1 - Apply for a Developer Account¶
You need to apply for a developer account through Twitter. To do this, log in to Twitter and visit https://developer.twitter.com/
If this is your first time to log in to the above link, you would see something like this:
Apply for Access
Click on 'Apply for a Developer Account'.
Application for Developer Account
Review the instructions on the page. Once ready to proceed, press on 'Continue'. You will be asked some additional questions in regards to the developer account. You will need to complete 'Account Details' and 'Use case details'.
You will see something like this once you have answered all the questions and agreed to the Terms of Service.
Confirmation Screen
Step 2 - Create an App in Twitter¶
At this point, you've signed up for a Twitter Developer Account, confirmed you're email address and you're on the 'Get Started' Page.
'Get Started' Page
Click on 'Create an App' under 'Get started'. You should see something like this:
Create an app
Click on ' Create an app' again. You will be asked to fill out some information in regards to your app (similar to filling out the developer questionnaire). Here are some of the details you will have to fill out:
App questionnaire
Complete the questionnaire to create your app.
Step 3 - Create Keys and Tokens for your App¶
Now that you've created your Twitter App. You will see something like this:
App details
Click on 'Keys and tokens'. The Consumer API keys will be listed. You will need also need to 'Create' the 'Access token & access token secret' for your App.
App Keys and Tokens
Step 4 - Install Python-Twitter Library¶
This step will walk you through installing the Python-Twitter Library. You will need to download the library from github.com.
Python-Twitter Library Link: https://github.com/bear/python-twitter
Screenshot of Python-Twitter github library
Download and extract the library. Run the following command to install the library:
python setup.py install
error: The 'requests' distribution was not found and is required by python-twitter
Screenshot of the installation error
Running the install command again resolved the issue.
Step 5 - Create a Python Script that Posts to Twitter¶
I know it's been fun, however we're almost at the end. Now time to write a simple Python program that makes a post to Twitter.
Make sure to import twitter at top of your program:
import twitter
Authenticate to Twitter by using your token, token secret, consumer_key and consumer_secret (from Step 3).
api = twitter.Api(consumer_key=consumer_key, consumer_secret=consumer_secret,
access_token_key=token, access_token_secret=token_secret)
Update your status with the following syntax:
status = api.PostUpdate("Hello World #HelloWorld #Python #TwitterApp")
Summary¶
Voila!! You've just sent a tweet!! Go check you're Twitter!! You've made your first Twitter app with Python!!
This article provided the minimum steps required to create a Twitter App. I know what you're thinking, this is a good start, but running a Python script to send a tweet still sounds like too much work. In a future post I will show you how to use AWS lambda to make this more efficient and self reliant.