Rettiwt-Auth

A CLI tool for authenticating against Twitter API

Prerequisites

• NodeJS 20.x

Installation

The package is intended to be installed globally.

• For installation via npm, use the command: npm install -g rettiwt-auth
• For installation via yarn, use the command: yarn global add rettiwt-auth

Types of authentication

The following are the two types of authentcation methods available, with each method providing access to different set of resources:

1. Guest Authentication, with which, the following resources can be accessed:
   • Tweet Details
   • User Details
   • User Tweets
   • User Tweets and Replies
2. User Authentication, with which, the following resources can be accessed:
   • Create Tweet
   • Create Retweet
   • Favorite Tweet
   • List Details
   • List Tweets
   • Media Upload
   • Space Details
   • Tweet Details
   • Tweet Likes
   • Tweet Retweets
   • Tweet Search
   • User Details
   • User Followers
   • User Following
   • User Likes
   • User Tweets
   • User Tweets and Replies
   • Video Stream

Getting started

The following examples demonstrate authenticating against Twitter API and generating the credentials.

1. Generating an API key (for use with Rettiwt-API)

1. Install the package globally by following the steps in the 'Installation' section.

2. Open a commandline/shell and use the command:
   rettiwt-auth user <email> <username> <password>

   Where,

   • <email> is the email to the Twitter account.
   • <username> is the username associated with the Twitter account.
   • <password> is the password to the Twitter account.

3. Store the generated API key in a safe spot for later use.

2. Generating credentials as HTTP headers (for use with third-party scripts)

1. Install the package globally by following the steps in the 'Installation' section.

2. Open a commandline/shell and use the command:
   rettiwt-auth user -h <email> <username> <password>

   Where,

   • <email> is the email to the Twitter account.
   • <username> is the username associated with the Twitter account.
   • <password> is the password to the Twitter account.

   The -h option specifies the CLI to generate the credentials as HTTP headers.

3. Store the generated API key in a safe spot for later use.

4. For authenticating the requests to Twitter, append the headers to outgoing HTTP requests.

Using a proxy

In order to use a proxy while creating either 'guest' or 'user' credentials, use the option -p <URL_to_proxy> or --proxy <URL_to_proxy> to specify the proxy server to use. The following snippet demonstrates using a proxy for generating 'user' credentials:

rettiwt-auth user -p <URL> <email> <username> <password>

Where,

• <URL> is he URL to the proxy server to use.
• <email> is the email to the Twitter account.
• <username> is the username associated with the Twitter account.
• <password> is the password to the Twitter account.

Additional CLI options

• To get a list of all commands available, use the command:
  rettiwt-auth help

• To check the description of single command, use the command:
  rettiwt-auth help <command_name>

  Where,

  • <command_name> is the name of a specific command from the list of available commands

Credential Validity

When you generate the credentials as API key/HTTP headers,

• The generated API key/HTTP headers are valid for a duration of 1 year, starting from the day of generation.

• As such, it is suggested to generated the API key/HTTP headers once, then store them in a safe place (such as in an environment variable or a JSON file).

  Notes:

  • Repeated logins might trigger Twitter's anti-bot measures and you might be required to verify yourself as human by logging in from the browser, before being able to use the package again.
  • Therefore make sure to always generate the API key/HTTP headers only once and use it till it expires, before generating a new API key/authentication credential.

• Whenever it is required to authenticate against Twitter API, use the stored API key/HTTP headers.