Will my video publish as a Reel or a feed post?

A single video with no contentType publishes as a Reel. Set contentType: "feed" to publish it as a regular video post in the grid instead.

Can I post an Instagram carousel?

Yes. Pass more than one id in the base mediaIds array (no contentType override needed) and SkedCast publishes a carousel. Set per-slide alt text with the post-level mediaAltTexts map, keyed by media asset id.

Publish to Instagram with the API

Browse docs

6 min read

What do you need before you publish?#

You need one connected account for the platform. Connect it in the SkedCast console. If a client owns the account, create a connect link with POST /v1/clients/{id}/connect-invites and send it to them. They authorize from that page without a SkedCast login.

GET /v1/accounts lists the connected accounts with their ids. Pass that id in targets.accountIds below.

How do you schedule a Instagram post with the API?#

bash

curl -X POST https://api.skedcast.com/v1/posts \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer sked_live_YOUR_KEY" \
  -H "Idempotency-Key: $(uuidgen)" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "clientId": "<clientId>",
    "content": "Launch day is here 🚀",
    "mediaIds": ["<mediaAssetId>"],
    "targets": { "mode": "selection", "accountIds": ["<instagramAccountId>"] },
    "schedule": { "type": "at", "scheduledAt": "2030-01-15T15:00:00Z" }
  }'

A minimal Instagram post, scheduled for a specific time.

Which Instagram fields can you set?#

Put everything platform-specific in one variants entry with "platform": "instagram" and an overrides object. Send only instagram keys on a instagram variant. SkedCast reads the keys in the table below and ignores the rest.

Field	Type	Values / default	Notes
`contentType`	enum	`feed` \\| `reel` \\| `story`	Defaults to `feed`. A single video with no `contentType` publishes as a Reel.
`firstComment`	string	—	Posted right after publish. Needs the account's `instagram_manage_comments` permission. Without it the comment is held back at publish and `firstCommentIssue` says so. Best-effort: a failed comment never fails the post. The outcome is reported as `firstCommentIssue` on `GET /v1/post-targets/{id}`.
`commentsEnabled`	boolean (or `"true"` / `"false"`)	`true`	`false` turns comments off as soon as the post is live (live media only, not Stories). Needs the same `instagram_manage_comments` permission as the first comment.
`userTags`	string[] or `[{ username, x?, y? }]`	≤20	People and photo tags. A comma-separated string of `@usernames` also works.
`collaborators`	string[]	≤3	Collaborator usernames.
`shareToFeed`	boolean	platform default	Reels only: also show the Reel in the main feed grid.
`coverUrl`	string (url)	—	Reels only: a public URL for the Reel's cover frame. Separate from the post-level `coverMediaId`.
`locationId`	string	—	Instagram location page id.
`paidPartnership`	boolean	`false`	Adds Instagram's "Paid partnership" disclosure label.

How do you add Instagram-specific settings?#

json

{
  "clientId": "<clientId>",
  "content": "Behind the scenes 🎬",
  "mediaIds": ["<videoAssetId>"],
  "targets": { "mode": "selection", "accountIds": ["<instagramAccountId>"] },
  "variants": [
    {
      "platform": "instagram",
      "overrides": { "contentType": "reel", "shareToFeed": true, "collaborators": ["studio_handle"] }
    }
  ],
  "schedule": { "type": "at", "scheduledAt": "2030-01-15T15:00:00Z" }
}

The same POST /posts body, with a variants entry added.

How do you check that the post published?#

Publishing creates one post target per account. GET /v1/post-targets/{id} (or GET /v1/posts/{id}) reports status, plus externalId (Instagram's own post id) and permalink (its public URL) once published. To avoid polling, subscribe to the target.published and target.failed webhooks (see the webhooks guide).

instagramapipublishreels

FAQ

Will my video publish as a Reel or a feed post?: A single video with no contentType publishes as a Reel. Set contentType: "feed" to publish it as a regular video post in the grid instead.
Can I post an Instagram carousel?: Yes. Pass more than one id in the base mediaIds array (no contentType override needed) and SkedCast publishes a carousel. Set per-slide alt text with the post-level mediaAltTexts map, keyed by media asset id.