Syfol

Syfol is a script that allows any Twitter user to gain followers by temporarily following others.

Features

• [x] Follows users posting tweets matching specified search criteria
• [x] Adheres to Twitter's rate limiting
• [x] Skips any users that have been followed before
• [x] Configurable limits, see config
• [x] Never crashes, all exceptions caught
• [ ] Distribute (un)follows over time for a better relationship with Twitter's rate limiting AI
• [ ] Automatically retrieve new access tokens on expiry
• [ ] Slack integration (status updates, work done, change params)
• [ ] Fully-managed cloud service for the less technical

Usage

Syfol can be used as a NPM package but is designed primarily to be used as a script. See NPM usage below.

1. Clone the repo
2. Run npm install inside the directory
3. Run npm build inside the directory
4. Add your env file (see config below)
5. Execute the dist/script.js file (forever or PM2 is recommended)

Logging is done by the debug module. To see the logs, change the DEBUG parameter when executing the script. The best options are DEBUG=* and slightly less verbose DEBUG='syfol:main'. The debug module will then log to stderr.

Config

Configuration is done via an env file. The default configuration path is ~/.syfol but this can be changed by setting the ENV_PATH global. Ensure the path is absolute.

This is an example file minus API keys which you need to get from Twitter.

SEARCH_QUERY='candy'           # The query for the search
BATCH_INTERVAL=3600000         # The interval between batches
BATCH_QUANTITY=50              # Users to follow per batch
FOLLOW_PERIOD=21600000         # Period of time to follow a user
FOLLOWER_LIMIT=500             # Max following count from syfol
EXCLUDE_USERS='12,775,6231,4'  # User IDs to exclude

TWITTER_CONSUMER_KEY=''
TWITTER_CONSUMER_SECRET=''
TWITTER_ACCESS_TOKEN_KEY=''
TWITTER_ACCESS_TOKEN_SECRET=''

NPM Usage

You can also use this module as an NPM module although there is very little functionality.

Install from npm

npm install syfol

Then use in code in the following way:

import { setup, cancel, changeEnvPath } from 'syfol'

/* Setup env variables */

// via a file at ~/.syfol

// or via a file at a different path
changeEnvPath('/Users/user/path/to/syfol.env')

// or set manually
process.env.KEY_NAME = 'some value'

/* Enable debugging / logging */

// optionally set `DEBUG` variable to see logs
process.env.DEBUG = '*' // or 'syfol:main'

/* Start by calling setup() */
setup()

/* End by calling cancel() */
setTimeout(cancel, 86400 * 1000) // ends after one day