rhysd / tweet-app

Desktop Twitter client only for tweeting. Timeline never shows up.

Tweet.app

Tweet app is a small Twitter client only for tweeting on Twitter, but never shows a tweets timeline. It's built on mobile Twitter website and Electron.

• Tweet form is the same as mobile official client (accurate characters count, emoji picker, pictures/movies upload, save draft tweets, poll, ...)
• After posting a tweet, it goes back to the tweet form again. Timeline never shows up in this app
• Replying to a previously posted tweet (making tweets thread) is supported
• Multi-account support
• Terminal is first class. A tweet command is provided to access to the app from command line
• Customizable. Keyboard shortcuts and lifecycle of the application can be configured
• macOS, Linux and Windows are supported (confirmed with macOS 10.15, Ubuntu 18.04, Windows 10)

Screenshot

• New tweet

• Reply to previously posted tweet

The Problem

While using Twitter, it promotes seeing a tweets timeline. Twitter shows timeline after posting a tweet. But I want to control the timing to see timeline since it's time consuming especially when I'm working on something (e.g. coding, debugging, ...).

By separating posting a tweet from seeing timeline, it stops you 'escaping' into a timeline (and consuming time to see it) and makes you back to your work when posting a tweet. I'm also thinking that reducing times to see a timeline and actively determining the timing to see it are effective to avoid SNS addiction.

To achieve the separation, this app only provides the functionality to post tweets.

Installation

Install App

From release page

Installers for each platforms are ready at releases page. Please download it for your platform and double click it to install.

• macOS: Tweet-x.y.z.dmg or Tweet-x.y.z-mac.zip
• Linux: Tweet x.y.z.AppImage (in AppImage format) or tweet-app_x.y.z_amd64.deb or tweet-app_x.y.z.zip
• Windows: Tweet Setup.x.y.z.exe (as NSIS installer)

Note: On macOS, trying to install app may be rejected by OS at first time since this app is not signed with code signing. In the case, please allow to run it from System Preferences -> Security and Privacy.

With homebrew-cask

If you're macOS user and using homebrew-cask, this app can be installed via it. Please tap the repository URL and install this app via brew cask as follows.

brew tap rhysd/tweet-app https://github.com/rhysd/tweet-app
brew cask install tweet

It's easiest way to install and manage this app on macOS.

With npm package manager

npm install -g tweet-app

electron package is a peer-dependency so it is not installed automatically. If you have not installed the package yet. Please install it additionally.

npm install -g electron

CLI Setup

This app can be accessed from command line. As optional, this section describes how to setup it.

Using installed app

When you have installed this app via homebrew-cask, you need to do nothing here. tweet command was already setup at /usr/local/bin (it requires node).

If you have installed the app from release page, tweet command can be setup as a symbolic link. Please make a symbolic link to app/bin/cli.js in resources directory.

For example, on macOS:

ln -s /path/to/Tweet.app/Contents/Resources/app/bin/cli.js /usr/local/bin/tweet

It requires node executable to run the cli.js script with this configuration.

Note: Please do not move cli.js to other directory since it locates Electron binary depending on its file path. Otherwise, you need to pass --electron-path option.

Even if you don't want to install node executable, it's ok since Electron app executable can run as node executable as well. Please set $ELECTRON_RUN_AS_NODE environment variable.

tweet command can be setup as an alias of shell or small ShellScript (on Linux or macOS) or batch (on Windows) which sets the environment variable and run the script by forwarding all commandline options.

For example, on macOS:

alias tweet='ELECTRON_RUN_AS_NODE=true /Applications/Tweet.app/Contents/MacOS/Tweet /Applications/Tweet.app/Contents/Resources/app/bin/cli.js'

With npm

If you installed this app via npm by installing tweet-app and electron package, everything has been done. npm should put tweet command in $PATH directory.

If you have installed the app from release page, installing only tweet-app package should work as follows.

Install it via npm.

npm install -g tweet-app

And set the installed app's executable path to $TWEET_APP_ELECTRON_EXECUTABLE environment variable or pass it to --electron-path option.

For example (on macOS):

export TWEET_APP_ELECTRON_EXECUTABLE=/Applications/Tweet.app/Contents/MacOS/Tweet

# or

alias tweet='tweet --electron-path=/Applications/Tweet.app/Contents/MacOS/Tweet'

Usage

Basic Usage

When starting app at first, You'll see login page. It's actually https://mobile.twitter.com/login so please enter your login information. Then the page will be redirected to tweet form.

Note: Please consider to create a configuration file config.json to enable some functionality. Since Twitter Lite does not expose a screen name in DOM, setting it to default_account is necessary to notify this app your screen name. Please see 'Customization' section for the detail.

The tweet form is exactly the same as the input form of https://mobile.twitter.com/compose/tweet. All functionalities like accurate characters count, picture/movie upload, emoji picker, save draft tweets, poll,... are available. Clicking '+' chains additional tweets.

Menu items are in menu bar on macOS, and in a window tool bar on Windows and Linux. By default, the window hides a tool bar on Windows and Linux. To reveal it, please type Alt.

By clicking 'Tweet' (or 'Tweet All') button, it sends your tweet(s) to Twitter. And it returns to 'New Tweet' input form again instead of showing a timeline.

This app uses accessibility label in some features. For example it finds out an element for 'Tweet' button based on the label and only English and Japanese are supported for now. If you find your language is not supported, please create an issue to request a support.

Reply to Previous Tweet

After posting a tweet, you may want to chain a new tweet by replying to the previous tweet. This app remembers the previous tweet on memory. Selecting 'Reply to Previous Tweet' in 'Edit' menu shows an input form to reply to your previous tweet.

Command Usage in Terminal

Usage: tweet [options] [text]

Desktop application for tweeting. Timeline never shows up.

Options:
  -V, --version              output the version number
  -t --hashtags <list>       comma-separated list of hashtags (e.g. "js,react,node")
  -a --after-tweet <action>  what to do after posting tweet. One of 'new tweet', 'reply previous', 'close', 'quit'
  --no-detach                do not detach process from shell
  -r --reply                 reply to tweet sent previously. This option is only effective when app is already running
  --electron-path <path>     file path to Electron executable to run app
  -h, --help                 output usage information

The command tweet opens GUI window and a tweet form. When running the command,

• if this app is not running yet, it starts GUI app
• if this app is running in background, it reopens a window
• if this app is running, it gives focus on application's window

In any case of above, the command line options passed to tweet are reflected.

Run This App as Background App

By setting quit_on_close to false in configuration, app does not quit even if you close the window. It remains as 'background app' in system. When app is started again next time by clicking application icon in launcher or dock, the background app is activated and it shows a window again.

To stop the application, please choose 'Quit' from menu item or context menu at dock.

For configuration, please see 'Customization' section for more detail. For performance of the background app, please see 'Performance' section as well.

Multi-account

This app supports configuring multiple accounts. By setting additional accounts to other_accounts in configuration, you can switch accounts from 'Accounts' menu. When switching accounts, the window is created again to switch login session. For configuration, please read following 'Customization' section.

Context Menu

Thanks to electron-context-menu, it supports basic context menu on right click.

In addition, 'Unlink auto links' item appears when showing context menu after selecting text in tweet form. It removes auto links in selected text by inserting zero-width space.

Touch Bar Support

For recent MacBook Pro, this app supports a touch bar.

Customization

Behavior of this app can be configured with JSON configuration file. The configuration file and all values in it are optional. default_account is recommended to be set since some features of this app is depending on it.

Configuration File

Please put a JSON file named config.json at application's data directory.

• ~/Library/Application Support/Tweet/config.json on macOS
• $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/Tweet/config.json or ~/.config/Tweet/config.json on Linux
• %APPDATA%\Tweet\config.json on Windows

default_account (String)

Screen name (@name) used by default. @ can be omitted. If this value is not set, some features of this app are unavailable. Especially 'Reply to Previous Tweet' feature is not available. This app extracts your last tweet from timeline drawn after posting a new tweet, but it requires your screen name. Twitter Lite does not expose a screen name in DOM, so this app needs to know it from configuration.

I recommend to set this value.

other_accounts (Array<String>)

An array of screen names. These accounts can be switched from 'Accounts' menu.

keymaps (Object<String | Null>)

Object of key shortcut mappings. Key string is a label of menu item. Value is string representing key combination as Electron's accelerator or null. For example, "Click Tweet Button": "CmdOrCtrl+Shift+Enter" changes keyboard shortcut for clicking tweet button from keyboard to Cmd + Shift + Enter. When null is set, key shortcut is cleared for the menu item.

after_tweet (String)

What this app should do after posting a tweet as string value. Possible values are as follows:

• "new tweet": Back to 'New Tweet' page.
• "reply previous": Back to 'Reply to Previous Tweet' page. It's useful when you often chain your tweets.
• "close": Close and unfocus the app but not quit. This is the same as "quit" when quit_on_close is set to true. It's useful when you want to back to your work after posting a new tweet.
• "quit": Quit the app.

Default behavior is "new tweet".

hotkey (String)

Hot key shortcut as string. Format is the same as keymaps values (Electron's accelerator).

The key shortcut is global to toggle window of this app. It enables to access to this app from anywhere with one key shortcut. Please be careful to define this key shortcut since it overwrites existing key shortcut.

By default no hot key is defined.

quit_on_close (Boolean)

When true, this app quits after closing a window. This is a default behavior on Linux and Windows.

When false, this app does not quit. It means that main process does not die, but renderer process ends when closing the window. It means that this app goes to background apps after closing a window. Please read 'Performance' about background app performance. This is a default behavior on macOS.

window (Object<Any>)

window is an object containing configuration for window properties. Each properties are described as follows.

• window.width (Number): Width of window in pixels. Default value is 600.
• window.height (Number): Height of window in pixels. Default value is 600.
• window.zoom (Number): Zoom factor of font size in float number. 1.0 means 100%.
• window.auto_hide_menu_bar (Boolean): This config value is effective only on Linux or Windows. Default value is true. When this value is set to true, a tool bar menu in window is hidden automatically. Typing Alt reveals the menu temporarily. When this value is set to false, a tool bar menu is always shown in window.
• window.visible_on_all_workspaces (Boolean): If this value is set to true, the application window appears in every workspace rather than sticking the workspace the window was opened at first. Default value is false.

Configuration Example

Here is my own configuration:

{
  "default_account": "@Linda_pp",
  "keymaps": {
    "Click Tweet Button": "CmdOrCtrl+Shift+Enter"
  },
  "after_tweet": "close",
  "window": {
    "width": 450,
    "height": 420,
    "zoom": 0.8
  }
}

FAQ

How can I enable dark mode?

1. Choose 'Toggle Developer Tools' from 'View' menu
2. Move to 'console' tab in DevTools
3. Enter JavaScript location.href = 'https://mobile.twitter.com'
4. Click your icon at top left of the window to open account menu
5. Click toggle switch of dark mode
6. Close DevTools and click 'New Tweet' from 'Edit' menu to back

How can I delete a tweet previously posted?

1. Click 'Open Previous Tweet' item in 'Edit' menu
2. Find a dropdown menu at top right
3. Click 'Delete' item in the dropdown menu
4. After deleting the tweet, automatically redirect to 'New Tweet' page

How can I save current text as draft?

1. Click 'Cancel Tweet' item in 'Edit' menu
2. When some text is in textarea, a dialog shows up with 'Discard' or 'Save' buttons
3. Click 'Save' button
4. Click 'Unsent Tweets' link in tweet page to restore the text later

Performance

While a window is closed, renderer process is shutdown and there are only main process and GPU process. Total memory footprint is around 70MB and CPU usage is 0.0%. When opening a window, a renderer process is created. Memory usage and CPU usage of the renderer process are depending on rendered contents https://mobile.twitter.com .

Security

This app conforms the official guideline.

Regarding to permissions, only media and geolocation permissions are allowed in the browser window. When mobile.twitter.com requests these permissions, the main process will open a confirmation dialog to ask user if it is allowed. Other permission requests are always rejected.

Feedback

If you're facing some bug or having any feature request, please report it from Issues page. Pull requests are more than welcome.

License

Distributed under the MIT License.

Some icon was provided by feather icons (Copyright (c) 2013-2017 Cole Bemis).

tweet-app's Issues

Support for Flatpak, Snap and Appimage

Hi
it will be perfect to support distro-agnostic packaging method such as Flatpak, Snap and Appimage. Is it possible to support Flatpak, Snap and Appimage for Linux?

Sending a scheduled tweet shows timeline

Environment

• Tweet app v0.3.2
• macOS 10.15

Repro

1. Open tweet app
2. Enter some text to tweet form
3. Click the calendar icon
4. Configure schedule
5. Click "Confirm" button. On backing to tweet form, the "Tweet" button changed to "Schedule"
6. Click "Schedule" button to send the scheduled tweet
7. Timeline shows up

Support posting to Mastodon

New Feature: Tweet post delay after clicking tweet button

Just after posting tweet, I sometimes notice some typo in it. It's easy to delete the previous post but posting it again is not easy. This feature adds feature to 'cancel' posting tweet while a few seconds after clicking tweet button.

1. User clicks tweet button
2. tweet-app shows the tweet content and 'cancel' button
3. If user doesn't click 'cancel' button, it really clicks the tweet button. If user does, it does not click the button and back to tweet form (it means 'do nothing' actually)

New Feature: Menubar mode

For use case without command line, attaching window to menu bar and showing menu bar icon would be useful.

Possibly useful library for this: https://github.com/maxogden/menubar

New feature: Draft

Twitter does not support saving draft of tweet as service since each Twitter client supports it.

I'm considering this app supports the feature:

• Add 'Draft' menu and 'Save as Draft' as its first menu item
• When clicking it, renderer checks input form and extract following information and send it to main
  • text
  • in_reply_to user ID (should be undefined on normal tweet)
• Main process manages draft in JSON file at user data directory
  • Draft items should be put per user
• Draft items are listed in 'Draft' menu as menu item after first item 'Save as Draft'
  • When clicking it, main process will reopen the application window with proper text= and in_reply_to= params
  • After content is opened correctly (I think it can be confirmed by online status), main will delete the draft item and the menu item

Alternative implementation is saving the data to local storage, but I'm considering that managing drafts in main would make things simpler.

Current limitation: Chain of tweets in tweet form is not preserved.

Cannot delete previous tweet

Sometimes it is necessary for example they want to fix typo.

body {-webkit-app-region: drag;} totally disables clicks on Windows

body {-webkit-app-region: drag;} does not disable clicks for buttons and forms on macOS, but on Windows, they are totally disabled.

Remember previous tweet even after switching account

Repro

1. Open app
2. Post a tweet A
3. Switch to another account
4. Back to original account
5. Try to reply to the previous tweet

Expected

It shows a page to reply to tweet A

Actual

It shows a dialog that 'you must post at least once before reply'

New Feature: 'Add link with title'

Add menu item 'Add Link with Title'. When clicking it, app shows a dialog to input URL. After inputting URL and typing ENTER, app fetches a title of the page and append the title and URL with template. Default template is " / '%t' %u".

For example, let's say title of https://example.com is 'Example'. Then typing the URL to the dialog generates text / 'Example' https://example.com and append it to tweet form.

Only shows a white screen when not connected to the internet

Only shows a white screen when not connected to the internet:

Reference:
AppImage/appimage.github.io#1311