Authentication

This supplements Twitter’s Authentication documentation.

Introduction

Tweepy supports the OAuth 1.0a User Context, OAuth 2.0 Bearer Token (App-Only), and OAuth 2.0 Authorization Code Flow with PKCE (User Context) authentication methods.

Twitter API v1.1

OAuth 2.0 Bearer Token (App-Only)

The simplest way to generate a bearer token is through your app’s Keys and Tokens tab under the Twitter Developer Portal Projects & Apps page.

You can then initialize OAuth2BearerHandler with the bearer token and initialize API with the OAuth2BearerHandler instance:

import tweepy

auth = tweepy.OAuth2BearerHandler("Bearer Token here")
api = tweepy.API(auth)

Alternatively, you can use the API / Consumer key and secret that can be found on the same page and initialize OAuth2AppHandler instead:

import tweepy

auth = tweepy.OAuth2AppHandler(
    "API / Consumer Key here", "API / Consumer Secret here"
)
api = tweepy.API(auth)

OAuth 1.0a User Context

Similarly, the simplest way to authenticate as your developer account is to generate an access token and access token secret through your app’s Keys and Tokens tab under the Twitter Developer Portal Projects & Apps page.

You’ll also need the app’s API / consumer key and secret that can be found on that page.

You can then initialize OAuth1UserHandler with all four credentials and initialize API with the OAuth1UserHandler instance:

import tweepy

auth = tweepy.OAuth1UserHandler(
   "API / Consumer Key here", "API / Consumer Secret here",
   "Access Token here", "Access Token Secret here"
)
api = tweepy.API(auth)

To authenticate as a different user, see 3-legged OAuth.

Twitter API v2

Tweepy’s interface for Twitter API v2, Client, handles OAuth 2.0 Bearer Token (application-only) and OAuth 1.0a User Context authentication for you.

OAuth 2.0 Bearer Token (App-Only)

The simplest way to generate a bearer token is through your app’s Keys and Tokens tab under the Twitter Developer Portal Projects & Apps page.

You can then simply pass the bearer token to Client when initializing it:

import tweepy

client = tweepy.Client("Bearer Token here")

OAuth 1.0a User Context

Similarly, the simplest way to authenticate as your developer account is to generate an access token and access token secret through your app’s Keys and Tokens tab under the Twitter Developer Portal Projects & Apps page.

You’ll also need the app’s API / consumer key and secret that can be found on that page.

You can then simply pass all four credentials to Client when initializing it:

import tweepy

client = tweepy.Client(
    consumer_key="API / Consumer Key here",
    consumer_secret="API / Consumer Secret here",
    access_token="Access Token here",
    access_token_secret="Access Token Secret here"
)

To authenticate as a different user, see 3-legged OAuth.

OAuth 2.0 Authorization Code Flow with PKCE (User Context)

You can generate an access token to authenticate as a user using OAuth2UserHandler.

You’ll need to turn on OAuth 2.0 under the User authentication settings section of your app’s Settings tab under the Twitter Developer Portal Projects & Apps page. To do this, you’ll need to provide a Callback / Redirect URI / URL.

Then, you’ll need to note the app’s Client ID, which you can find through your app’s Keys and Tokens tab under the Twitter Developer Portal Projects & Apps page. If you’re using a confidential client, you’ll also need to generate a Client Secret.

You can then initialize OAuth2UserHandler with the scopes you need:

import tweepy

oauth2_user_handler = tweepy.OAuth2UserHandler(
    client_id="Client ID here",
    redirect_uri="Callback / Redirect URI / URL here",
    scope=["Scope here", "Scope here"],
    # Client Secret is only necessary if using a confidential client
    client_secret="Client Secret here"
)

For a list of scopes, see the Scopes section of Twitter’s OAuth 2.0 Authorization Code Flow with PKCE documentation.

Then, you can get the authorization URL:

print(oauth2_user_handler.get_authorization_url())

This can be used to have a user authenticate your app. Once they’ve done so, they’ll be redirected to the Callback / Redirect URI / URL you provided. You’ll need to pass that authorization response URL to fetch the access token:

access_token = oauth2_user_handler.fetch_token(
    "Authorization Response URL here"
)

You can then pass the access token to Client when initializing it:

client = tweepy.Client("Access Token here")

3-legged OAuth

This section supplements Twitter’s 3-legged OAuth flow documentation.

To authenticate as a user other than your developer account, you’ll need to obtain their access tokens through the 3-legged OAuth flow.

First, you’ll need to turn on OAuth 1.0 under the User authentication settings section of your app’s Settings tab under the Twitter Developer Portal Projects & Apps page. To do this, you’ll need to provide a Callback / Redirect URI / URL.

Then, you’ll need the app’s API / consumer key and secret that can be found through your app’s Keys and Tokens tab under the Twitter Developer Portal Projects & Apps page.

You can then initialize an instance of OAuth1UserHandler:

import tweepy

oauth1_user_handler = tweepy.OAuth1UserHandler(
    "API / Consumer Key here", "API / Consumer Secret here",
    callback="Callback / Redirect URI / URL here"
)

Then, you can get the authorization URL:

print(oauth1_user_handler.get_authorization_url())

To use Log in with Twitter / Sign in with Twitter, you can set the signin_with_twitter parameter when getting the authorization URL:

print(oauth1_user_handler.get_authorization_url(signin_with_twitter=True))

This can be used to have a user authenticate your app. Once they’ve done so, they’ll be redirected to the Callback / Redirect URI / URL you provided, with oauth_token and oauth_verifier parameters.

You can then use the verifier to get the access token and secret:

access_token, access_token_secret = oauth1_user_handler.fetch_token(
    "Verifier (oauth_verifier) here"
)

If you need to reinitialize OAuth1UserHandler, you can set the request token and secret afterward, before using the verifier to get the access token and secret:

request_token = oauth1_user_handler.request_token["oauth_token"]
request_secret = oauth1_user_handler.request_token["oauth_token_secret"]

new_oauth1_user_handler = tweepy.OAuth1UserHandler(
    "API / Consumer Key here", "API / Consumer Secret here",
    callback="Callback / Redirect URI / URL here"
)
new_oauth1_user_handler.request_token = {
    "oauth_token": "Request Token (oauth_token) here",
    "oauth_token_secret": request_secret
}
access_token, access_token_secret = new_oauth1_user_handler.fetch_token(
    "Verifier (oauth_verifier) here"
)

Otherwise, you can simply use the old instance of OAuth1UserHandler.

You can then use this instance of OAuth1UserHandler to initialize API:

api = tweepy.API(oauth1_user_handler)

You can also use the access_token and access_token_secret to initialize a new instance of OAuth1UserHandler to initialize API:

auth = tweepy.OAuth1UserHandler(
   "API / Consumer Key here", "API / Consumer Secret here",
   "Access Token here", "Access Token Secret here"
)
api = tweepy.API(auth)

For initializing Client, you can pass access_token and access_token_secret directly:

client = tweepy.Client(
    consumer_key="API / Consumer Key here",
    consumer_secret="API / Consumer Secret here",
    access_token="Access Token here",
    access_token_secret="Access Token Secret here"
)

PIN-based OAuth

This section supplements Twitter’s PIN-based OAuth documentation.

The PIN-based OAuth flow can be used by setting the callback parameter to "oob":

import tweepy

oauth1_user_handler = tweepy.OAuth1UserHandler(
    "API / Consumer Key here", "API / Consumer Secret here",
    callback="oob"
)

You can then get the authorization URL the same way:

print(oauth1_user_handler.get_authorization_url())

When the user authenticates with this URL, they’ll be provided a PIN. You can retrieve this PIN from the user to use as the verifier:

verifier = input("Input PIN: ")
access_token, access_token_secret = oauth1_user_handler.fetch_token(
    verifier
)

You can then use the instance of OAuth1UserHandler and/or the access_token and access_token_secret.

Reference

class tweepy.OAuth1UserHandler(consumer_key, consumer_secret, access_token=None, access_token_secret=None, callback=None)

OAuth 1.0a User Context authentication handler

Changed in version 4.5: Renamed from OAuthHandler

get_authorization_url(signin_with_twitter=False, access_type=None)

Get the authorization URL to redirect the user to

get_access_token(verifier=None)

After user has authorized the app, get access token and secret with verifier

set_access_token(key, secret)

Deprecated since version 4.5: Set through initialization instead.

class tweepy.OAuthHandler(consumer_key, consumer_secret, access_token=None, access_token_secret=None, callback=None)

Alias for OAuth1UserHandler

Deprecated since version 4.5: Use OAuth1UserHandler instead.

class tweepy.OAuth2AppHandler(consumer_key, consumer_secret)

OAuth 2.0 Bearer Token (App-Only) using API / Consumer key and secret authentication handler

Changed in version 4.5: Renamed from AppAuthHandler

class tweepy.AppAuthHandler(consumer_key, consumer_secret)

Alias for OAuth2AppHandler

Deprecated since version 4.5: Use OAuth2AppHandler instead.

class tweepy.OAuth2BearerHandler(bearer_token)

Bases: requests.auth.AuthBase

OAuth 2.0 Bearer Token (App-Only) authentication handler

New in version 4.5.

class tweepy.OAuth2UserHandler(*, client_id, redirect_uri, scope, client_secret=None)

Bases: requests_oauthlib.oauth2_session.OAuth2Session

OAuth 2.0 Authorization Code Flow with PKCE (User Context) authentication handler

New in version 4.5.

get_authorization_url()

Get the authorization URL to redirect the user to

fetch_token(authorization_response)

After user has authorized the app, fetch access token with authorization response URL