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How to Access the Meta Threads API
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Threads
Meta’s attempt at a Twitter Killer, Threads, launched last week. By all accounts, the app has been incredibly successful in its first few days, amassing over 100,000,000 users.
Threads Backend
Meta claims that they intend to transition to an open-source, decentralized protocol called ActivityPub, which would mean user data could be accessed by different servers on the decentralized network (aka the fediverse). ActivityPub is a protocol that has existed for many years, and most notably is the protocol used by the social media site mastodon.social.
It’s quite likely that Threads will not have an official API until it transitions to the ActivityPub protocol.
Understanding the Threads API
One repository that may be useful contains one developer’s notes taken while reverse-engineering the Threads API used in the app. Basically, the user just documented API requests that came through when interacting with the frontend of the app (getting a user profile posts, profile replies, specific posts, etc.). You can find the notes here:
Meta has made it clear that development on the platform is far from complete, so while these notes capture current interaction between the frontend and backend, these interactions are subject to change, meaning these notes are unlikely to remain useful for long.
Unofficial Threads API Options
There are several unofficial, reverse-engineered Threads APIs that exist and have gained some traction on GitHub. The python API that has gained most traction thus far is authored by junhoyeo and can be found here:
It supports most, if not all, the functionality an official API would support, such as fetching posts, reading user profile info, liking posts, following users, writing posts, and more!
There is an abundance of unofficial, reverse-engineered Javascript APIs for Threads, such as the following:
Its important to remember that these tools are not endorsed by Meta and usage of them likely violates Meta’s Usage Terms. Thus, it’s best to steer clear and wait for an official API.