Twitter API Clone

The Twitter API Clone, is made by me, Shahab Athar, it is a complete replication of the functionalities of the original Twitter API. This API provides a robust platform for user interaction, content sharing, and social networking. It has JWT authentication with rolling access and refresh tokens, allowing users to register, login, and reset passwords. Users can authenticate with username and password. Users can manage their profiles, follow or unfollow others, and search for users by various criteria. The API supports creating tweets, replying to tweets with nested replies, and bookmarking tweets for future reference. Additionally, users can create and manage Twitter lists to curate groups of users for targeted content viewing. Additionally, there is an admin panel for managing users and overseeing the platform. The API comprises of 36+ endpoints covering a wide range of functionalities, enhancing user interaction and engagement. Future enhancements include the introduction of community features and real-time messaging using Django Channels, aiming to provide an enriched social media experience.

Installation

To setup the the twitter api clone, make sure that python, pip and git are installed.

Clone the repository

Before doing anything let's make sure you have cloned this repository. Clone the repository by running the following command

git clone https://github.com/ShahabAthar25/Twitter-Django-NextJS.git

Setup vitual enviroment

We will create the vitual enviroment using virtualenv package. Feel free to use any other library. Install virtualenv by using the following commands

# using pip
pip install virtualenv

# using pacman
sudo pacman -Sy python-virtualenv

To create virtual enviroment using virtualenv

vitualenv venv

Now, activate the enviroment

./venv/bin/activate

Install Dependencies

All the dependencies that are used by this Twitter API Clone are listed in the requirements.txt. Install it by running the following command

python install -r requirements.txt

Setting up .env file

We need to setup the .env file in order to access our secret key which is stored in .env file and not in settings.py. First copy the .env template or rename it as .env

# copy .env.template file to .env
cp .env.template .env

# Rename .env.template to .env
mv .env.template .env

Now, all you need to do is set your SECRET_KEY in the .env file. To generate a secret key open the python shell by running the following command

# Open up the python shell
python

Generate the secret in python using secrets module. Feel free to use any other method or library.

# Generate the secret key
import secrets
secrets.token_hex(32)

Now copy the output to your SECRET_KEY variable in your .env

Making super user (Optional)

If you want to access the admin panel, you will need a super user. This step is optional as the Twitter API Clone can run without creating one. To create a super user, run the following command

python manage.py createsuperuser

Now, fill out the credentials of the super user. It will ask for the following information.

• Username
• Email
• First name
• Last name
• Password
• Confirm password

Setup database and make migrations

Before running the Twitter API Clone we have to make sure our database is created and running. We are using sqlite as database but feel free to change it to any other database like sql, postgres etc. in settings.py. Setup databse by the following commands

# Change present working directory to backend
cd ./backend/

# Migrate the database
python manage.py migrate

Running the API

To run the api make sure you have performed the above mentioned steps. Now, run the api with the following command

python manage.py runserver

Documentation

Visit the following url for the complete documentation of this Twitter API Clone: https://documenter.getpostman.com/view/28992075/2sA3Qs8rfZ