How to automate Instagram posts

Set it up once, then pick what drives the posts

1. Create a free PostWire account

   Open postwire.io/dashboard.html, type your email and press Create my free account. PostWire emails you a link to confirm the address; connecting accounts and publishing unlock once it is confirmed. No password and no card (free plan: 1 business, 20 posts a month, 5 AI drafts a day (about 20 a month), 2 networks per post, 3 scheduled posts at a time — every network connects free, no card).

2. Connect Instagram

   Accounts → Connect on Instagram. Choose Log in with Instagram (works with any Business or Creator account, no Facebook Page) or Through a Facebook Page you manage. The account must be a Business or Creator account (switching is free, in Instagram's settings); a personal account cannot be posted to through the API. PostWire's Meta App Review was approved on July 14, 2026, so you do not create a Meta app. Details.

3. Way 1 — a queue: write now, publish at your times

   Write the post, add the photo or video and press Schedule: Add to queue takes a date and time, Next free slot uses the next free time of your weekly queue slots (Queue → Queue slots). A video goes out as a Reel, several photos as a carousel. The free plan keeps 3 posts waiting at once; paid plans have no such cap.

4. Way 2 — a spreadsheet: a month in one upload

   Automate → Bulk upload takes a CSV with one row per post: date, networks, text and media_url (Instagram needs it). Every row is checked before anything is scheduled, and a row with a problem says which. One upload takes 20 rows on the free plan and 500 on Starter. The same columns work from a shared Google Sheet that PostWire keeps reading: Google Sheets as a content calendar.

5. Way 3 — a recurring post (paid plans)

   Automate → Recurring: a post that repeats daily, weekly on the weekdays you pick, or monthly, optionally rotating through several versions of the text so followers do not see the same caption twice. Each occurrence appears in the queue a week ahead, where you can edit or cancel it alone. Starter keeps 25 recurring posts.

6. Way 4 — your blog's RSS feed

   Automate → RSS feeds: paste the feed, tick Instagram, and each new article becomes a post with the article's image. An item with no image leaves Instagram out and says so, because Instagram takes no text-only posts. The first read only records what is already in the feed, so nothing old is posted. The free plan has 1 feed, read every 6 hours; Starter has 25, read every 1 hour, and can write the caption per network with AI.

7. Way 5 — n8n, Make, Zapier or your own code

   Copy your key under API & MCP and send one request per post from an HTTP step, or use the PostWire node in n8n (step by step). run_at sets the time; the same body sent to /api/post publishes now:

   POST https://postwire.io/api/schedule
   Authorization: Bearer pw_live_…
   Content-Type: application/json
   
   // A Reel on Friday at 9:00
   { "platforms": ["instagram"], "text": "{{ caption }}", "video_url": "https://…/reel.mp4", "run_at": "2026-10-16T09:00:00-05:00" }
   
   // A carousel (2–10 photos or videos) in the next free queue slot
   { "platforms": ["instagram"], "text": "…", "media": ["https://…/1.jpg", "https://…/2.jpg", "https://…/3.jpg"], "run_at": "next_slot" }

8. Way 6 — an AI agent

   Add https://postwire.io/api/mcp to Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor and say "schedule this photo for Instagram tomorrow at 9 with a caption about the new menu". The agent calls generate_posts for the caption and schedule_post to queue it. Setup: Instagram MCP server.

Media links must be public: a direct link to the file, or a Google Drive or Dropbox share link open to anyone who has it. A file on your phone or laptop is uploaded in the dashboard, or through POST /api/media/upload-url from code.