A free Twitter search API that returns JSON, with X's search operators
By Steven Van ·
Unif API's free endpoint takes X search operators and returns 20 posts a page, capped at 10 searches per 10 minutes per visitor.
Recent public X posts can now be searched as JSON through Unif API with no login, account or API key. The endpoint is GET https://unifapi.com/tools/x/search?q=, and it is rate-limited per visitor.
Operators and results
The query goes to X's search as written, so X's own operators work in q. These include from:, to:, since:, until:, min_faves:, min_retweets:, filter:media, filter:links, -filter:replies, lang: and quoted phrases. They can be combined, for example from:nasa since:2026-09-30 min_faves:100 filter:media -filter:replies.
Each post comes back with its text, date, URL, author (handle, name, verified status, followers), metrics (likes, reposts, replies, quotes, bookmarks, views) and any media. Results are newest first, 20 per page. Without dates you get the newest posts. Adding since: and until: reaches back to 2006.
Paging and output formats
Every list is returned as { items, hasMore, nextCursor }. To continue, pass the cursor back as cursor. Cursors are opaque and should not be parsed. Adding format=md or sending Accept: text/markdown returns the posts as Markdown instead of JSON.
Limits
The free limit is 20 units per 10 minutes per visitor across every /tools/x/* endpoint. A search costs 2 units, so that is 10 searches. The X-RateLimit-Limit, X-RateLimit-Remaining and X-RateLimit-Reset headers show the current state. When the cap is hit, the endpoint returns a 429 with a Retry-After header and a JSON body that points to a UnifAPI workspace key (pay as you go) for uncapped access.
What it does not do
- It does not rank by relevance. Results are newest first only.
- It does not return protected accounts, only public posts.
- It gives no count of matching posts, because X does not expose one for search.
- Since X draws since: and until: day boundaries in its own time zone, a range can spill a few hours either side.
- The free tier is shared infrastructure with a per-visitor cap and no guarantees. Workflows that need volume or an SLA move to the metered API, which uses the same field names.
