Instagram API for Posting Reels, Carousels and Stories

The official Instagram API

Publishing uses the Instagram Platform content publishing endpoints: create a media container with POST /{ig-user-id}/media, then publish it with POST /{ig-user-id}/media_publish. Apps can use Instagram Login (scopes instagram_business_basic and instagram_business_content_publish) for accounts that only exist on Instagram, or Facebook Login (instagram_basic, instagram_content_publish, pages_read_engagement) for accounts linked to a Facebook Page.

What posting requires

1. Create an app in the Meta developer dashboard and choose Instagram Login or Facebook Login.
2. Only professional accounts (Business or Creator) can publish through the API.
3. Standard Access covers only accounts you own or manage, plus test accounts.
4. To publish for other people's accounts, request Advanced Access, which requires App Review of each permission.
5. Apps requesting Advanced Access must be connected to a business that has completed Meta Business Verification.

Cost: Meta's Instagram Platform documentation does not list usage fees for content publishing. The cost is the review process and the engineering work of the container flow, media hosting and token management.

Official limits

Common gotchas

• Media must be hosted on a publicly accessible server. Instagram fetches it by URL, so private, signed or expiring links fail.
• JPEG is the only accepted image format, so PNG and WebP files have to be converted first.
• Long-lived tokens last about 60 days. Instagram Login tokens can only be refreshed once they are at least 24 hours old and before they expire, so a missed refresh means the user signs in again.
• Shopping tags and filters are not supported through the publishing API.
• Meta renamed the Instagram scopes, and the old values were deprecated on January 27, 2025, so older tutorials may use scope names that no longer work.

Post to Instagram via API

curl -X POST https://api.publora.com/api/v1/create-post \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "x-publora-key: sk_YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -d '{
    "content": "Behind the scenes of launch week. #buildinpublic",
    "platforms": ["instagram-YOUR_ACCOUNT_ID"],
    "scheduledTime": "2026-10-09T17:00:00Z",
    "mediaUrls": ["https://example.com/launch-reel.mp4"],
    "platformSettings": {
      "instagram": {
        "videoType": "REELS",
        "coverUrl": "https://example.com/launch-cover.jpg"
      }
    }
  }'

import os
import requests

# A carousel: 2 to 10 image URLs, no video mixed in
resp = requests.post(
    "https://api.publora.com/api/v1/create-post",
    headers={"x-publora-key": os.environ["PUBLORA_API_KEY"]},
    json={
        "content": "Five things we learned shipping v2. Swipe through.",
        "platforms": ["instagram-YOUR_ACCOUNT_ID"],
        "scheduledTime": "2026-10-09T17:00:00Z",
        "mediaUrls": [
            "https://example.com/slide-1.jpg",
            "https://example.com/slide-2.jpg",
            "https://example.com/slide-3.jpg",
        ],
    },
)
resp.raise_for_status()
print(resp.json()["postGroupId"])

Or let an AI agent post

Connect any MCP client to mcp.publora.com:

• “Schedule this video as an Instagram Reel for Friday at 17:00 UTC with the caption below, and use cover.jpg as the cover.”
• “Post these four product photos to Instagram as a carousel tomorrow at 11:00 UTC.”
• “Share this image as an Instagram Story now, and schedule the same image to Threads with a caption.”