Instagram Publish

Publish images to Instagram through Meta's Graph API. Part 1 is one-time manual setup (browser clicks); Part 2 is the repeatable automated publish (this skill does it for you).

When to use

• User wants to post an image to Instagram programmatically
• User has a public image URL and wants to attach a caption and publish
• User just registered a Meta App and needs the rest of the wiring done
• User is hitting "Media download has failed" or "Unsupported post request"

When NOT to use

• Posting Reels or Stories (single-image posts and multi-image Carousels are supported)
• Local files (image must be a public URL — see error #1 below)
• Account is still a personal account (must be Creator or Business first)

Quick Start (after Part 1 setup is done)

# 1. Put credentials in .env (one time)
cp .env.example .env
# edit .env with ACCESS_TOKEN (and optionally IG_USER_ID)

# 2a. Single image
python3 scripts/publish.py \
  --image-urls "https://example.com/photo.jpg" \
  --caption "Hello from Instagram API"

# 2b. Carousel (2-10 images, swipable in feed)
python3 scripts/publish.py \
  --image-urls "https://example.com/1.jpg" "https://example.com/2.jpg" "https://example.com/3.jpg" \
  --caption "Swipe → slide 1 / slide 2 / slide 3"

The script prints the new post ID on success. Done.

Part 1: One-time manual setup (browser only)

These steps cannot be automated — they require human logins, email verification, and Meta's UI. Do them once, save the resulting ACCESS_TOKEN, and you never need to touch Meta's dashboard again unless permissions change.

Step 1 — Switch Instagram to a Creator account

Visit https://www.instagram.com/accounts/professional_account_settings/ and follow:

Settings
  ↓
Account Type
  ↓
Switch to Professional Account
  ↓
Creator

Step 2 — Create a Meta Developer account

Visit https://developers.facebook.com/ and sign in with your Facebook account, then:

Get Started
  ↓
Verify Email
  ↓
Accept Terms

Step 3 — Create an App

Visit https://developers.facebook.com/apps/:

Create App
  ↓
Use cases: Manage messaging & content on Instagram
  ↓
Do NOT connect a Business portfolio

⚠️ Skipping the Business portfolio avoids the "insufficient developer permissions" error later.

Step 4 — Finish App settings

In App settings → Basic:

• Upload an app icon
• Fill in Privacy Policy URL and Data Deletion URL
• Pick an app category
• (Optional) In Use cases → Customize, configure account linking at https://accountscenter.instagram.com/connected_experiences/
• Click Publish to make the app live

Step 5 — Generate the Access Token

Use cases → Customize
  ↓
Left sidebar: API setup with Instagram login
  ↓
Add required messaging permissions
  ↓
Add account → authorize your Instagram account
  ↓
Generate token
  ↓
Check "I understand" → copy the token

The token starts with IGAA.... Save it to .env (next section).

Credentials you should have after Part 1

⚠️ Never commit .env to git. The token is the only thing that authenticates posts on your behalf.

Part 2: Automated publishing (the skill does this)

The Graph API calls below are bundled in scripts/publish.py. You run one command; the script runs the whole flow. The path is chosen automatically from the number of URLs:

• 1 URL → single-image mode (3 calls):

  [1] Validate token   →  GET /me?fields=id,username
         ↓
  [2] Create container  →  POST /{ig_user_id}/media   (image_url + caption)
         ↓
  [3] Publish           →  POST /{ig_user_id}/media_publish   (creation_id)
  

• 2–10 URLs → Carousel mode (5+ calls):

  [1] Validate token   →  GET /me?fields=id,username
         ↓
  [2a] Create item     →  POST /{ig_user_id}/media   (image_url + is_carousel_item=true)   × N
         ↓
  [2b] Create carousel →  POST /{ig_user_id}/media   (media_type=CAROUSEL + children=id1,id2,...)
         ↓
  [3]  Publish         →  POST /{ig_user_id}/media_publish   (creation_id)
  

Setting up .env

cp .env.example .env

.env contents:

ACCESS_TOKEN=IGAAxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
IG_USER_ID=2700xxxxxxxx        # optional — auto-detected if missing

The script reads .env from the skill directory. If you run it from elsewhere, pass --env /path/to/.env.

Publishing an image with public reachable url

可以调用可用的文生图模型或生图 SKILL来生图，通常会返回一个公网 CDN 临时 URL。无需下载图片后再上传到图床，直接用这个图片 URL 传入以下脚本即可用于发布 ins 帖子。

python3 scripts/publish.py \
  --image-urls "https://example.com/photo.jpg" \
  --caption "Hello from Instagram API"

Optional flags:

Successful single-image output:

✓ Token valid — user: xxxxx (id: 2700xxxxxx)
→ Single-image mode
✓ Container created: xxxxx
✓ Published: xxxxx
https://www.instagram.com/p/xxxxxxxxx

Publishing a multi-image Carousel (2–10 images)

Pass 2–10 URLs to --image-urls and the script will switch to Carousel mode automatically. The flow is:

For each image URL:
  POST /{ig_user_id}/media   image_url=...  is_carousel_item=true
       → returns N creation_ids

Then:
  POST /{ig_user_id}/media   media_type=CAROUSEL  children=id1,id2,...  caption=...
       → returns one carousel creation_id

Then:
  POST /{ig_user_id}/media_publish   creation_id=<carousel id>
       → returns the published post id

Example:

python3 scripts/publish.py \
  --image-urls "https://example.com/1.jpg" "https://example.com/2.jpg" "https://example.com/3.jpg" \
  --caption "这是 OpenClaw 自动发布的多图帖子 #carousel"

Successful Carousel output:

✓ Token valid — user: xxxxx (id: 2700xxxxxx)
→ Carousel mode (3 images)
✓ Carousel item 1/3 container: 111111111111
✓ Carousel item 2/3 container: 222222222222
✓ Carousel item 3/3 container: 333333333333
✓ Carousel container created: 999999999999
✓ Published: 1789xxxxxxxx
https://www.instagram.com/p/xxxxxxxxx

Constraints:

• Carousels require 2 to 10 items — the script rejects anything outside that range.
• Every URL must be publicly reachable by Meta's servers — same rule as single-image mode (no localhost, no private IPs).
• Carousel items can be a mix of images and videos, but this script only handles image URLs. Videos need a separate video upload flow.
• Order = left-to-right swipe order on Instagram, so list URLs in the order you want users to see them.
• Each item container can take a few seconds to finish processing; if media_publish returns "Media ID is not available", re-run with --dry-run first or wait 30–60s between create_carousel_container and publish_container.

Alternative: stitch into a single image (no Carousel API needed)

If you only need a "fake carousel" and don't want to use the Carousel API, stitch images vertically with ImageMagick and publish as a single image:

magick img1.jpg img2.jpg -append -resize 1080x /tmp/combined.jpg
# 裁切到精确 4:5
magick /tmp/combined.jpg -gravity Center -crop 1080x1350+0+0 +repage /tmp/final.jpg

Use this when:

• You want fewer API calls and simpler error handling
• You're under the 10-image ceiling but want a single-image "look"
• IG 推荐 4:5（1080×1350）竖图，比例超过 1:2.67（高/宽）时 IG 会自动裁切

其他图床链接兼容处理

• 如果用户是用了本地的图片，缺少公开 URL，你可以帮助它采用任何匿名公共图床上传服务例如imgur.com等来获取公开 URL
• 如果用户要求上传图片到 google drive 用作图床，需要将其 standard sharing public link 转换成 raw image url, 例如：返回的链接是 https://drive.google.com/file/d/xxxxxx/view?usp=sharing ，要提取文件ID并转换为 https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=xxxxxx
• 如果用户要求上传图片到 github 用作图床, 需要将其转换为https://raw.githubusercontent.com/<username>/<repo>/<branch>/<path>/<image>.jpg形式，例如：https://github.com/mebusw/instagram-assets/blob/main/images/post-001.jpg要转为https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mebusw/instagram-assets/main/images/post-001.jpg

Common errors

"Media download has failed"

{"error": {"message": "Media download has failed"}}

Meta's servers cannot reach your image_url. Fix:

• Usually the image generation modal should return a public url of image, if not, then host the image somewhere public: Alibaba Cloud OSS, Tencent Cloud COS, AWS S3, GitHub Raw, any CDN
• Open the URL in a fresh browser while logged out — if you can't see it, Meta can't either
• Avoid localhost, 127.0.0.1, and private network IPs

"Media ID is not available"

原因是 container 刚创建就立即 publish，解决方案是等待 30–60 秒。

"Unsupported post request"

{"error": {"message": "Unsupported post request"}}

Almost always a token-permission issue. Fix:

• Back to Use cases → Customize in the App dashboard
• Confirm instagram_content_publish and instagram_basic are granted
• Re-generate the token and replace ACCESS_TOKEN in .env

Token expired

Long-lived tokens still expire (default ~60 days). If /me returns an auth error, regenerate the token in the App dashboard and update .env.

Files in this skill

instagram-publish/
├── SKILL.md            # this file
├── .env.example        # template for ACCESS_TOKEN and IG_USER_ID
├── .gitignore          # keeps .env out of git
└── scripts/
    └── publish.py      # the three-step publisher