scraping-tweets-from-account

Scraping Tweets from an Account

Exports the full tweet history of any public Twitter/X account. Returns the raw timeline dataset including replies and media.

Prerequisites

• APIFY_TOKEN environment variable set
• Optional: Apify MCP server installed

Inputs

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Notes
searchTerms	array	✅	[]	Twitter advanced search queries (e.g. ["#AI lang:en", "from:NASA"])
sort	string	Optional	Top	Sort order: Latest, Top, or Latest+Top
tweetLanguage	string	Optional	—	ISO 639-1 language code (e.g. en)
maxItems	number	Optional	Unlimited	Maximum tweets to return
onlyVerifiedUsers	boolean	Optional	false	Only tweets from verified users
onlyTwitterBlue	boolean	Optional	false	Only Twitter Blue subscribers
onlyImage	boolean	Optional	false	Only tweets with images
onlyVideo	boolean	Optional	false	Only tweets with videos
onlyQuote	boolean	Optional	false	Only quote tweets
author	string	Optional	—	Filter to a specific author handle
inReplyTo	string	Optional	—	Tweets replying to a specific handle
mentioning	string	Optional	—	Tweets mentioning a specific handle
geotaggedNear	string	Optional	—	Tweets near a location
withinRadius	string	Optional	—	Radius around geotaggedNear
geocode	string	Optional	—	Lat/lng + radius string
placeObjectId	string	Optional	—	Tweets tagged with a place
minimumRetweets	number	Optional	—	Minimum retweet count
minimumFavorites	number	Optional	—	Minimum like count
minimumReplies	number	Optional	—	Minimum reply count
start	string	Optional	—	Tweets after this date (YYYY-MM-DD)
end	string	Optional	—	Tweets before this date (YYYY-MM-DD)
includeSearchTerms	boolean	Optional	false	Add the matched search term to each tweet
customMapFunction	string	Optional	—	JavaScript function to transform each output object

Workflow

Progress:
- [ ] Step 1: Confirm account is public
- [ ] Step 2: Run tweet-scraper
- [ ] Step 3: Poll for SUCCEEDED
- [ ] Step 4: Fetch and deliver dataset

Step 1: Validate Input

Strip @ from username if present. Do not attempt to scrape private accounts — the actor will return 0 results.

Step 2: Run the Actor

Recommended — run_actor.js (handles waiting, output, and file saving automatically):

# Quick answer (prints table to chat)
node scripts/run_actor.js \
  --actor "apidojo~tweet-scraper" \
  --input '{"param": "value"}'

# Save as CSV
node scripts/run_actor.js \
  --actor "apidojo~tweet-scraper" \
  --input '{"param": "value"}' \
  --output YYYY-MM-DD_results.csv --format csv

# Save as JSON
node scripts/run_actor.js \
  --actor "apidojo~tweet-scraper" \
  --input '{"param": "value"}' \
  --output YYYY-MM-DD_results.json --format json

APIFY_TOKEN must be set in environment or .env file.

If Apify MCP is available:

Tool: apify:run-actor
Actor: "apidojo~tweet-scraper"
Input:
{
  "twitterHandles": ["<handle>"],
  "maxItems": 200,
  "sort": "Latest"
}

REST API fallback:

curl -X POST \
  "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/apidojo~tweet-scraper/runs?token=$APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"twitterHandles": ["<handle>"], "maxItems": 200, "sort": "Latest"}'

Save id as RUN_ID. Poll until status = SUCCEEDED:

curl "https://api.apify.com/v2/actor-runs/$RUN_ID?token=$APIFY_TOKEN" | grep '"status"'

Fetch results:

curl "https://api.apify.com/v2/actor-runs/$RUN_ID/dataset/items?token=$APIFY_TOKEN&format=json"

Step 3: Handle Edge Cases

• 0 results: Account may be private, suspended, or handle misspelled. Report to user.
• Fewer results than expected: Account may have fewer public tweets than requested. Return what is available.
• Protected account: Actor returns empty — inform user the account is private.

Output Format

# Tweet Timeline: @<username>
Tweets collected: N | Includes replies: YES/NO | Includes retweets: YES/NO

| Tweet ID | Text (truncated) | Likes | Retweets | Replies | Media | Timestamp |
|----------|-----------------|-------|----------|---------|-------|-----------|
| ...      | ...             | ...   | ...      | ...     | ...   | ...       |

Full dataset: N rows × 12 fields
Available fields: id, text, likeCount, retweetCount, replyCount, quoteCount,
isReply, isRetweet, media, tweetUrl, lang, createdAt

Troubleshooting

0 results for a known public account: Try again — Twitter may rate-limit intermittently. Missing older tweets: Twitter API limits historical access; very old tweets may not be available. Timeout: Reduce maxItems to 500 max per run.