# A free Twitter search API that returns JSON, with X's search operators Search recent public X posts as JSON from a script or AI agent with no API key: the endpoint, working operators, cursor paging and limits. - URL: https://unifapi.com/blog/free-twitter-search-api - Published: 2026-10-07 - Updated: 2026-10-10 - Category: Cookbooks - Keywords: twitter search api free, x search api, twitter search without login, search tweets json, twitter advanced search api, twitter search operators, search twitter from script, x search api no auth - Author: Unif Cookbooks team > In short: `GET https://unifapi.com/tools/x/search?q=` returns public X posts matching a query as JSON. It is free to use with no login, no account and no API key, and rate-limited per visitor. X's search operators work in `q`: `from:`, `to:`, `since:`, `until:`, `min_faves:`, `min_retweets:`, `filter:media`, `filter:links`, `-filter:replies`, `lang:`, and quoted phrases. Results come 20 per page, newest first, with a `nextCursor` to page. The free limit is 20 units per 10 minutes per visitor, printed in `X-RateLimit-*` headers, and a search costs 2 units because it is the most expensive call upstream, so that is 10 searches. Without dates you get the newest posts; add `since:` and `until:` and the same search reaches back to 2006. Of all the things people want from X without an account, search is the one with no good free answer. The link-preview APIs (FxTwitter, vxTwitter) read single posts. The syndication endpoint reads single posts. Nitter had search, and most public Nitter instances are gone or legally blocked. That left either a developer account with a paid tier or a headless browser driving `x.com/search`, which is slow, fragile, and against the terms. This is what the free search endpoint does, how to query it, and where it stops. ## The request ```bash curl -s "https://unifapi.com/tools/x/search?q=from%3Anasa%20filter%3Amedia" ``` ```json { "query": "from:nasa filter:media", "posts": { "items": [ { "id": "2107566197579341846", "text": "After delivering science and supplies to the @Space_Station earlier this year, Northrop Grumman's Cygnus XL cargo spacecraft is scheduled to depart on Friday…", "createdAt": "2026-10-06T20:18:32.000Z", "url": "https://x.com/NASA/status/2107566197579341846", "author": { "handle": "NASA", "name": "NASA", "verified": true, "followers": 92373839 }, "metrics": { "likes": 2195, "reposts": 302, "replies": 114, "quotes": 20, "bookmarks": 104, "views": 1520159 }, "media": [ { "kind": "photo", "url": "https://pbs.twimg.com/media/…jpg", "width": 1920, "height": 1280 } ] } ], "hasMore": true, "nextCursor": "DAACCgACHUAq4qFAJxAKAAMd…" } } ``` The same request on the human page is `https://unifapi.com/tools/x-search?q=from:nasa filter:media`, and adding `&format=json` to that page URL returns the JSON above. Add `format=md` instead, or send `Accept: text/markdown`, to get the posts as Markdown, which fits a model's context window better than JSON. ## Operators that work The query goes to X's search as written, so the operators X documents for its own search box work here. These are the ones we use most: | Operator | Example | What it does | | ------------------- | ---------------------------- | ------------------------------- | | `from:` | `from:nasa` | Posts by one account | | `to:` | `to:nasa` | Replies addressed to an account | | `@handle` | `@nasa` | Posts mentioning an account | | `#tag` | `#Formula1` | Posts with a hashtag | | `"phrase"` | `"crew-12"` | Exact phrase | | `since:` / `until:` | `since:2026-10-01` | Date bounds (whole days) | | `min_faves:` | `min_faves:100` | At least N likes | | `min_retweets:` | `min_retweets:50` | At least N reposts | | `filter:media` | `from:nasa filter:media` | Only posts with photos or video | | `filter:links` | `filter:links` | Only posts with a link | | `-filter:replies` | `#Formula1 -filter:replies` | Exclude replies | | `-filter:retweets` | `from:nasa -filter:retweets` | Exclude reposts | | `lang:` | `lang:ja` | Language code | | `OR` | `nasa OR esa` | Either term | They combine. "Posts by NASA in the last week with at least 100 likes and a photo, no replies" is: ``` from:nasa since:2026-09-30 min_faves:100 filter:media -filter:replies ``` The [search page](/tools/x-search) has a filter for each of the five most common ones (account, date, likes, media, replies) and prints the query they build, which is the same string the API receives. ## Recent, not Top X's search has two rankings: "Top", which mixes relevance and age and will happily lead with a post from 2009, and "Latest", strictly newest first. The free endpoint asks for Latest. For monitoring, reactions to an event, and anything with a `since:` bound, that is the one you want. If you want "the most-liked posts about X this week", sort the Latest results yourself by `metrics.likes` or add `min_faves:` to cut the tail. ## Paging Every list in the free API is `{ items, hasMore, nextCursor }`. To continue, pass the cursor back: ```bash curl -s "https://unifapi.com/tools/x/search?q=%23Formula1&cursor=DAACCgACHUAq4qFAJxAKAAMd…" ``` Cursors are opaque strings; do not parse them. `hasMore` is true exactly when `nextCursor` is set. A search page is 20 posts, so three requests read about 60 posts for 6 of your 20 units. ## Limits, in the response ``` HTTP/2 200 X-RateLimit-Limit: 20 X-RateLimit-Remaining: 16 X-RateLimit-Reset: 1791357984 ``` The free tier is 20 units per 10 minutes per visitor across every `/tools/x/*` endpoint, and a search costs 2. When it runs out the answer is a 429 with `Retry-After` and a JSON body naming where to lift the cap: ```json { "error": { "type": "rate_limited", "message": "Free limit of 20 requests per 10 minutes reached. Retry after 412s, or use a UnifAPI workspace key (pay as you go) for uncapped access.", "retryAfterSeconds": 412, "upgrade": "https://unifapi.com/apis/twitter" } } ``` A well-behaved agent reads `X-RateLimit-Remaining` before deciding to page, and sleeps on `Retry-After` instead of retrying in a loop. ## What it does not do - **Relevance.** Results are newest first only. Old posts are reachable with dates (`from:jack until:2006-04-01` returns posts from March 2006), but nothing ranks the best of a period first, and X draws `since:`/`until:` day boundaries in its own time zone, so a range can spill a few hours either side. - **Protected accounts.** Only public posts are returned. - **Counts.** There is no "how many posts matched" number; X does not expose one for search. - **Guarantees.** The free tier is shared infrastructure with a per-visitor cap. A workflow that needs volume or an SLA moves to the metered API, where the field names are the same. ## A monitoring loop in twenty lines ```python import requests, time BASE = "https://unifapi.com/tools/x/search" seen = set() def poll(query): r = requests.get(BASE, params={"q": query}, headers={"Accept": "application/json"}) if r.status_code == 429: time.sleep(int(r.headers.get("Retry-After", "60"))) return [] r.raise_for_status() fresh = [p for p in r.json()["posts"]["items"] if p["id"] not in seen] seen.update(p["id"] for p in fresh) return fresh while True: for post in poll('"unifapi" -filter:replies'): print(post["createdAt"], post["author"]["handle"], post["metrics"]["likes"], post["url"]) time.sleep(600) ``` One search every 10 minutes is 2 of the 20 free units; the loop never trips the limit and it handles the 429 case anyway. ## FAQ ### Is there a free Twitter search API in 2026? Yes, this one: free to use with no login and no API key, rate-limited per visitor to 10 searches per 10 minutes. The official X API has no free search tier; its free plan allows posting only. ### Do Twitter advanced search operators work? Yes. The query is passed to X's search unchanged, so `from:`, `since:`, `until:`, `min_faves:`, `filter:media`, `-filter:replies`, `lang:`, and quoted phrases all work. ### How far back does search go? Back to 2006. Without dates you get the newest posts first; add `since:` and `until:` to jump to a period, for example `from:jack until:2006-04-01`. ### Can I get the results as Markdown instead of JSON? Yes. Add `format=md` or send `Accept: text/markdown`. The Markdown rendering lists each post with author, text, metrics, and URL.