How to search old tweets and your Twitter archive

How do I search someone's old tweets?

X search reaches back to the very first public post in 2006. The trick is to tell it when to look, because a plain search mostly shows recent and popular posts.

1. Log in to X. Search on x.com only works when you're logged in.
2. Type from: plus the username (no @) and an end date with until:.
3. Add a start date with since: and any keywords you remember.
4. Press Enter and open the Latest tab to see every match in time order.

from:nasa until:2013-01-01
from:nasa since:2012-08-01 until:2012-09-01
from:nasa curiosity since:2012-01-01 until:2013-01-01
from:nasa until:2013-01-01 filter:media
from:nasa until:2013-01-01 min_faves:1000

Narrow year by year if the account posts a lot. until:doesn't include its own date, so until:2013-01-01 covers everything through December 31, 2012. The full operator list, including likes, media and language filters, is in our guide to searching tweets by date. If you don't want to type operators, our free Twitter advanced search tool builds the query for you.

How do I find my own old tweets?

The same search works on your own account: from:yourhandle until:2016-01-01. To find your very first post, look at the Joined date on your profile, search from that month to the month after, and scroll to the bottom of Latest.

For anything more than a quick lookup, download your archive. It holds every post that still existed when you requested it, plus your messages and media, and you can search it offline without any limits.

How do I download my Twitter archive?

On x.com in a browser:

1. Go to Settings and privacy → Your account → Download an archive of your data.
2. Confirm your identity with your password and the code X sends to your email or phone.
3. Click Request archive.
4. Wait for the email (and push notification, if you have the app) saying it's ready.
5. Download the .zip while logged in to X in the same browser.

In the iOS or Android app, the path is Settings and privacy → Account → Your X data, under Data and permissions. After the code, tap Request data next to X.

X says it may take a few days to prepare the archive, and asks that your email address be confirmed before you request it, since the download link is sent there.

What's in the Twitter archive?

X describes the archive as a snapshot of your account “starting with your first post”, in HTML and JSON files. It includes:

• your profile information and every post;
• your Direct Messages and Moments;
• images, videos and GIFs you attached to posts and messages;
• your followers and the accounts you follow;
• Lists you created, joined or follow, and your address book;
• interests and demographics X inferred about you, and ads you saw or engaged with.

It only covers your account. Nobody can download another person's archive.

How do I search my Twitter archive?

1. Unzip the downloaded file. Keep the folder structure as it is.
2. Open Your archive.html in a web browser. It runs offline and lets you browse your posts, messages and media, and search your posts.
3. For exact text, open the data folder and search the posts file (tweets.js) in any text editor with Find.

Developers can load the same file as data. It's JSON wrapped in a single JavaScript assignment on the first line: remove that prefix and parse the rest. Each entry includes the post text, its ID and when it was created.

Which method should I use?

Why can't I find an old tweet?

• It was deleted. Deleted posts leave X search for good. See how to see deleted tweets for what still works.
• The username changed. from: uses the current username. An old post link still works through its ID at x.com/i/status/ID.
• It's a repost. Reposts are left out by default. Add include:nativeretweets.
• The account is protected, suspended or deactivated.Its posts are hidden from search. A quick way to check an account's status is the free shadowban checker.
• You're on the Top tab. Switch to Latest.
• Old results are incomplete. Narrow the date range or add a keyword.

Found the post but not its context? Paste its link into our free thread reader to read the whole thread on one page. To see what an account posted most recently without logging in, use the Twitter viewer. If an account changed its name, the Twitter ID finder turns its permanent numeric user ID back into the current handle, so you know what to put after from:. And since late 2010, a post's ID (the number at the end of its link) also encodes the date it was created.

Do it from code

To pull old posts in bulk, send the same operators to the twitr.sh x_searchtool. There's no X account, API key or signup:

curl -X POST https://twitr.sh/api/tools/x_search \
  -H 'content-type: application/json' \
  -d '{"q":"from:nasa since:2012-01-01 until:2013-01-01","queryType":"Latest","resultsLimit":20}'

# → HTTP 402 Payment Required with the exact price
#   ($0.0012 per returned tweet, so about $0.024 for 20)
# → pay with any x402 or MPP wallet and send the same request again
# → 200 with the posts

Agents in Claude Code, Cursor or any MCP client can call it as the x_search tool. For an account's recent posts in order, use x_timeline. For thousands of results as a downloadable dataset, use bulk export. See all tools and pricing.

FAQ