This guide walks you through retrieving followers and following lists, and managing follows.
PrerequisitesBefore you begin, you’ll need:
- A developer account with an approved App
- Your App’s Bearer Token (for lookups)
- User Access Token (for managing follows)
Get a user’s followers
Retrieve the list of users following a specific user:
curl "https://api.x.com/2/users/2244994945/followers?\
user.fields=username,verified,public_metrics&\
max_results=100" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $BEARER_TOKEN"
Response
{
"data": [
{
"id": "1234567890",
"name": "Developer",
"username": "dev_user",
"verified": false,
"public_metrics": {
"followers_count": 500,
"following_count": 200,
"tweet_count": 1500
}
}
],
"meta": {
"result_count": 1,
"next_token": "abc123"
}
}
Get who a user follows
Retrieve the list of users that a specific user follows:
curl "https://api.x.com/2/users/2244994945/following?\
user.fields=username,verified&\
max_results=100" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $BEARER_TOKEN"
Follow a user
Follow a user on behalf of the authenticated user:
curl -X POST "https://api.x.com/2/users/123456789/following" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $USER_ACCESS_TOKEN" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"target_user_id": "2244994945"}'
Response
{
"data": {
"following": true,
"pending_follow": false
}
}
If the target account is protected, pending_follow will be true until the follow request is approved.
Unfollow a user
Unfollow a user on behalf of the authenticated user:
curl -X DELETE "https://api.x.com/2/users/123456789/following/2244994945" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $USER_ACCESS_TOKEN"
Response
{
"data": {
"following": false
}
}
Common parameters
| Parameter | Description |
|---|
max_results | Results per page (1-1000, default 100) |
pagination_token | Token for next page |
user.fields | Additional user fields |
expansions | Related objects to include |
Next steps
