medium.py

import requests
import json
import click
import csv
from datetime import datetime, timedelta
from time import sleep

MEDIUM = "https://medium.com"


# Removes the extra characters that get returned with every JSON request on Medium endpoints
def clean_json_response(response):
    return json.loads(response.text.replace("])}while(1);</x>", "", 1))


# Returns the User ID of a Medium Username
def get_user_id(username):

    print("Retrieving user ID...")

    url = MEDIUM + "/@" + username + "?format=json"
    response = requests.get(url)
    response_dict = clean_json_response(response)
    return response_dict["payload"]["user"]["userId"]


# Returns the list of Usernames from a user's Followings list
def get_list_of_followings(user_id):

    print("Retrieving users from Followings...")

    next_id = False
    followings = []

    while True:

        if next_id:
            # If this is not the first page of the followings list
            url = (
                MEDIUM + "/_/api/users/" + user_id + "/following?limit=8&to=" + next_id
            )
        else:
            # If this is the first page of the followings list
            url = MEDIUM + "/_/api/users/" + user_id + "/following"

        response = requests.get(url)
        response_dict = clean_json_response(response)

        for user in response_dict["payload"]["value"]:
            followings.append(user["username"])

        try:
            # If the "to" key is missing, we've reached the end of the list and an exception is thrown
            next_id = response_dict["payload"]["paging"]["next"]["to"]
        except:
            break

    return followings


# Returns the list of IDs of the latest posts of a list of users
def get_list_of_latest_posts_ids(usernames):

    print("Retrieving the latest posts...")

    post_ids = []

    for username in usernames:
        url = MEDIUM + "/@" + username + "/latest?format=json"
        response = requests.get(url)
        response_dict = clean_json_response(response)

        try:
            posts = response_dict["payload"]["references"]["Post"]
        except:
            posts = []

        if posts:
            for key in posts.keys():
                post_ids.append(posts[key]["id"])

    return post_ids


# Returns the list of post responses of a list of posts that are no older than 1 month
def get_post_responses(posts):

    print("Retrieving the post responses...")

    responses = []

    for post in posts:
        url = MEDIUM + "/_/api/posts/" + post + "/responses"
        response = requests.get(url)
        response_dict = clean_json_response(response)
        responses += response_dict["payload"]["value"]
        sleep(
            0.5
        )  # This is the most intensive operation for the Medium servers, we'll help them out

    return responses


# Checks if a response was created in the last 30 days
def check_if_recent(response):

    limit_date = datetime.now() - timedelta(days=30)
    creation_epoch_time = response["createdAt"] / 1000
    creation_date = datetime.fromtimestamp(creation_epoch_time)

    if creation_date >= limit_date:
        return True


# Checks if a response is over a certain number of recommends
def check_if_high_recommends(response, recommend_min):
    if response["virtuals"]["recommends"] >= recommend_min:
        return True


# Returns the list of User IDs of a list of responses that have over a certain number of recommends
def get_user_ids_from_responses(responses, recommend_min):

    print("Retrieving user IDs from the responses...")

    user_ids = []

    for response in responses:
        recent = check_if_recent(response)
        high_recommends = check_if_high_recommends(response, recommend_min)
        if recent and high_recommends:
            user_ids.append(response["creatorId"])

    return user_ids


# Returns the list of usernames of a list of User IDs
def get_usernames(user_ids):

    print("Retrieving usernames of interesting users...")

    usernames = []

    for user_id in user_ids:
        url = MEDIUM + "/_/api/users/" + user_id
        response = requests.get(url)
        response_dict = clean_json_response(response)
        usernames.append(response_dict["payload"]["value"]["username"])

    return usernames


# Adds list of interesting users to the interesting_users.csv and adds a timestamp
def list_to_csv(interesting_users_list):
    with open("interesting_users.csv", "a") as file:
        writer = csv.writer(file)

        now = datetime.now().strftime("%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S")
        interesting_users_list.insert(0, now)

        writer.writerow(interesting_users_list)


# Returns a list of usernames in your network that might be interesting to interact with
def get_interesting_users(username, recommend_min):

    print("Looking for interesting users for %s..." % username)

    user_id = get_user_id(username)

    usernames = get_list_of_followings(user_id)

    posts = get_list_of_latest_posts_ids(usernames)

    responses = get_post_responses(posts)

    users = get_user_ids_from_responses(responses, recommend_min)

    return get_usernames(users)


@click.command()
@click.option("-n", "--name", default="DahlitzF", help="Medium username")
@click.option(
    "-r",
    "--min-recommendations",
    default=10,
    help="Minimum number of recommendations per response",
)
def main(name, min_recommendations):
    interesting_users = get_interesting_users(name, min_recommendations)
    print(interesting_users)
    list_to_csv(interesting_users)


if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()