Fix the n8n Twitter 403
every cause, every fix

"Forbidden - perhaps check your credentials?"

This is the most common n8n X node failure, and the wording sends everyone to re-paste their keys. The keys are usually fine. The real cause is almost always app permissions: in the X developer portal your app defaults to Read only, and a read-only token cannot create tweets, so every post attempt comes back 403.

The fix has two steps, and skipping the second is why people stay stuck:

1. In the X developer portal, open your app, go to User authentication settings, and set App permissions to Read and write.
2. Regenerate your keys and tokens, then reconnect the credential in n8n. Tokens issued before the permission change keep the old read-only scope forever. Changing the setting alone changes nothing.

Two more traps hide behind this same message. First, X API v2 requires your app to be attached to a Project in the developer portal. A standalone app gets 403 client-not-enrolled responses on every v2 call. Create a Project and move the app inside it. Second, if a run fails and n8n retries with identical text, X rejects the duplicate with a 403, so check whether the tweet actually went out before debugging auth. Users on the n8n forum have reported the tweet appearing on X while n8n still shows the 403.

n8n X media upload not working

Beyond the missing scope, media uploads break for a structural reason: for years, uploading media to X meant the v1.1 endpoint at upload.twitter.com, and X shut that endpoint down on June 9, 2025, after extending the original March 31 deadline. Older n8n versions and most community workflow templates still point at it, or bolt on OAuth 1.0a credentials specifically to reach it. Those workflows now fail no matter how the credentials are configured.

The related classic: You currently have access to a subset of X API V2 endpoints and limited v1.1 endpoints. That message means the node called a v1.1 endpoint your access tier does not include. It plagued the pre-1.1.0 n8n Twitter node, which was built on v1.1 throughout.

Three fixes, in order:

1. Upgrade n8n to 1.1.0 or later, where the X node was rebuilt on API v2.
2. Delete the old Twitter node and its credential, and recreate both from scratch. Reusing the old credential is a documented way to keep the error after upgrading.
3. For media, use the v2 media upload flow with a token that carries media.write, as shown above. Anything referencing upload.twitter.com is dead.

The fix that skips all of it: one HTTP Request node

Every 403 above lives in the X OAuth and billing stack. Take that stack out of your workflow and the errors go with it. OpenTweet holds the X connection (a normal login, no developer account, no app, no Project, no scopes) and n8n talks to OpenTweet with one Bearer key.

JSON body to post immediately:

{
  "text": "Posted from n8n. No X OAuth, no 403.",
  "publish_now": true
}

With media (the part the native node keeps breaking on), or scheduled for later:

{
  "text": "Chart of the week.",
  "media_urls": ["https://example.com/chart.png"],
  "scheduled_date": "2026-07-15T15:00:00Z"
}

Full endpoint reference in the API docs. Building the workflow from zero? Start with the post to X from n8n guide, or see how the two approaches compare in OpenTweet vs n8n.

Frequently asked questions