The Cheapest X (Twitter) API for Developers

# A single post by its numeric id
curl "https://apiserpent.com/api/x/tweet?id=1234567890123456789" \
  -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_API_KEY"

# The same post by permalink — the id is pulled out of the URL for you
curl "https://apiserpent.com/api/x/tweet?url=https://x.com/example/status/1234567890123456789" \
  -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_API_KEY"

# A public profile. hydrate=true adds engagement + media to each recent post (1.5x)
curl "https://apiserpent.com/api/x/profile?handle=example&hydrate=true" \
  -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_API_KEY"

import os, requests

h = {"X-API-Key": os.environ["SERPENT_API_KEY"]}
p = {"handle": "example", "hydrate": "true"}

r = requests.get("https://apiserpent.com/api/x/profile",
                 params=p, headers=h, timeout=120)

# A 404 means the handle does not exist (or is suspended) — that is an answer
# and it is charged. A 503 is on us and is refunded. Branch on the two.
if r.status_code == 404:
    print("no such handle"); raise SystemExit

prof = r.json()["profile"]
print(prof["handle"], prof["counts"]["followers"], prof["joined"])

for post in prof["recent_posts"]:
    # counts is present only on a hydrated call — .get(), never [].
    c = post.get("counts") or {}
    print(post["id"], c.get("favorites"), c.get("replies"))

const qs = new URLSearchParams({ id: "1234567890123456789" });

const res = await fetch(`https://apiserpent.com/api/x/tweet?${qs}`, {
  headers: { "X-API-Key": process.env.SERPENT_API_KEY }
});

const { tweet } = await res.json();
// Only favorites and replies exist on counts. There is no retweet, quote,
// bookmark or view count in this record — see the field list below.
console.log(tweet.author.screen_name, tweet.counts.favorites, tweet.counts.replies);

{
  "success": true,
  "tweet": {
    "id": "1234567890123456789",
    "url": "https://x.com/example/status/1234567890123456789",
    "text": "shipping the rewrite today. three months, 41k lines deleted.",
    "lang": "en",
    "created_at": "2026-08-19T09:14:02.000Z",
    "possibly_sensitive": false,
    "is_edited": false,
    "author": {
      "id": "44196397",
      "name": "Example",
      "screen_name": "example",
      "verified": true,
      "profile_image_url": "https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/…_normal.jpg"
    },
    "counts": { "favorites": 18420, "replies": 612 },
    "media": [
      { "type": "photo", "url": "https://pbs.twimg.com/media/….jpg",
        "width": 1600, "height": 900 }
    ],
    "hashtags": [ "shipit" ],
    "mentions": [ "someoneelse" ],
    "urls": [ "https://example.com/changelog" ],
    "quoted_tweet": null,
    "reply_to": null
  }
}

# One line per handle: date, handle, followers, posts, newest recent-post id.
# No hydrate here — this sweep only needs counts, so it bills the $0.10 rate.
while IFS= read -r handle; do
  curl -s -G "https://apiserpent.com/api/x/profile" \
      --data-urlencode "handle=$handle" \
      -H "X-API-Key: $SERPENT_API_KEY" \
    | jq -r '.profile | [.handle, (.counts.followers|tostring),
        (.counts.posts|tostring), (.recent_posts[0].id // "none")] | @csv' \
    | sed "s|^|$(date -u +%F),|" >> x-accounts.csv
done < handles.txt