Posting to X from email with Python

 Fri, 13 Jun 2025 08:24 UTC

Image: CC BY 4.0 by cybrkyd

This is my proof of concept for sending a post to X (Twitter) via an e-mail with Python. The script checks for unread e-mails with the subject “tweet.it”, extracts the content, and sends a post to X with proper formatting and image attachments (if present). Note that it should only handle one e-mail at a time.

The script can be automated to run at set intervals via a CRON job. In this case, it can be set to check e-mails, say, every 15 minutes.

Workflow

1. Checks for new “tweet.it” emails
2. Extracts text content (tweet body)
3. Saves any image attachments temporarily
4. Uploads images to Twitter if present
5. Posts combined tweet (text + media)
6. Marks processed emails as read

The script

#!/usr/bin/env python3

import requests
from requests_oauthlib import OAuth1
import imaplib
import email
from email.header import decode_header
import os
from datetime import datetime

# Twitter API credentials
API_KEY = 'xxx'
API_SECRET_KEY = 'xxx'
ACCESS_TOKEN = 'xxx'
ACCESS_TOKEN_SECRET = 'xxx'

# Email credentials
IMAP_SERVER = 'xxx'
EMAIL_USER = 'xxx'
EMAIL_PASSWORD = 'xxx'

# Endpoint URLs
upload_url = "https://upload.twitter.com/1.1/media/upload.json"
tweet_url = "https://api.twitter.com/2/tweets"

def create_oauth1():
    return OAuth1(API_KEY, API_SECRET_KEY, ACCESS_TOKEN, ACCESS_TOKEN_SECRET)

def upload_media(media_path):
    auth = create_oauth1()
    files = {'media': open(media_path, 'rb')}
    r = requests.post(upload_url, auth=auth, files=files)
    if r.status_code == 200:
        return r.json()['media_id_string']
    return None

def post_tweet_with_media(tweet_content, media_id=None):
    auth = create_oauth1()
    payload = {"text": tweet_content}
    if media_id:
        payload["media"] = {"media_ids": [media_id]}
    return requests.post(tweet_url, auth=auth, json=payload)

def mark_email_as_read(mail, email_id):
    mail.store(email_id, '+FLAGS', '\Seen')

def check_email_and_tweet():
    mail = imaplib.IMAP4_SSL(IMAP_SERVER)
    mail.login(EMAIL_USER, EMAIL_PASSWORD)
    mail.select("inbox")
    status, messages = mail.search(None, '(UNSEEN SUBJECT "tweet.it")')
    email_ids = messages[0].split()

    for email_id in email_ids:
        res, msg = mail.fetch(email_id, "(RFC822)")
        for response_part in msg:
            if isinstance(response_part, tuple):
                msg = email.message_from_bytes(response_part[1])
                subject, encoding = decode_header(msg["Subject"])[0]
                if isinstance(subject, bytes):
                    subject = subject.decode(encoding)
                if subject.lower() == "tweet.it":
                    tweet_text = ""
                    media_path = None

                    for part in msg.walk():
                        if part.get_content_type() == "text/plain":
                            tweet_text = part.get_payload(decode=True).decode(part.get_content_charset())
                        elif part.get_content_type().startswith("image"):
                            filename = part.get_filename()
                            if filename:
                                media_path = os.path.join("/tmp", filename)
                                with open(media_path, "wb") as f:
                                    f.write(part.get_payload(decode=True))

                    media_id = None
                    if media_path:
                        media_id = upload_media(media_path)
                        os.remove(media_path)

                    response = post_tweet_with_media(tweet_text, media_id)
                    if response.status_code == 201:
                        mark_email_as_read(mail, email_id)

    mail.logout()

check_email_and_tweet()

Easy-peasy! The end.