# Twitter/X API Interaction with Tweepy

This guide demonstrates how to interact with the Twitter (now X) API using the `tweepy` library. It covers authentication using API v2 (Client) to post tweets and fetch user information.

**Modules Used:**
*   `tweepy`: An easy-to-use Python library for accessing the Twitter API.
*   [[programming/python/modules/python-dotenv-module|python-dotenv]]: To securely manage API keys and tokens.
*   [[programming/python/modules/argparse-module|argparse]]: To handle command-line arguments.

## Prerequisites

1.  **Twitter Developer Account**: Apply for a developer account at developer.twitter.com.
2.  **Project & App**: Create a Project and an App in the developer portal.
3.  **User Authentication Settings**: Enable "Read and Write" permissions for your app if you want to post tweets.
4.  **Keys & Tokens**: Generate the following:
    *   Consumer Key (API Key)
    *   Consumer Secret (API Secret)
    *   Access Token
    *   Access Token Secret
    *   Bearer Token (Optional for some read-only endpoints, but Client uses the keys/tokens for user context)

## Installation

```bash
pip install tweepy python-dotenv
```

## Setup

Create a `.env` file in your project directory:

```text
TWITTER_API_KEY=your_consumer_key
TWITTER_API_SECRET=your_consumer_secret
TWITTER_ACCESS_TOKEN=your_access_token
TWITTER_ACCESS_SECRET=your_access_token_secret
TWITTER_BEARER_TOKEN=your_bearer_token
```

## The Code

Save this as `twitter_tool.py`.

```python
import tweepy
import os
import argparse
import sys
from dotenv import load_dotenv

# Load Config
load_dotenv()

# V2 API Client
client = tweepy.Client(
    bearer_token=os.getenv("TWITTER_BEARER_TOKEN"),
    consumer_key=os.getenv("TWITTER_API_KEY"),
    consumer_secret=os.getenv("TWITTER_API_SECRET"),
    access_token=os.getenv("TWITTER_ACCESS_TOKEN"),
    access_token_secret=os.getenv("TWITTER_ACCESS_SECRET")
)

def post_tweet(text):
    print(f"Posting tweet: '{text}'...")
    try:
        response = client.create_tweet(text=text)
        print(f"Success! Tweet ID: {response.data['id']}")
    except tweepy.TweepyException as e:
        print(f"Error posting tweet: {e}")

def get_user_info(username):
    print(f"Fetching info for @{username}...")
    try:
        # user_fields expands the default data returned
        response = client.get_user(username=username, user_fields=['description', 'public_metrics'])
        user = response.data
        
        if user:
            print(f"\n--- User: {user.name} (@{user.username}) ---")
            print(f"ID: {user.id}")
            print(f"Bio: {user.description}")
            metrics = user.public_metrics
            print(f"Followers: {metrics['followers_count']}")
            print(f"Following: {metrics['following_count']}")
            print(f"Tweets: {metrics['tweet_count']}")
        else:
            print("User not found.")
            
    except tweepy.TweepyException as e:
        print(f"Error fetching user: {e}")

if __name__ == "__main__":
    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description="Twitter/X API Tool with Tweepy")
    subparsers = parser.add_subparsers(dest="command", help="Command to run")

    # Post Command
    post_parser = subparsers.add_parser("post", help="Post a new tweet")
    post_parser.add_argument("text", help="The text content of the tweet")

    # User Info Command
    user_parser = subparsers.add_parser("user", help="Get user information")
    user_parser.add_argument("username", help="Twitter username (without @)")

    args = parser.parse_args()

    if args.command == "post":
        post_tweet(args.text)
    elif args.command == "user":
        get_user_info(args.username)
    else:
        parser.print_help()
```

## Usage

```bash
# Post a tweet
python twitter_tool.py post "Hello world from Python! #coding"

# Get user stats
python twitter_tool.py user elonmusk
```

[[programming/python/python]]