Twitter Automation using Selenium Python

If you are someone like me who considers Twitter to be far better than Instagram, then I might be having something for you. We all know gaining followers on twitter can be pretty tough but sometimes retweeting quality content can gain you, followers, too. Obviously, you are a busy person and you don’t have time to sit around on your phone or laptop to read and retweet content. Pretty boring task right? Let’s make our smart friend do it. This article revolves around how to automate twitter using selenium Python.

First, you will be needing Python. You download python from here. Now, let’s begin coding. First, create a folder named Twitter Automation and then change the directory to the newly created folder. Now, create a file named requirements.txt and add just this one line to it. 

selenium==3.141.0

Next, open up your terminal and type 

pip install -r requirements.txt

Next, you will need a chrome driver. You can download it from here. After the download is complete, move the downloaded driver to your newly created folder Twitter Automation. 
Now all the requirements are taken care of. Now let’s begin with the coding.
Now, create a file called credentials.txt and add the following lines to it. 

email: {your twitter email}
password: {your twitter password}

Replace the email and password placeholder with your original credentials of twitter. I am using a text file. One could also use a .env file but here for simplicity I am using a .txt file.

Next, create another file called secrets.py and add the following lines of code to it.

Python3

"""
    Add your twitter handle's email and password
    in the credentials.txt file.
    This will be used to automate the login.
"""


def get_credentials() -> dict:
    # dictionary for storing credentials
    credentials = dict()
    # reading the text file
    # for credentials
    with open('credentials.txt') as f:
        # iterating over the lines
        for line in f.readlines():
            try:
                # fetching email and password
                key, value = line.split(": ")
            except ValueError:
                # raises error when email and password not supplied
                print('Add your email and password in credentials file')
                exit(0)
            # removing trailing
            # white space and new line
            credentials[key] = value.rstrip(" \n")
    # returning the dictionary containing the credentials
    return credentials

I have added a detailed code explanation in the inline comments for better understanding. Now, let’s create the most important file, the one which does all the magic. Create a new file called twitterbot.py and add the following lines to it. 

Python3

from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.common.keys import Keys
from selenium.webdriver import ActionChains
from selenium.webdriver.chrome.options import Options
'''Uncomment the below line when running in linux'''
# from pyvirtualdisplay import Display
import time, os

class Twitterbot:

    def __init__(self, email, password):

        """Constructor

        Arguments:
            email {string} -- registered twitter email
            password {string} -- password for the twitter account
        """

        self.email = email
        self.password = password
        # initializing chrome options
        chrome_options = Options()

        # adding the path to the chrome driver and
        # integrating chrome_options with the bot
        self.bot = webdriver.Chrome(
            executable_path = os.path.join(os.getcwd(), 'chromedriver'),
            options = chrome_options
        )

    def login(self):
        """
            Method for signing in the user
            with the provided email and password.
        """

        bot = self.bot
        # fetches the login page
        bot.get('https://twitter.com / login')
        # adjust the sleep time according to your internet speed
        time.sleep(3)

        email = bot.find_element_by_xpath(
            '//*[@id ="react-root"]/div / div / div[2]/main / div / div / form / div / div[1]/label / div / div[2]/div / input'
        )
        password = bot.find_element_by_xpath(
            '//*[@id ="react-root"]/div / div / div[2]/main / div / div / form / div / div[2]/label / div / div[2]/div / input'
        )

        # sends the email to the email input
        email.send_keys(self.email)
        # sends the password to the password input
        password.send_keys(self.password)
        # executes RETURN key action
        password.send_keys(Keys.RETURN)

        time.sleep(2)

    def like_retweet(self, hashtag):

        """
        This function automatically retrieves
        the tweets and then likes and retweets them

        Arguments:
            hashtag {string} -- twitter hashtag
        """

        bot = self.bot

        # fetches the latest tweets with the provided hashtag
        bot.get(
            'https://twitter.com / search?q =% 23' + \
            hashtag+'&src = typed_query&f = live'
        )

        time.sleep(3)

        # using set so that only unique links
        # are present and to avoid unnecessary repetition
        links = set()

        # obtaining the links of the tweets
        for _ in range(100):
            # executing javascript code
            # to scroll the webpage
            bot.execute_script(
                'window.scrollTo(0, document.body.scrollHeight)'
            )

            time.sleep(4)

            # using list comprehension
            # for adding all the tweets link to the set
            # this particular piece of code might
            # look very complicated but the only reason
            # I opted for list comprehension because is
            # lot faster than traditional loops
            [
                links.add(elem.get_attribute('href'))\
                for elem in bot.find_elements_by_xpath("//a[@dir ='auto']")
            ]

        # traversing through the generated links
        for link in links:
            # opens individual links
            bot.get(link)
            time.sleep(4)

            try:
                # retweet button selector
                bot.find_element_by_css_selector(
                    '.css-18t94o4[data-testid ="retweet"]'
                ).click()
                # initializes action chain
                actions = ActionChains(bot)
                # sends RETURN key to retweet without comment
                actions.send_keys(Keys.RETURN).perform()

                # like button selector
                bot.find_element_by_css_selector(
                    '.css-18t94o4[data-testid ="like"]'
                ).click()
                # adding higher sleep time to avoid
                # getting detected as bot by twitter
                time.sleep(10)
            except:
                time.sleep(2)

        # fetches the main homepage
        bot.get('https://twitter.com/')

Now, it’s time to code our driver script. To do that, create a file called main.py and add the following lines to it.

Python3

import twitterbot as tb
import secrets, sys

# fetches the hashtag from command line argument
hashtag = sys.argv[1]
# fetches the credentials dictionary
# using get_credentials function
credentials = secrets.get_credentials()
# initialize the bot with your credentials
bot = tb.Twitterbot(credentials['email'], credentials['password'])
# logging in
bot.login()
# calling like_retweet function
bot.like_retweet(hashtag)

Now, we are done with the code. Let’s call our driver script by running the following command in your terminal. 

python main.py {hashtag}

Just in place of the hashtag placeholder replace it with any trending hashtag, for example, you can try 

python main.py python3

This will like and retweet 100 tweets with the hashtag python. You can check out how it would perform in the video below. So, there you have it. Go ahead and try it out and do not increase the number of tweets because twitter has a daily limit of tweets.

Some advantages of using Selenium for Twitter automation include:

1. Improved productivity: Automation allows you to perform tasks faster and more efficiently, freeing up time for other tasks.
2. Consistency: Automation ensures that tasks are performed consistently and accurately, reducing the risk of errors.
3. Customizability: Selenium allows you to customize the automation to meet your specific requirements.

Some disadvantages of using Selenium for Twitter automation include:

1. Limited capabilities: Selenium can only automate tasks that are available through the web interface, so it may not be suitable for tasks that require more advanced functionality.
2. Maintenance: Automation scripts may require regular maintenance to keep up with changes in the Twitter interface and API.
3. Risk of account suspension: Twitter has strict rules against automation, so it’s important to use automation responsibly and within the limits set by Twitter to avoid account suspension or banning.