Quickstart

This guide walks you through connecting to the filtered stream to receive near real-time Posts matching your filter rules.

PrerequisitesBefore you begin, you’ll need:

A developer account
Your App’s Bearer Token (found in the Developer Console under “Keys and tokens”)

Create a filter rule

Rules define which Posts to receive. Use operators to match on keywords, hashtags, users, and more.Example rule: Match Posts containing “cat” with images:

cat has:images

Build a rule

Learn rule syntax and operators

Add the rule to your stream

Add your rule using the rules endpoint. Include a tag to identify which rule matched each Post:

cURL

curl -X POST "https://api.x.com/2/tweets/search/stream/rules" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $BEARER_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "add": [
      {"value": "cat has:images", "tag": "cats with images"}
    ]
  }'

from xdk import Client

client = Client(bearer_token="YOUR_BEARER_TOKEN")

# Add a rule to the filtered stream
response = client.filtered_stream.add_rules(
    add=[{"value": "cat has:images", "tag": "cats with images"}]
)

for rule in response.data:
    print(f"Rule added: {rule.id} - {rule.value}")

import { Client } from "@xdevplatform/xdk";

const client = new Client({ bearerToken: "YOUR_BEARER_TOKEN" });

// Add a rule to the filtered stream
const response = await client.filteredStream.addRules({
  add: [{ value: "cat has:images", tag: "cats with images" }],
});

response.data?.forEach((rule) => {
  console.log(`Rule added: ${rule.id} - ${rule.value}`);
});

Response:

{
  "data": [
    {
      "id": "1273026480692322304",
      "value": "cat has:images",
      "tag": "cats with images"
    }
  ],
  "meta": {
    "sent": "2024-01-15T10:30:00.000Z",
    "summary": {
      "created": 1,
      "not_created": 0,
      "valid": 1,
      "invalid": 0
    }
  }
}

Verify your rules

List all active rules to confirm your rule was added:

cURL

curl "https://api.x.com/2/tweets/search/stream/rules" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $BEARER_TOKEN"

from xdk import Client

client = Client(bearer_token="YOUR_BEARER_TOKEN")

# Get all active rules
response = client.filtered_stream.get_rules()

for rule in response.data:
    print(f"Active rule: {rule.id} - {rule.value}")

import { Client } from "@xdevplatform/xdk";

const client = new Client({ bearerToken: "YOUR_BEARER_TOKEN" });

// Get all active rules
const response = await client.filteredStream.getRules();

response.data?.forEach((rule) => {
  console.log(`Active rule: ${rule.id} - ${rule.value}`);
});

Connect to the stream

Open a persistent connection to receive matching Posts:

cURL

curl "https://api.x.com/2/tweets/search/stream?\
tweet.fields=created_at,author_id&\
expansions=author_id&\
user.fields=username" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $BEARER_TOKEN"

from xdk import Client

client = Client(bearer_token="YOUR_BEARER_TOKEN")

# Connect to the filtered stream
for post in client.filtered_stream.stream(
    tweet_fields=["created_at", "author_id"],
    expansions=["author_id"],
    user_fields=["username"]
):
    print(f"New post: {post.data.text}")
    print(f"Matching rules: {post.matching_rules}")

import { Client } from "@xdevplatform/xdk";

const client = new Client({ bearerToken: "YOUR_BEARER_TOKEN" });

// Connect to the filtered stream
const stream = client.filteredStream.stream({
  tweetFields: ["created_at", "author_id"],
  expansions: ["author_id"],
  userFields: ["username"],
});

for await (const post of stream) {
  console.log(`New post: ${post.data?.text}`);
  console.log(`Matching rules: ${post.matching_rules}`);
}

Process incoming Posts

Matching Posts stream as JSON objects:

{
  "data": {
    "id": "1234567890",
    "text": "Look at this cute cat! 🐱",
    "author_id": "9876543210",
    "created_at": "2024-01-15T10:35:00.000Z",
    "edit_history_tweet_ids": ["1234567890"]
  },
  "includes": {
    "users": [
      {
        "id": "9876543210",
        "username": "catperson"
      }
    ]
  },
  "matching_rules": [
    {
      "id": "1273026480692322304",
      "tag": "cats with images"
    }
  ]
}

The matching_rules array shows which rules matched the Post, using the tags you defined.

Delete rules (optional)

Remove rules by their ID:

cURL

curl -X POST "https://api.x.com/2/tweets/search/stream/rules" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $BEARER_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "delete": {
      "ids": ["1273026480692322304"]
    }
  }'

from xdk import Client

client = Client(bearer_token="YOUR_BEARER_TOKEN")

# Delete rules by ID
response = client.filtered_stream.delete_rules(
    delete={"ids": ["1273026480692322304"]}
)
print(f"Deleted: {response.meta.summary.deleted}")

import { Client } from "@xdevplatform/xdk";

const client = new Client({ bearerToken: "YOUR_BEARER_TOKEN" });

// Delete rules by ID
const response = await client.filteredStream.deleteRules({
  delete: { ids: ["1273026480692322304"] },
});
console.log(`Deleted: ${response.meta?.summary?.deleted}`);

Managing your connection

Keep-alive signals

The stream sends blank lines (\r\n) every 20 seconds. If you don’t receive data or a keep-alive for 20 seconds, reconnect.

Disconnecting

Press Ctrl+C to close the connection, or close your terminal window.

Connection limits

Only one connection per App is allowed. Opening a new connection will close any existing one.

Next steps

Build a rule

Learn rule syntax

Operator reference

All available operators

Handling disconnections

Reconnect gracefully

API Reference

Full endpoint documentation

Build a rule

​Managing your connection

​Next steps

Build a rule

Operator reference

Handling disconnections

API Reference

Managing your connection

Next steps