Script to add everyone you follow on Twitter to a new private list

new_private_list_with_all_followed_users.go

/*
new_private_list_with_all_followed_users.go

Script to add everyone you follow on Twitter to a new private list

Usage (requires Go 1.13+):

	// Name of the Twitter list (should not exist yet, will be created)
	export TW_LIST_NAME="<new_list_name>"

	// Twitter auth vars, obtain these from https://developer.twitter.com/
	export TW_CONSUMER_KEY="<twitter_api_consumer_key>"
	export TW_CONSUMER_SECRET="<twitter_api_consumer_secret>"
	export TW_ACCESS_TOKEN="<twitter_api_access_token>"
	export TW_ACCESS_SECRET="<twitter_api_access_secret>"

	// Download Go dependencies
	go mod init new_private_list_with_all_followed_users
	go mod vendor

	// Run it
	go run new_private_list_with_all_followed_users.go
*/

package main

import (
	"log"
	"math"
	"net/http"
	"os"
	"sort"
	"strings"
	"time"

	tw "github.com/dghubble/go-twitter/twitter"
	"github.com/dghubble/oauth1"
)

var (
	listName       = os.Getenv("TW_LIST_NAME")
	consumerKey    = os.Getenv("TW_CONSUMER_KEY")
	consumerSecret = os.Getenv("TW_CONSUMER_SECRET")
	accessToken    = os.Getenv("TW_ACCESS_TOKEN")
	accessSecret   = os.Getenv("TW_ACCESS_SECRET")

	client             *tw.Client
	account            *tw.User
	followedUsersCache = map[string]int64{}
)

func main() {
	checkEnv()
	createClient()
	loadAccount()
	loadFollowedUsers()
	createNewListWithAllFollowedUsers()
}

func checkEnv() {
	if listName == "" || consumerKey == "" || consumerSecret == "" || accessToken == "" || accessSecret == "" {
		log.Fatal("Missing one of the required env vars: " +
			"TW_LIST_NAME TW_CONSUMER_KEY TW_CONSUMER_SECRET TW_ACCESS_TOKEN TW_ACCESS_SECRET")
	}
}

func createClient() {
	client = tw.NewClient(oauth1.NewConfig(consumerKey, consumerSecret).Client(oauth1.NoContext,
		oauth1.NewToken(accessToken, accessSecret)))
}

func loadAccount() {
	var err error
	accountVerifyParams := tw.AccountVerifyParams{}
	account, _, err = client.Accounts.VerifyCredentials(&accountVerifyParams)
	if err != nil {
		log.Fatal(err)
	}
	log.Println("Your username:", account.ScreenName)
}

func loadFollowedUsers() {
	var nextCursor int64
	for {
		friendsListParams := tw.FriendListParams{
			UserID: account.ID,
			Cursor: nextCursor,
			Count:  200, // Max
		}
		log.Printf("Listing users followed (cursor: %d)\n", nextCursor)
		friends, resp, err := client.Friends.List(&friendsListParams)
		if err != nil {
			log.Fatal(err)
		}
		log.Printf("HTTP Status: %d\n", resp.StatusCode)
		if resp.StatusCode != http.StatusOK {
			log.Fatal("Unexpected HTTP status code")
		}
		log.Printf("Listed %d users\n", len(friends.Users))
		s := "---\nid,name\n"
		for _, u := range friends.Users {
			followedUsersCache[strings.ToLower(u.ScreenName)] = u.ID
			s += u.IDStr + "," + u.ScreenName + "\n"
		}
		log.Println(s + "---")
		if nextCursor = friends.NextCursor; nextCursor == 0 {
			break
		}
		log.Println("Sleeping 5 seconds to prevent rate-limiting...")
		time.Sleep(5 * time.Second)
	}
	log.Printf("Found %d followed users total\n", len(followedUsersCache))
}

func createNewListWithAllFollowedUsers() {
	listCreateParams := tw.ListsCreateParams{
		Mode: "private",
	}
	log.Println("Creating new private list:", listName)
	list, resp, err := client.Lists.Create(listName, &listCreateParams)
	if err != nil {
		log.Fatal(err)
	}
	log.Printf("Private list created: %d (%s)", list.ID, listName)
	log.Printf("HTTP Status: %d\n", resp.StatusCode)
	if resp.StatusCode != http.StatusOK {
		log.Fatal("Unexpected HTTP status code")
	}
	log.Println("Private list created:", listName)
	var keys []string
	for k := range followedUsersCache {
		keys = append(keys, k)
	}
	sort.Strings(keys)
	numKeys := float64(len(keys))
	currentPart := 1
	numParts := int(math.Max(math.Ceil(numKeys/float64(100)), 1)) // 100 is max per page
	for {
		partIDs := keys[(currentPart-1)*100 : int(math.Min(float64(currentPart*100), numKeys))]
		membersCreateAllParams := tw.ListsMembersCreateAllParams{
			ListID:          list.ID,
			Slug:            listName,
			OwnerScreenName: account.ScreenName,
			UserID:          strings.Join(partIDs, ","),
		}
		log.Printf("Adding users to list (num users: %d)\n", len(partIDs))
		resp, err := client.Lists.MembersCreateAll(&membersCreateAllParams)
		if err != nil {
			log.Fatal(err)
		}
		log.Printf("HTTP Status: %d\n", resp.StatusCode)
		if resp.StatusCode != http.StatusOK {
			log.Fatal("Unexpected HTTP status code")
		}
		if numParts <= currentPart {
			break
		}
		currentPart++
		log.Println("Sleeping 5 seconds to prevent rate-limiting...")
		time.Sleep(5 * time.Second)
	}
	log.Printf("Added %d users to list %s\n", int(numKeys), listName)
}

Hey @jdolitsky, thanks for sharing this script! Been looking for a way to do this for awhile. I've never used Go before so pardon the noob question, but how do I modify the auth vars in the script to include my list name and auth keys?

Am I supposed to uncomment lines 12-15 (after replacing the <twitter_api_X_X> parts with my respective auth keys/tokens/secrets)?

@sweinberg - glad you found it useful. The comment section are the commands you need to run in the terminal (export environment variables, run the program, etc.)