Twitterapi

Authentication

HTTP Basic authentication

The API uses HTTP Basic Authentication. Note that this means that users with only an OpenID login cannot use the API; they have to add a password to their account using the control panel on the site.

OAuth authentication

OAuth 1.0a authentication for API resources is also supported. Generally, StatusNet's UI and API are similar to Twitter's for OAuth applications (if you're new to OAuth check out Beginner’s Guide to OAuth).

To use OAuth, you'll need to register your client application via the web interface and obtain a consumer key and secret. You can find the interface for application registration at http://gnu-social-test.singpolyma.net/settings/oauthapps.

JSONP callbacks

For API methods that return JSON, an optional JSONP-style callback parameter is supported. If supplied, the response will be in JSONP format with a callback of the given name. To make it easier for clients to handle error conditions, HTTP error codes are suppressed, and the errors will be returned in the response body when using JSONP.

Rate limiting

There is currently no rate-limiting.

Gotchas

Some things to remember:

• GNU Social Test supports the OStatus federation protocol (as well as OpenMicroBlogging for backwards compatibility), so many notices and friends' profiles may come from other servers.
• User nicknames are unique, but they are not globally unique. Use the ID number instead.
• Private streams are not implemented yet.
• GNU social sites can be configured as private. In that case, all API methods require authentication, including the public timeline (see the 'config' method below).
• If "Fancy URLs" are not enabled, urls from above need to include "index.php" at the root. ( e.g. http://example.org/statusnet/api becomes http://www.example.org/statusnet/index.php/api )
• The since_id parameter does not work as documented by Twitter. Twitter says of since_id: "There are limits to the number of Tweets which can be accessed through the API. If the limit of Tweets has occured since the since_id, the since_id will be forced to the oldest ID available." However, GNU social will return the newest notices (or the newest back from max_id, if present)! Also, a since_id <= 0 will be ignored.

Timeline resources

statuses/public_timeline

Returns the 20 most recent notices, including repeats if they exist, from non-protected users.

statuses/home_timeline

Returns the 20 most recent notices, including repeats if they exist, posted by the authenticating user and the users they follow. This is the same timeline seen by a user when they login to their instance. This method is identical to statuses/friends_timeline, except that this method always includes repeats.

statuses/friends_timeline

Alias of statuses/home_timeline

statuses/friends_timeline/:username

Alias of statuses/home_timeline for the specified username

statuses/mentions

Returns the 20 most recent mentions (notices containing @username) for the authenticating user.

This method will not include repeats in the XML and JSON responses unless the include_rts parameter is set. The RSS and Atom responses will always include repeats as notices prefixed with RT.

statuses/replies

Alias of statuses/mentions

statuses/replies/:username

Alias of statuses/mentions for the specified username

statuses/user_timeline

Returns the 20 most recent notices posted by the authenticating user. It is also possible to request another user's timeline by using the screen_name or user_id parameter. The other users timeline will only be visible if they are not protected, or if the authenticating user's follow request was accepted by the protected user.

This method will not include repeats in the XML and JSON responses unless the include_rts parameter is set. The RSS and Atom responses will always include repeats as notices prefixed with RT, regardless of provided parameters.

statuses/retweeted_to_me

Not implemented.

statuses/retweeted_by_me

Not implemented.

statuses/retweets_of_me

Not implemented.

Status resources

statuses/show/:id

Returns a single notice, specified by the id parameter. The notice's author will be returned inline.

statuses/update

Post a new notice as the authenticating user.

Additional 'media' parameter allows binary multimedia uploads (images, etc.). Format post data as multipart/form-data when using the 'media' parameter.

statuses/destroy/:id

Destroys the notice specified by the required ID parameter. The authenticating user must be the author of the specified notice. Returns the destroyed notice if successful.

statuses/retweet/:id

Repeats a notice. Returns the original notice with repeat details embedded.

User resources

statuses/friends

Returns the user's subscriptions (friends) as an array of profiles.

statuses/followers

Returns the user's subscribers (followers) as an array of profiles.

users/show

Returns extended information of a given user, specified by ID or screen name as per the required id parameter.

Direct message resources

direct_messages

Returns the 20 most recent direct messages sent to the authenticating user. The XML and JSON versions include detailed information about the sender and recipient user.

direct_messages/sent

Returns the 20 most recent direct messages sent by the authenticating user. The XML and JSON versions include detailed information about the sender and recipient user.

direct_messages/new

Sends a new direct message to the specified user from the authenticating user. Requires both the user and text parameters and must be a POST. Returns the sent message in the requested format if successful.

direct_messages/destroy

Not implemented.

Friendships resources

friendships/create

Allows the authenticating users to follow the user specified in the ID parameter. Returns the befriended user in the requested format when successful. Returns a string describing the failure condition when unsuccessful.

If you are already friends with the user a HTTP 403 may be returned, though for performance reasons you may get a 200 OK message even if the friendship already exists.

Note that users cannot subscribe to remote profiles using this API.

friendships/destroy

Allows the authenticating users to unfollow the user specified in the ID parameter. Returns the unfollowed user in the requested format when successful. Returns a string describing the failure condition when unsuccessful.

Users can unsubscribe to a remote profile using this API, but it's preferred to use numeric IDs to nicknames.

friendships/exists

Test for the existence of friendship between two users. Will return true if user_a follows user_b, otherwise will return false. Authentication is required if either user A or user B are protected. Additionally the authenticating user must be a follower of the protected user.

friendships/show

Returns detailed information about the relationship between two users.

Friends and subscribers resources

friends/ids

Returns an array of numeric IDs for every user the specified user is subscribed to. This method is powerful when used in conjunction with users/lookup.

followers/ids

Returns an array of numeric IDs for every user subscsribed to the specified user. This method is powerful when used in conjunction with users/lookup.

Account resources

account/verify_credentials

Returns an HTTP 200 OK response code and a representation of the requesting user if authentication was successful; returns a 401 status code and an error message if not. Use this method to test if supplied user credentials are valid.

account/end_session

Not implemented.

account/update_delivery_device

Not implemented.

account/rate_limit_status

Returns the remaining number of API requests available to the requesting user before the API limit is reached.

We have no rate limit, so this always returns 150 hits left.

account/update_profile_background_image

Updates the authenticating user's profile background image. This method can also be used to enable or disable the profile background image.

account/update_profile_image

Updates the authenticating user's profile image. Note that this method expects raw multipart data, not a URL to an image.

Favorite resources

favorites

Returns the 20 most recent favorite statuses for the authenticating or specified user in the requested format.

favorites/create/:id

Favorites the status specified in the ID parameter as the authenticating user. Returns the favorite status when successful.

favorites/destroy/:id

Un-favorites the status specified in the ID parameter as the authenticating user. Returns the un-favorited status in the requested format when successful.

Notification resources

notifications/follow

Not implemented.

notifications/leave

Not implemented.

Block resources

blocks/create

Blocks the specified user from following the authenticating user. In addition the blocked user will not show in the authenticating users mentions or timeline (unless retweeted by another user). If a follow or friend relationship exists it is destroyed.

blocks/destroy

Un-blocks the user specified in the ID parameter for the authenticating user. Returns the un-blocked user in the requested format when successful. If relationships existed before the block was instated, they will not be restored.

blocks/exists

Not implemented.

blocks/blocking

Not implemented.

Help resources

help/test

Returns the string "ok" in the requested format with a 200 OK HTTP status code. This method is great for sending a HEAD request to determine our servers current time.

OAuth resources

It is strongly recommended you use HTTPS for all OAuth authorization steps.

oauth/request_token

Allows a Consumer application to obtain an OAuth Request Token to request user authorization. This method fulfills Section 6.1 of the OAuth 1.0 authentication flow. It is strongly recommended you use HTTPS for all OAuth authorization steps.

oauth/authorize

Allows a Consumer application to use an OAuth Request Token to request user authorization. This method fulfills Section 6.2 of the OAuth 1.0 authentication flow. Desktop applications must use this method (and cannot use GET oauth/authenticate).

oauth/access_token

Allows a Consumer application to exchange the OAuth Request Token for an OAuth Access Token. This method fulfills Section 6.3 of the OAuth 1.0 authentication flow. The OAuth access token may also be used for xAuth operations.

Search

The search method supports the following optional URL parameters:

• callback: if supplied when using the JSON format, the response will use the JSONP format with a callback of the given name.
• rpp: the number of notices to return per page, up to a max of 100.
• page: the page number (starting at 1) to return.
• since_id:: returns notices with ids greater than the given id.

Note:

• The search does not support operators, such as "from:", "to:" and booleans.
• Notice content is HTML-encoded.

search

Returns relevant notices that match a specified query.

Atom

To request search results in Atom, append your URL-encoded query as a parameter to the search method and specify the Atom format:

gnu-social-test.singpolyma.net/api/search.atom?q=<query>

JSON

To request search results in JSON, append your URL-encoded query as a parameter to the search method and specify the JSON format:

gnu-social-test.singpolyma.net/api/search.json?q=<query>

Additional resources

These are extensions to the Twitter API that expose additional functionality.

Group resources

statusnet/groups/timeline

Shows a group's timeline. Similar to other timeline resources.

statusnet/groups/show

Show a groups profile.

statusnet/groups/create

Create a new group.

statusnet/groups/join

Join a group.

statusnet/groups/leave

Leave a group.

statusnet/groups/list

Show the groups a given user is a member of.

statusnet/groups/list_all

List all local groups.

statusnet/groups/membership

List the members of a given group.

statusnet/groups/is_member

Determine whether a given user is a member of a given group.

Tag resources

statusnet/tags/timeline

Shows a tag's timeline. Similar to other timeline resources.

Media resources

statusnet/media/upload

Endpoint for uploading an image. Returns a URL that can be used in a status update. Format post data as multipart/form-data.

Configuration

statusnet/config

Show an instance's configuration information.

Of special note is the <private> element (config/site/private), which indicates whether a site is private. When a site is configured as private every other API method requires authentication, including the public timeline (/api/statuses/public_timeline.format).