Convert Tweepy Status object into JSON

Question

I'm using Tweepy to download tweets. I have a program that then writes the actual Status object to a file in text form. How do I translate this into JSON, or import this object back into Python? I've tried using the JSON library to encode, but Status is not JSON serializable.

I did, I've tried using the JSON Library, but the object isn't JSON serializable — KOM, Jan 12 '15 at 11:06

score 105 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 12 '15 at 11:36

105

The Status object of tweepy itself is not JSON serializable, but it has a _json property which contains JSON serializable response data. For example:

>>> status_list = api.user_timeline(user_handler)
>>> status = status_list[0]
>>> json_str = json.dumps(status._json)

answered Jan 12 '15 at 11:36

taskinoor

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Note that this is a private attribute set on the [model](https://github.com/tweepy/tweepy/blob/cd46550b3ef068857f5de9c37bbdd0a72acb7462/tweepy/models.py#L78) and not mentioned anywhere in the docs, nor used elsewhere in the code. So it may conceivably be removed one day. But on the other hand, as long as it's there, you can just as easily use it to create json dumps of the whole list using `json.dumps([status._json for status in status_list])`. – yoniLavi Nov 13 '16 at 02:56
2

@yoniLavi yes, it wasn't mentioned in the doc and it was hard to find. On the other hand this is very useful. One of my teammates figured it out while we were trying to dump raw data on files. Hopefully tweepy developers will add this or something equivalent as documented method in future. – taskinoor Nov 13 '16 at 03:59

Greg · Answer 2 · 2018-06-10T22:27:32.317

12

A better way to do this is to use a tweepy parser. It's not documented very well - see the Tweepy API reference - but it's a public API, so much safer than using the _json property.

import tweepy
auth = tweepy.OAuthHandler(CONSUMER_KEY, CONSUMER_SECRET)
auth.set_access_token(ACCESS_TOKEN, ACCESS_TOKEN_SECRET)
api = tweepy.API(auth, parser=tweepy.parsers.JSONParser())
status = api.user_timeline(user=username, count=1)[0]
json.dumps(status)

status is now a json object.

edited Jun 10 '18 at 22:27

answered May 25 '17 at 04:55

Greg

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this is not (anymore?) true – salvob Jun 08 '18 at 16:46
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I tried: status = `api.get_status(tweet_id)` and it gives me: `() is not JSON serializable` Try it yourself, if you can – salvob Jun 10 '18 at 22:36
but it should be a Status Object, so I think Status Object are not JSON serializable. – salvob Jun 11 '18 at 08:48
it gives me the same error for the example you posted, so even for user_timeline – salvob Jun 11 '18 at 09:06
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Works in Python 3.7 and it should be the preferred solution. – Jeyekomon Jul 09 '19 at 15:30

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered May 24 '18 at 04:08

1

users = api.search_users('TimHortons', 1)
print(json.dumps(users[0]._json))

Use json.dumps(users[0]._json) if object has _json. Users was only an example.

answered May 24 '18 at 04:08

Belloz

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score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Apr 16 '23 at 05:36

With the latest versions of tweepy, this became much easier. You only need to pass return_type=dict when you construct your client:

client_v2 = tweepy.Client(
    bearer_token="",
    consumer_key="",        # api key in dev page
    consumer_secret="",     # api key secret in dev page
    access_token="",        # for user
    access_token_secret="", # for user 
    return_type=dict,       # <<----- not mentioned in examples
)
response = client_v2.SOME_METHOD(...)
print(json.dumps(response, indent=4))

Convert Tweepy Status object into JSON

4 Answers4

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