How to set up a Twitter inbox in Front
Edited

⚠️ Front’s support for the legacy version of the Twitter channel was discontinued at the end of May 2023.

Unfortunately, Twitter recently made the decision to dramatically increase their API pricing well beyond typical rates, which has made it cost prohibitive for Front to support without charging our customers significantly more for their usage.

Instead, starting at the end of May, a new version of the Twitter channel was launched that will allow customers to connect channels using their own Twitter API token. A basic API token can be purchased directly from Twitter for $100 per month. Front will not charge any additional fees for Twitter channel usage.

If you are currently using Twitter channels, those channels will need to be deleted and reconnected. Please feel free to contact us with any questions.

Overview

Setting up a Twitter inbox in Front enables you and your team to send and receive tweets in Front. Like other kinds of Front conversations, you can assign, tag, and comment on tweets to manage Twitter as a team. You can also retweet or like posts directly from Front. Messages from a Twitter inbox will be subject to Twitter's 280 character limit. 

Front's Twitter DM inbox allows you and your team to send a direct message to anyone on Twitter directly from Front. Twitter DMs sent from Front will be subject to Twitter's 10,000 character limit for DMs.


Important to know

Limitations

Twitter is no longer officially supported by Front, meaning:

  • We don’t plan to invest more development into the integration. Maintenance and updates will be severely limited. e.g. We will not add support for attachments.

  • We cannot provide support for issues or errors on Twitter’s side.

  • We don’t recommend using Twitter for business-critical use cases.

Twitter errors

We have observed that Twitter has changed our customer’s app configurations without notice, causing customers to lose access to the APIs our integration requires. If this happens:

  • You can re-associate your application with an environment at developer.twitter.com to restore access.

  • An in-app notification will appear in Front to alert your team that your application is in this state. You'll see the notification "Twitter developer app is not enrolled in access to the Twitter API v2. Please visit the Twitter Developer Portal and confirm your app is attached to a Project."

  • Reauthorizing the channel is not required to resolve the issue. You’ll see the error message "Twitter developer App is not attached to a Project" when trying to authorize or reauthorize a channel with an application in this state.


Prerequisites

  • You need to be an admin to add Twitter as a shared inbox in Front. 

  • To add a Twitter or Twitter DM inbox, your account must be on a paid Front plan and below your limit of Twitter and Twitter DM channels. See the Pricing section of this article for more details.

The following instructions apply to the new version of the Twitter channel launched on May 30, 2023 at 7:00PM PST. The new version of the channel requires that a Basic API subscription be purchased directly from Twitter. You can do so at https://developer.twitter.com for $100 per month.

Once you've subscribed, create an app in the Twitter developer portal before continuing with the instructions below.

  • If you need to manage both Tweets and DMs for the same Twitter handle, create one app for Tweets and separate app for DMs.

  • Twitter provides 2 apps per Basic API subscription.

Please note the following limitations of the Twitter Basic API subscription before continuing:

  • A max of 10,000 Tweets can be imported each month

  • A max of 100 Tweets can be sent per Twitter handle each day

  • A max of 5 DMs could be sent per Twitter handle every 15 minutes

  • Sending or receiving attachments for Twitter DMs is not currently supported due to a Twitter API limitation — you will need to open the conversation in Twitter instead. 

  • Twitter no longer provides real-time notifications, so inbound messages may be delayed. Front will check for new messages every 5 minutes.


Instructions

Step 1

Click the gear icon on the top right of Front and select company, workspace, or personal settings in the left sidebar, depending on the space you’re working with.

Step 2

Click on Inboxes on the left menu and create a new shared inbox or individual inbox.

Step 3

Click Channels in the left sidebar, click Connect a channel, then Select Twitter or Twitter DM. If you don't see a Channels option in the left sidebar, please contact us.

Step 4

In a separate browser tab, navigate to your Twitter app user authentication settings. You can do so by logging into the Twitter Developer Portal, and using the left sidebar to select the right Project and App under the Project & Apps menu item. Then click Edit under User authentication settings.

Step 5

On the User authentication settings page, update the following properties:

  1. App permissions  should be set to "Read and write and Direct message"

  2. Type of App should be set to "Web App, Automated App, or Bot"

  3. Callback URI  should be updated by copying and pasting the callback URL you'll find in the Front setup page for your new Twitter channel. 

  4. Website URL should be set to the URL you use to access Front. For example, https://app.frontapp.com or https://[sso domain].frontapp.com if you're using SSO.

Once you've made the required updates, click Save.

Step 6

Navigate to the Keys and tokens tab of your Twitter app settings page. Copy the ID and Secret fields from the OAuth 2.0 Client ID and Client Secret section and paste them into the corresponding fields on the Front channel setup page. Save the channel in Front, and you're all set!


Send DMs using Front

To DM someone, compose a message. Make sure the From field is your Twitter DM account, and the To field is the Twitter handle of the person you want to DM.

The account you are trying to DM will need to have their Twitter account settings set to receive DMs from everyone, including accounts they don't follow. Otherwise, if they don't openly accept DMs, then you will receive an error when trying to DM them.

Write your message and send.


Pricing

Trial customers

If your team’s account is on a free trial, you will not be able to connect a Twitter account to create a Twitter or Twitter inbox until you upgrade to a paid Front plan

Paid customers

You can be on any plan to add a Twitter channel. There is a 10-handle limit on any account. Some legacy plans with different names may also require a purchased add-on. If you'd like to purchase the feature, reach out to us.