Posting to X (Twitter)

JSON for a basic post with a link and image using the X API, fomerly known as the Twitter API:

X Post
{
  "post": "The best Tweet ever #best https://www.twitter.com",
  "mediaUrls": ["https://img.ayrshare.com/012/gb.jpg"],
  "platforms": ["twitter"]
}
  • X will automatically preview the link in the Tweet unless there is an image or video included. In the above example the image will show. Removing the image will cause the link preview to show.

  • If your video doesn’t end in a known video extension such as mp4, please use the isVideo parameter. See the /post endpoint for details.

  • X also supports sending media without post text. If you do not want post text included send an empty String post: "".

  • You may upload up to 4 images or videos in a single Tweet. Please see the important guidelines and restrictions posting Twitter videos.

  • See X Media Guidelines and X Authorization for more information.

Publish Long Form Posts

Users with Premium X accounts, such as Premium or Premium Plus, have the ability to post longer posts of up to 25,000 characters. Ayrshare automatically allows long from posts for users with Premium X accounts.

If the user changes their X Premium status, please wait 24 hours for it to reflect in Ayrshare. You can check the Premium subscription status of a user with the /user or /analytics endpoints.

You may also force a long form post to be accepted with the longPost body parameter. This can be done by including the following JSON in your request:

X Long Post
{
  "twitterOptions": {
    "longPost": true
  }
}

However, if a user without a Premium account attempts to post a long tweet, the system will return a code: 111 error.

Upload Long Videos

Business or Enterprise Plan required.

X requires videos have a maximum video length of 2 minutes and 20 seconds. However, if you have been approved by X to upload longer videos, such as in the Amplify Partner Program, you can post videos up to 10 minutes in length.

In addition to X approving your account for long videos, your Ayrshare account must be enabled for long Twitter videos. Please contact us to enable this feature.

After your Ayrshare account is enabled for long videos and X has approved your access, use the longVideo twitterOptions parameter when posting:

X Long Video
{
  "twitterOptions": {
    "longVideo": true
  }
}

X Mentions

Mention another X handle by adding @handle in the post text. For example:

X Mention
{
  "post": "The best social media API @Ayrshare ever!",
  "platforms": ["twitter"]
}

Please review the important rules on mentions.

X Thread

An X Thread, also known as a tweetstorm, is a connected series of posts on X (formerly Twitter) that allows you to share longer ideas beyond a single post’s character limit, appearing as one continuous narrative when viewed together.

Posting a Thread

A X Thread can be posted via the API. A thread is a post broken up into a set of reply threads and associated in X with a line. You cna either automatically break up the post or specify the thread breaks in the post text.

X Thread
{
    "twitterOptions": {
        "thread": true,        // required for TweetStorm
        "threadNumber": true,  // optional to add numbers to each thread
        "mediaUrls": ["https://site.com/image1.png", "https://site.com/image2.png", ...]  // optional one media object is added to a thread in order
    }
}
  • thread: true to automatically break apart the post text into threads based on line breaks.

  • threadNumber: true to automatically add numbers at the end of threads in the format of 1/n. For example the 2nd of 5 threads will have appended: 2/5

  • mediaUrls: [array of urls] to add each media object, an image or video, to a thread in order. Only one media object will be added to a thread in order.

If the post is sent as a X Thread, the returned post analytics will be an array of Tweets, "twitter": []. See Post Analytics 200 Response for more information.

Thread Media

Skip Media

Skip media for the thread by using null in the array. For example:

["https://site.com/image1.png", null, "https://site.com/image2.png"]

This will place image1 on the first Tweet, no image on the second Tweet, and image2 on the third Tweet.

Multiple Media

Multiple media objects can be added to a Tweet in a Thread by adding an object {} with the media URLs in the mediaUrls array. Any unique object keys can be used. For example:

X Thread with Multiple Media URLs
{
  "twitterOptions": {
    "thread": true,
    "threadNumber": true,
    "mediaUrls": [
      "https://img.ayrshare.com/random/photo-1.jpg",
      {
        "1": "https://img.ayrshare.com/random/photo-2.jpg",
        "2": "https://img.ayrshare.com/random/photo-3.jpg"
      },
      "https://img.ayrshare.com/random/photo-4.jpg"
    ]
  }
}

In this example, the first Tweet will contain photo-1.jpg, the second Tweet photo-2.jpg and photo-3.jpg, and the third Tweet photo-4.jpg.

Thread Breaks

Ayrshare automatically breaks up the post text into appropriate length tweet (> 280 characters). When creating threads, we prioritize keeping complete sentences in one post when possible. If a sentence won’t fit, we split between sentences. For very long sentences, we split between words. In rare cases where a word is too long, we split the word itself.

You may also manually add paragraphs with \n\n to the post text to indicate a unique thread should be created. If you have \n\n in the post text, we will not automatically break the post into threads.

For example:

Example X Thread
{
  "post": "This is tweet 1\n\nThis is tweet 2.",
  "platforms": ["twitter"],
  "twitterOptions": {
    "thread": true
  }
}

will result in two Tweets in the thread.

If you want to add paragraphs, but not break into Tweets, use \u2063\n\u2063\n

X Thread with Paragraphs
{
  "post": "This is paragraph 1\u2063\n\u2063\nThis is paragraph 2.",
  "platforms": ["twitter"],
  "twitterOptions": {
    "thread": true
  }
}

will result in one Tweet with two paragraphs since the post is below 280 characters.

Delete a Thread

To delete a Tweet Storm, call the /post delete endpoint with the top level post ID returned in the response. All threads will be deleted.

Alternative Text for Images

Add alternative text, also known as alt text, to a Tweet’s image. X alt text is an accessibility feature used for additional user info and screen readers.

Use the altText in the twitterOptions object.

X Alt Text
{
  "twitterOptions": {
    "altText": ["This is my best pic", "😃 here is the next one"] // Array of Alt Texts
  }
}

Each alt text must correspond to an image in the mediaUrls array. The alt text will be applies to each image in order.

Alt text cannot be applied to videos. If a video is included in the mediaUrls with altText, the video will not be posted. Alt text must be 1,000 characters or less.

Quote Tweet

You can quote another Tweet by specifying the low-level Tweet ID. The ID can be retrieved via the /post response in the postIds field, get history, or directly from the Tweet URL: https://twitter.com/Ayrshare/status/1651601430669664256

X Quote Tweet
{
  "twitterOptions": {
    "quoteTweetId": "651601430669664256" // low-level Tweet Id
  }
}

X Polls

Conduct an X Poll with the twitterOptions poll parameter.

X Poll
{
  "twitterOptions": {
    "poll": {
      "duration": 5, // required. Number in minutes
      "options": ["yes", "maybe", "no"] // required
    }
  }
}
  • duration: A number of minutes specifying the duration the poll will be conducted.
  • options: An array of strings of the poll options.

Subtitles / Captions for Videos

You can add X subtitles, also known as X captions, to videos by including an SRT file. Use the subTitleUrl field in the twitterOptions object to specify the URL to your SRT file.

X Subtitles
{
  "twitterOptions": {
    "subTitleUrl": "https://img.ayrshare.com/012/captions.srt",
    "subTitleLanguage": "en",
    "subTitleName": "English"
  }
}
  • subTitleUrl: A valid SRT file. The URL must start with https:// and end in .srt and be a valid SRT file.

  • subTitleLanguage: Optional: The language of the subtitles. Must be a valid language code. Default: “en”.

  • subTitleName: Optional: The name of the caption track. The name is intended to be visible to the user as an option during playback. The maximum name length supported is 150 characters. Default: “English”.

X Video Compatibility

Some video software creates MP4 files that are not compatible with X. For example, Camtasia versions older than 2019.0.9 create MP4 files that X rejects. Also more than one audio track often causes problems.

If you receive back the following message while posting, it indicates the video is not compatible with Twitter and needs to be re-encoded.

"file is currently unsupported"

Please check your video software for compatibility. For example, Adobe Media Encoder has an export preset for Twitter 1080p Full HD.

Please see here for more X API examples.