Platform Constraints — Twitter/X

Twitter’s shifting APIs and export formats require extra care.

API limits

• The v2 API enforces tight rate limits; use cursor‑based pagination and retry with backoff.
• OAuth tokens expire—store refresh tokens securely.

Archive quirks

• Exports arrive as a ZIP containing a data/ directory with tweet JSON.
• Media files may need to be fetched separately; URLs can expire.

Recommendations

• Prefer the official archive when available; it’s more complete than scraping.
• Cache responses locally to avoid hitting limits.
• Map retweets and quoted tweets to repost and mention kinds respectively.