Limits
| Account type | Professional accounts only (Business or Creator). Personal accounts cannot publish through the API. |
|---|---|
| Media | Every post needs an image or video. Text-only posts are not possible on Instagram. |
| Image files | JPEG only, up to 8 MB. Convert PNG or WebP before posting. |
| Reels | Video posts publish as Reels, from MP4 or MOV files. |
| Carousels | Up to 10 images or videos in one carousel post. |
| Captions | 2,200 characters, 30 hashtags, and 20 @mentions per caption. |
| Alt text | Supported on single-image posts, up to 1,000 characters. |
| Daily publishing limit | Instagram caps API-published posts per account per 24 hours. Meta's docs quote 50 and 100 in different places, so SocialHandoff reads your actual quota before each post. |
- Put the hook in the first line of the caption; Instagram truncates the rest behind a More link.
- Keep hashtags to a handful of specific ones rather than filling all 30.
- Export images as JPEG at the right aspect ratio before scheduling, so nothing is cropped unexpectedly.
- Write alt text for single images that describes what matters in the picture.
- Put links in your bio or stories; links in captions are not clickable.
Scheduling Instagram posts natively
Instagram lets professional accounts schedule posts and Reels from the app: under Advanced settings, turn on Schedule this post and pick a time. Meta Business Suite offers the same from a desktop. Both work for content you prepare yourself. Neither gives an AI agent a way in, and neither has a review step between a draft and your grid.
Scheduling Instagram posts with SocialHandoff
An agent drafts the caption and attaches media through draft_post or schedule_post. The draft lands in your approval inbox with an Instagram preview and checks for caption length, hashtag count, mention count, and image format. You approve, reject, request edits, or edit inline, on desktop or with the phone swipe stack. Only approved posts are scheduled, and an agent can never approve its own work.
If an agent drafts text with no image, it can still save the draft, but approving or scheduling it is refused with a clear error. That keeps a post from failing at publish time because Instagram rejected a text-only post.
How agents fit in
Each agent gets its own key, scoped to the networks and permissions you choose. A new agent starts draft-only. After a run of clean approvals you can promote it on the trust ladder to publish on Instagram without waiting, and a guardrail failure demotes it immediately. The kill switch pauses every agent and holds queued posts.
What SocialHandoff supports on Instagram
- Single images (JPEG) with alt text.
- Reels from MP4 or MOV files.
- Carousels of up to 10 images or videos.
- Caption checks: 2,200 characters, 30 hashtags, 20 mentions. A multi-part draft is joined into one caption.
- Quota check before each post; a full quota defers the post by an hour.
- Per-post metrics such as views, reach, likes, comments, shares, and saves, where Meta returns them.
Setup notes
You connect through your own Meta app using Instagram API with Instagram Login, which needs a professional account but no Facebook Page. For any account other than the app's testers, Meta requires app review and Business Verification before posting. Tokens last about 60 days, and SocialHandoff renews them before they expire.
Tools, templates, and agent guides
Check dimensions in the image size guide and test one caption against other networks with the cross-post length checker. Templates that suit Instagram: behind-the-scenes post, product launch post, and event announcement.
Agent setups for Instagram: ChatGPT for Instagram, Claude Desktop for Instagram, Make for Instagram, and n8n for Instagram.