Skip to main content

Introduction

To develop and host on Square Cloud, it’s essential to follow a structured sequence of configurations and prerequisites. This technical guide will cover the entire process, from initial setup to production deployment.

Prerequisites

  • Square Cloud Account: Register through the signup page using your email.
  • Active Paid Plan: Ensures dedicated resources and optimized performance for your application. Check our available plans and choose the most suitable for your needs.

Creating project

An active X (Twitter) account is required for authentication and bot operation. If you don’t have an account, sign up at the official X website.
A X Developer account is also required to access the APIs. Request access through the X Developer Portal.

Bot application on X

1

Accessing the Developer Portal

  1. Go to the X Developer Portal.
  2. Log in with your X (Twitter) account.
  3. If this is your first time, complete the developer access request process.
2

Project Creation

  1. In the dashboard, click “Create Project”.
  2. Choose a name for your project (e.g. “Square Cloud Bot”).
  3. Select the most appropriate use case (e.g. “Making a bot”).
  4. Provide a detailed description of your bot.
  5. Confirm project creation.
3

Application Setup

  1. Within the created project, click “Create App”.
  2. Define a unique name for your application.
  3. Confirm application creation.
  4. Note down the generated App ID for future reference.
4

API Keys Generation

  1. Navigate to the “Keys and tokens” section of your application.
  2. In the “Consumer Keys” section, click “Regenerate” to generate:
    • API Key (Consumer Key)
    • API Secret Key (Consumer Secret)
  3. Important: Copy and save these keys immediately, as you won’t be able to view them again.
5

Permissions Configuration

  1. Go to the “App permissions” section.
  2. Click “Edit” to modify permissions.
  3. Select “Read and write” to allow your bot to post tweets.
  4. If necessary, select “Read and write and Direct message” for DM functionality.
  5. Save the changes.
6

Access Tokens Generation

  1. Return to the “Keys and tokens” section.
  2. In the “Access Token and Secret” section, click “Generate”.
  3. Confirm token generation.
  4. Copy and save:
    • Access Token
    • Access Token Secret
  5. Warning: These tokens cannot be viewed again after closing the page.
7

Credentials Verification

  1. Confirm that you have all 4 required credentials:
    • API Key (Consumer Key)
    • API Secret Key (Consumer Secret)
    • Access Token
    • Access Token Secret
  2. Store these credentials in a secure location
  3. Important: Never share or expose these credentials publicly

Developing project

  1. Node.js check: Verify that Node.js is installed on your system. If not, download it from the official Node.js website.
  2. Project initialization: Create a new Node.js project by running:
Terminal
  1. Install dependencies: Install the libraries required for the bot:
Terminal
  1. Environment variables setup: Create a .env file to store your credentials securely:
.env
  1. Create the main file: Develop the index.js file with the bot’s base structure:
index.js

Deploying

After preparing your project files, you can now upload them to Square Cloud and host your project. To do so, create a ZIP file containing all your project files.
Security: Never include your API credentials directly in code. Always use environment variables on Square Cloud.
On Square Cloud, configure the following environment variables via the control panel:
  • API_KEY: Your X API key
  • API_SECRET_KEY: Your X API secret key
  • ACCESS_TOKEN: Your access token
  • ACCESS_TOKEN_SECRET: Your access token secret

Via dashboard

1

Access the Upload Page

Access the upload page and upload your project zip file.
2

Configure Your Environment

After uploading your zip, you will need to configure the name, main file or runtime environment and other settings for your project.
If you are uploading a web project, make sure to select “Web Publication” and set a subdomain to your project.
3

Deploy Your Project

Finally, click on the “Deploy” button to host your project on Square Cloud.
After deployment, you can monitor your project’s status and logs from the dashboard.
Uploading application to Square Cloud
4

Confirm Your App Is Live

Your first deploy usually takes less than a minute. In the dashboard, wait for your application status to show as running and check the logs for any startup errors.
If you deployed a website or API, open https://<your-subdomain>.squareweb.app in your browser — you should see your application responding. If you deployed a bot, send it a command to confirm it is online.
App not starting? See the Troubleshooting guide for the most common causes and fixes.

Via CLI

To use this method, you need to create a config file named squarecloud.app in the root directory of your project. This file will contain the necessary configuration for your project.

Configuration file guide

Learn how to create the squarecloud.app configuration file that defines your application’s environment.
1

Install the CLI

First, you need to have the CLI installed in your environment. If you don’t have it yet, run the following command in your terminal:
If you already have it, we recommend updating it. To do this, run the following command in your terminal:
2

Authenticate

Now, to authenticate and use other CLI commands, you will find your authorization key here by clicking on “Request API Key”. After obtaining your authorization key, run the following command:
3

Upload Your Project

Finally, to deploy your application to Square Cloud using the CLI, you need to run the following command:
Or if you created the zip manually, you can use:
4

Confirm Your App Is Live

Your first deploy usually takes less than a minute. Check your application status and logs directly from the terminal:
If you deployed a website or API, open https://<your-subdomain>.squareweb.app in your browser — you should see your application responding. If you deployed a bot, send it a command to confirm it is online.
App not starting? See the Troubleshooting guide for the most common causes and fixes.

Testing the Bot

After deployment, check the application logs in the Square Cloud dashboard for the Bot successfully initialized! message to confirm the bot authenticated correctly. Then reply to one of the bot’s tweets with !ping and confirm it replies with Pong! 🤖 X Bot working correctly! on X within a few minutes.

Additional resources

To deepen your knowledge about developing X bots using twitter-api-v2, check the official twitter-api-v2 library documentation. The documentation provides detailed guides, advanced tutorials and full API references to maximize your implementation. Also see:

Hashtag Monitoring

Scheduled Posts

Rate Limiting

X (Twitter) has strict rate limits. Implement controls to avoid exceeding these limits:

Error Handling

Contact us

If you continue facing technical difficulties, our specialized support team is available to assist you. Contact us and we’ll be happy to help you resolve any issue — support quality is a big part of why developers rate Square Cloud 4.9/5 across 402 reviews on Google and Trustpilot.