We planned to launch the new Twitter API on July 16, 2020. But given the security incident we discovered on July 15, 2020, the timing of our launch no longer made sense or felt right. 

We updated this post on August 12, 2020 to include additional details below to support the official launch of the new Twitter API.

Today, we’re introducing the new Twitter API. Rebuilt from the ground up to deliver new features faster, today’s release includes the first set of new endpoints and features we’re launching so developers can help the world connect to the public conversation happening on Twitter. 

If you can’t wait to check it out, visit the new developer portal. If you can, then read on for more about what we’re building, what’s new about the Twitter API v2, what’s launching first, and what’s coming next. 

Building in the open and what we've learned

Your feedback has been essential in helping us define our vision and roadmap for the new Twitter API. From Tweets to focus groups, you have shared a ton of feedback with us over the past few years about what you need out of the Twitter API and what we can do better. We also learned a lot through Twitter Developer Labs where you’ve been sharing real-time feedback on the new API features we’ve tested in the open. 

We’ve always known that our developer ecosystem is diverse, but our API has long taken a one-size-fits-all approach. Your feedback helped us see the importance of making the new Twitter API more flexible and scalable to fit your needs. With the new API, we are building new elevated access options and new product tracks, so more developers can find options to meet their needs. More on that below. 

We also know it’s important to be able to plan ahead, and we want to do a better job of sharing our plans with you in advance. Going forward, we’ll share more of what’s coming next on our public roadmap (updates coming soon). We're also sharing a Guide to the future of the Twitter API for more about what to expect as we roll out the new API. We have a lot planned, and it will evolve and improve as we continue to hear from you. 

Twitter API v2: What’s New?

A new foundation- The new API is built on a completely new foundation — rebuilt for the first time since 2012 — and includes new features so you can get more out of the public conversation. That new foundation allows us to add new functionality faster and better than we’ve done in the past, so expect more new features from Twitter to show up in the API.

With this new foundation, developers can expect to see:

• A cleaner API that's easier to use, with new developer features like the ability to specify which fields get returned, or retrieve more Tweets from a conversation within the same response 
• Some of the most requested features that were missing from the API, including conversation threading, poll results in Tweets, pinned Tweets on profiles, spam filtering, and a more powerful stream filtering and search query language 

New access levels- With the new Twitter API, we’re building multiple access levels to make it easier for developers to get started and to grow what they build. In the past, the Twitter API was separated into three different platforms and experiences: standard (free), premium (self-serve paid), and enterprise (custom paid). As a developer's needs expanded, it required tedious migration to each API. In the future, all developers — from academic researchers to makers to businesses — will have options to get elevated access and grow on the same API. 

New product tracks- We love the incredible diversity of developers who use our API. Our plan is to introduce new, distinct product tracks to better serve different groups of developers and provide them with the right experience and support for their needs, along with a range of relevant access levels, and appropriate pricing (where applicable). To start, these product tracks will include:

• Standard: Available first, this will be the default product track for most developers, including those just getting started, building something for fun, for a good cause, and to learn or teach. We plan to add Elevated access to this track in the future.
• Academic Research: Academic researchers use the Twitter API to understand what’s happening in the public conversation. In the future, qualified academic researchers will have a way to get Elevated or Custom access to relevant endpoints. We’re also providing tools and guides to make it easier to conduct academic research with the Twitter API.
• Business: Developers build businesses on the Twitter API, including our Twitter Official Partners and enterprise data customers. We love that their products help other people and businesses better understand and engage with the conversation on Twitter. In the future, this track will include Elevated or Custom access to relevant endpoints.

A new developer portal- To help you get the most out of the new API, we’ve also designed and built a new developer portal. This is where you can get started with our new onboarding wizard, manage Apps, understand your API usage and limits, access our new support center, find documentation, and more to come in the future. 

With the new Twitter API, we hope to enable more: 

• Academic research that helps the world better understand our shared perspectives on important topics such as: people’s attitudes about COVID-19, the social impact of floods and climate change, or the prevalence of hateful speech and how to address it. 
• Tools that help make Twitter better for the people who use it, like: BlockParty, TweetDelete, and Tokimeki Unfollow.
• Bots that share information and make conversations more fun like the: HAM: Drawings bot, House of Lords Hansard bot, and Emoji Mashup bot. 
• Businesses like Black Swan, Spiketrap, and Social Market Analytics who serve innovative use cases such as social prediction of future product trends, AI-powered consumer insights and FinTech market intelligence. 
• Twitter Official Partners such as Brandwatch, Sprinklr and Sprout Social who help brands better understand and engage with their industry and customers.
• And much more, including new things we haven't thought of yet, but that we know you will...

So, what’s launching first?

One of the most common reasons developers use the Twitter API is to listen to and analyze the conversation happening on Twitter. So, soon we’ll release Early Access to an initial set of new endpoints for developers to: 

• Stream Tweets in real-time or analyze past conversations to help the world understand the public conversations happening on Twitter, or help businesses discover customer insights from the conversation
• Measure Tweet performance to help people and businesses get better at using Twitter
• Listen for important events to help people learn about new things that matter to them on Twitter
• And a whole lot more, with new options to explore Tweets from any account

All API features we’re releasing first will be available in our new – always free – Basic access level. For most developers, Basic access will provide everything you need to get started and build something awesome. 

Eventually, the new API will fully replace the v1.1 standard, premium, and enterprise APIs. Before that can happen though, we have more to build, which is why we are referring to this phase as Early Access. It's a chance to get started now and get ahead.

Unlike Twitter Developer Labs which hosts our experiments, everything in the first release will be fully supported and ready for you to use in production. To see the full list of API functionality and endpoints that are included in today’s release, check out our developer forum post.

You can get started on the new API by creating a new Project and App today in the new developer portal. You can also connect your new Project to existing Apps, if you would like.

To get started with Early Access to the new Twitter API, visit the new developer portal. If you don’t yet have a developer account, apply to get started.

What's Next?

This is just the beginning. We’re sharing our public roadmap to keep you updated on our vision for the API, along with options to share feedback so that we can continue to learn from you along the way and so you can plan for what’s to come. On deck: full support to hide (and unhide) replies, and free Elevated access for academic researchers.  

Developers like you push us and inspire us every day. Your creativity and work with our API make Twitter better for people & businesses, and make the world a better place. Thanks for your partnership on the journey ahead.