Get started

Install Twitter CLI, connect a developer app, and send a first tweet. This guide is for people who can run commands in a terminal. You need a Twitter account with access to a developer app that can write tweets.

Before you begin

Twitter CLI is a standalone executable named twitter. It uses the Twitter API. API access and write permissions depend on your developer app; installing the executable does not grant API access.

Have these ready:

• A Twitter developer app with Read and write permissions.
• The app's OAuth 2.0 client ID and client secret, plus its bearer token for app-only reads and usage.
• A browser you can use for the first authorization.

Set the app's OAuth 2.0 callback URL to http://127.0.0.1:3000. The CLI asks you to paste the complete callback URL after you authorize it. See Configure authentication for that step.

Install Twitter CLI

Choose the commands for your operating system. On macOS and Linux, review the Unix installer script before running it. On Windows x64, install Git, Rust with the MSVC toolchain, and Visual Studio C++ build tools before following the source-build tab. The release workflow for version 1.10.0 does not publish a Windows archive.

macOS and Linux

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/StanleyMasinde/twitter/main/install.sh | sh

Windows x64 · PowerShell

git clone https://github.com/microsoft/vcpkg.git "$env:USERPROFILE\vcpkg"
& "$env:USERPROFILE\vcpkg\bootstrap-vcpkg.bat"
$env:VCPKG_ROOT = "$env:USERPROFILE\vcpkg"
$env:VCPKGRS_TRIPLET = "x64-windows-static-md"
& "$env:VCPKG_ROOT\vcpkg.exe" install "sqlite3:x64-windows-static-md" "curl:x64-windows-static-md"

git clone https://github.com/StanleyMasinde/twitter.git
cd twitter
cargo build --release --locked
.\target\release\twitter.exe --version

macOS and Linux options

The Unix installer detects the operating system and architecture, downloads the matching release archive, and installs twitter in /usr/local/bin. It uses the release metadata to find the archive and verify its SHA-256 digest. A release without the digest cannot be installed by this script.

If you prefer an install directory owned by your user, run:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/StanleyMasinde/twitter/main/install.sh | TWITTER_INSTALL="$HOME/.local/bin" sh

Add that directory to your shell's PATH if twitter is not found. To install a particular release, pass its tag to the script:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/StanleyMasinde/twitter/main/install.sh | sh -s v1.10.0

Replace v1.10.0 with the release tag you want from Releases.

Windows archive option

The release workflow does not publish a Windows archive. First check Releases for an archive matching your architecture. If one is available, review the PowerShell installer, then run it in PowerShell:

& ([scriptblock]::Create((irm "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/StanleyMasinde/twitter/main/install.ps1")))

The installer uses %USERPROFILE%\bin by default and adds that directory to your user PATH. It verifies a SHA-256 digest when one is available. Install the Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable for your architecture before running the CLI. Administrator rights are only needed for a protected install directory.

Windows source build notes

The source-build tab creates target\release\twitter.exe in the cloned repository. Before continuing with the guides, move it to a directory on your PATH so you can call it as twitter. The procedure is for x64; the native dependency triplet must match your architecture on other Windows systems.

Verify the executable

Run the commands for the way you installed the CLI. A Windows archive installation, or a source build already moved onto your PATH, can use twitter --version and twitter --help as shown in the first tab:

macOS and Linux

twitter --version
twitter --help

Windows source build

.\target\release\twitter.exe --version
.\target\release\twitter.exe --help

The first command prints the installed version. The second lists top-level commands. If the shell cannot find twitter, see Troubleshooting.

Create a configuration file

Run the initializer:

twitter config --init

--init writes a template; it does not ask for credentials, and it replaces an existing configuration. On macOS or Linux, version 1.10.0 stops before writing a new file because it tries to set permissions first. If that happens, follow the path and recovery steps in Troubleshooting, then run --init again.

Open the template with twitter config --edit, replace the placeholder values, and save it. This command opens the CLI's configuration file for your operating system; you do not need to know its path. See Configuration for each field and a multi-account example.

Authorize and check the account

Run:

twitter me

On first use, the CLI prints an authorization URL. Open it, approve access, and paste the full callback URL into the terminal when asked. The browser might show an unreachable local page after redirecting to 127.0.0.1:3000; copy the URL from its address bar. twitter me then prints the authenticated account's ID, name, and username.

Publish a first tweet

Publishes immediately

The command below sends a real tweet from the selected account. Run twitter me first if you need to check the account.

Run:

twitter tweet --body "Hello from my terminal"

A successful request prints the new tweet's ID and body. For editor input, files, images, and threads, see Tweet and write threads.

Update the CLI

On macOS, run twitter update to fetch the latest matching release. If your executable is in a root-owned directory such as /usr/local/bin, the update may need elevated privileges; use sudo twitter update only for that case. A user-owned install directory does not need sudo.

On Linux, rerun the Unix installer from Install Twitter CLI to update. In version 1.10.0, twitter update looks for a Linux archive name that differs from the release workflow's archive name, so it can report that no asset exists even when a Linux release is available. Windows users need an available release archive or a new source build.

After updating, run twitter --version. On macOS or Linux, use command -v twitter to locate the executable; on Windows, use where.exe twitter. If your shell still finds an older binary, see Troubleshooting.

Next steps

• Schedule tweets and set up automatic delivery.
• Read and search without opening the website.
• Command reference for the full command tree.