You'll need to install: python http://python.org/download/ easy_install: http://pypi.python.org/pypi/setuptools git: https://help.github.com/articles/set-up-git To get TwitterAPI up, run these commands: easy_install virtualenv mkdir -p ~/envs virtualenv ~/envs/TwitterAPI source ~/envs/TwitterAPI/bin/activate pip install python-twitter Create a config file that defines an api object and installs your keys: cat >> config.py import twitter api = twitter.Api(consumer_key='YOURKEY1', consumer_secret='YOURKEY2', access_token_key='YOURKEY3', access_token_secret='YOURKEY4') ^D Then run: python twitter_api.py -h