nitter/README.md

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# Nitter
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A free and open source alternative Twitter front-end focused on privacy. \
Inspired by the [Invidious](https://github.com/iv-org/invidious) project.
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- 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)
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- Lightweight (for [@nim_lang](https://nitter.net/nim_lang), 60KB vs 784KB from twitter.com)
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- RSS feeds
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- Themes
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- Mobile support (responsive design)
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- AGPLv3 licensed, no proprietary instances permitted
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Liberapay: https://liberapay.com/zedeus \
Patreon: https://patreon.com/nitter \
BTC: bc1qp7q4qz0fgfvftm5hwz3vy284nue6jedt44kxya \
ETH: 0x66d84bc3fd031b62857ad18c62f1ba072b011925 \
LTC: ltc1qhsz5nxw6jw9rdtw9qssjeq2h8hqk2f85rdgpkr \
XMR: 42hKayRoEAw4D6G6t8mQHPJHQcXqofjFuVfavqKeNMNUZfeJLJAcNU19i1bGdDvcdN6romiSscWGWJCczFLe9RFhM3d1zpL
## Roadmap
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- Embeds
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- Account system with timeline support
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- Archiving tweets/profiles
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- Developer API
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## Resources
The wiki contains a list of
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[instances](https://github.com/zedeus/nitter/wiki/Instances) and
[browser extensions](https://github.com/zedeus/nitter/wiki/Extensions)
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maintained by the community.
## Why?
It's basically impossible to use Twitter without JavaScript enabled. If you try,
you're redirected to the legacy mobile version which is awful both functionally
and aesthetically. For privacy-minded folks, preventing JavaScript analytics and
potential IP-based tracking is important, but apart from using the legacy mobile
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version and a VPN, it's impossible. This is is especially relevant now that Twitter
[removed the ability](https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/04/twitter-removes-privacy-option-and-shows-why-we-need-strong-privacy-laws)
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for users to control whether their data gets sent to advertisers.
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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
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Twitter, and in most cases serves pages faster (eg. timelines load 2-4x faster).
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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)
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## Installation
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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.
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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.
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```bash
# useradd -m nitter
# su nitter
$ git clone https://github.com/zedeus/nitter
$ cd nitter
$ nimble build -d:release
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$ nimble scss
$ mkdir ./tmp
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```
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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 for
security reasons.
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To build and run Nitter in Docker:
```bash
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docker build -t nitter:latest .
docker run -v $(pwd)/nitter.conf:/src/nitter.conf -d -p 8080:8080 nitter:latest
```
A prebuilt Docker image is provided as well:
```bash
docker run -v $(pwd)/nitter.conf:/src/nitter.conf -d -p 8080:8080 zedeus/nitter:latest
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```
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Note the Docker commands expect a `nitter.conf` file in the directory you run them.
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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
```
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Then enable and run the service:
`systemctl enable --now nitter.service`
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*`
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## Contact
Feel free to join our Freenode IRC channel at #nitter, or our
[Matrix channel](https://matrix.to/#/#nitter:matrix.org).
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You can email me at zedeus@pm.me if you wish to contact me personally.