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https://github.com/zedeus/nitter

Alternative Twitter front-end
https://github.com/zedeus/nitter

nim privacy self-hosted twitter

Last synced: 13 days ago
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Alternative Twitter front-end

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README 

        
# Nitter



[![Test Matrix](https://github.com/zedeus/nitter/workflows/Tests/badge.svg)](https://github.com/zedeus/nitter/actions/workflows/run-tests.yml)

[![Test Matrix](https://github.com/zedeus/nitter/workflows/Docker/badge.svg)](https://github.com/zedeus/nitter/actions/workflows/build-docker.yml)

[![License](https://img.shields.io/github/license/zedeus/nitter?style=flat)](#license)



A free and open source alternative Twitter front-end focused on privacy and

performance. \

Inspired by the [Invidious](https://github.com/iv-org/invidious)

project.



- No JavaScript or ads

- All requests go through the backend, client never talks to Twitter

- Prevents Twitter from tracking your IP or JavaScript fingerprint

- Uses Twitter's unofficial API (no rate limits or developer account required)

- Lightweight (for [@nim_lang](https://nitter.net/nim_lang), 60KB vs 784KB from twitter.com)

- RSS feeds

- Themes

- Mobile support (responsive design)

- AGPLv3 licensed, no proprietary instances permitted



Liberapay: https://liberapay.com/zedeus \

Patreon: https://patreon.com/nitter \

BTC: bc1qp7q4qz0fgfvftm5hwz3vy284nue6jedt44kxya \

ETH: 0x66d84bc3fd031b62857ad18c62f1ba072b011925 \

LTC: ltc1qhsz5nxw6jw9rdtw9qssjeq2h8hqk2f85rdgpkr \

XMR: 42hKayRoEAw4D6G6t8mQHPJHQcXqofjFuVfavqKeNMNUZfeJLJAcNU19i1bGdDvcdN6romiSscWGWJCczFLe9RFhM3d1zpL



## Roadmap



- Embeds

- Account system with timeline support

- Archiving tweets/profiles

- Developer API



## Resources



The wiki contains

[a list of instances](https://github.com/zedeus/nitter/wiki/Instances) and

[browser extensions](https://github.com/zedeus/nitter/wiki/Extensions)

maintained by the community.



## Why?



It's impossible to use Twitter without JavaScript enabled. For privacy-minded

folks, preventing JavaScript analytics and IP-based tracking is important, but

apart from using a VPN and uBlock/uMatrix, it's impossible. Despite being behind

a VPN and using heavy-duty adblockers, you can get accurately tracked with your

[browser's fingerprint](https://restoreprivacy.com/browser-fingerprinting/),

[no JavaScript required](https://noscriptfingerprint.com/). This all became

particularly important after Twitter [removed the

ability](https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/04/twitter-removes-privacy-option-and-shows-why-we-need-strong-privacy-laws)

for users to control whether their data gets sent to advertisers.



Using an instance of Nitter (hosted on a VPS for example), you can browse

Twitter without JavaScript while retaining your privacy. In addition to

respecting your privacy, Nitter is on average around 15 times lighter than

Twitter, and in most cases serves pages faster (eg. timelines load 2-4x faster).



In the future a simple account system will be added that lets you follow Twitter

users, allowing you to have a clean chronological timeline without needing a

Twitter account.



## Screenshot



![nitter](/screenshot.png)



## Installation



### Dependencies



- libpcre

- libsass

- redis



To compile Nitter you need a Nim installation, see

[nim-lang.org](https://nim-lang.org/install.html) for details. It is possible to

install it system-wide or in the user directory you create below.



To compile the scss files, you need to install `libsass`. On Ubuntu and Debian,

you can use `libsass-dev`.



Redis is required for caching and in the future for account info. It should be

available on most distros as `redis` or `redis-server` (Ubuntu/Debian).

Running it with the default config is fine, Nitter's default config is set to

use the default Redis port and localhost.



Here's how to create a `nitter` user, clone the repo, and build the project

along with the scss and md files.



```bash

# useradd -m nitter

# su nitter

$ git clone https://github.com/zedeus/nitter

$ cd nitter

$ nimble build -d:release

$ nimble scss

$ nimble md

$ cp nitter.example.conf nitter.conf

```



Set your hostname, port, HMAC key, https (must be correct for cookies), and

Redis info in `nitter.conf`. To run Redis, either run

`redis-server --daemonize yes`, or `systemctl enable --now redis` (or

redis-server depending on the distro). Run Nitter by executing `./nitter` or

using the systemd service below. You should run Nitter behind a reverse proxy

such as [Nginx](https://github.com/zedeus/nitter/wiki/Nginx) or

[Apache](https://github.com/zedeus/nitter/wiki/Apache) for security and

performance reasons.



### Docker



Page for the Docker image: https://hub.docker.com/r/zedeus/nitter



#### NOTE: For ARM64 support, please use the separate ARM64 docker image: [`zedeus/nitter:latest-arm64`](https://hub.docker.com/r/zedeus/nitter/tags).



To run Nitter with Docker, you'll need to install and run Redis separately

before you can run the container. See below for how to also run Redis using

Docker.



To build and run Nitter in Docker:



```bash

docker build -t nitter:latest .

docker run -v $(pwd)/nitter.conf:/src/nitter.conf -d --network host nitter:latest

```



Note: For ARM64, use this Dockerfile: [`Dockerfile.arm64`](https://github.com/zedeus/nitter/blob/master/Dockerfile.arm64).



A prebuilt Docker image is provided as well:



```bash

docker run -v $(pwd)/nitter.conf:/src/nitter.conf -d --network host zedeus/nitter:latest

```



Using docker-compose to run both Nitter and Redis as different containers:

Change `redisHost` from `localhost` to `nitter-redis` in `nitter.conf`, then run:



```bash

docker-compose up -d

```



Note the Docker commands expect a `nitter.conf` file in the directory you run

them.



### systemd



To run Nitter via systemd you can use this service file:



```ini

[Unit]

Description=Nitter (An alternative Twitter front-end)

After=syslog.target

After=network.target



[Service]

Type=simple



# set user and group

User=nitter

Group=nitter



# configure location

WorkingDirectory=/home/nitter/nitter

ExecStart=/home/nitter/nitter/nitter



Restart=always

RestartSec=15



[Install]

WantedBy=multi-user.target

```



Then enable and run the service:

`systemctl enable --now nitter.service`



### Logging



Nitter currently prints some errors to stdout, and there is no real logging

implemented. If you're running Nitter with systemd, you can check stdout like

this: `journalctl -u nitter.service` (add `--follow` to see just the last 15

lines). If you're running the Docker image, you can do this:

`docker logs --follow *nitter container id*`



## Contact



Feel free to join our [Matrix channel](https://matrix.to/#/#nitter:matrix.org).

You can email me at [email protected] if you wish to contact me personally.