Instagram image post API

Publish single-image Instagram posts through an API or MCP server: JPEG, size and aspect ratio limits, caption limits, example requests, and errors with fixes.

Early access: publishing image posts to Instagram is built and being tested in the REST API, @turboyap/sdk and the @turboyap/mcp server. It opens to early-access users once Turboyap passes Meta App Review. Meanwhile, test mode runs the same requests against a simulated Instagram account.

What an Instagram image post is

An Instagram image post is a single photo in the feed. The Instagram API creates a media container from a public image URL, then publishes it. In Turboyap it's type: "image" with one media id.

Turboyap hosts the image, converts it to JPEG, fits it inside Instagram's width and aspect limits when you allow it, and publishes. A slideshow with only one slide is posted to Instagram as an image post automatically.

Limits

What Instagram accepts for this post type. Turboyap's planner checks every one of these before a post is scheduled (the same data as platform rules), and each value links to the Instagram documentation it comes from.

Compare with other platforms in the social media API limits tracker.

Example requests

All three do the same thing: upload the media, preview the post with a dry run, then schedule it. The idempotency key makes retries safe: send the same request again with the same key and you get the original post back, not a second one.

Early access: api.turboyap.com isn't public yet, and @turboyap/sdk and @turboyap/mcp aren't on npm yet. These examples show the API as built.

curl

# 1. Upload each image. The body is the raw file; Content-Type is its type.
curl https://api.turboyap.com/v1/media \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TURBOYAP_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: image/png" \
  -H "X-Filename: slide-1.png" \
  --data-binary @slide-1.png
# → { "media": { "id": "med_…", "width": 1080, "height": 1920, … }, "deduplicated": false }

# 2. Preview. Remove "dry_run" to create and schedule the post.
curl https://api.turboyap.com/v1/posts \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TURBOYAP_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "type": "image",
    "media_ids": ["med_…"],
    "caption": "Read the label. #ingredients #grocery",
    "targets": [{ "account_id": "acct_instagram…" }],
    "schedule_at": "2026-10-20T18:00:00-04:00",
    "fit": { "aspect": "pad" },
    "idempotency_key": "instagram-image-post-2026-10-20",
    "dry_run": true
  }'

TypeScript with @turboyap/sdk

import { readFile } from "node:fs/promises";
import { TurboyapClient } from "@turboyap/sdk";

const ty = new TurboyapClient({ apiKey: process.env.TURBOYAP_API_KEY! });
const account = (await ty.listAccounts()).find((a) => a.platform === "instagram")!;

const media_ids: string[] = [];
for (const file of ["image.png"]) {
  const { media } = await ty.uploadMedia(await readFile(file), { filename: file, contentType: "image/png" });
  media_ids.push(media.id);
}

const post = {
  type: "image" as const,
  media_ids,
  caption: "Read the label. #ingredients #grocery",
  targets: [{ account_id: account.id }],
  schedule_at: "2026-10-20T18:00:00-04:00",
  fit: { aspect: "pad" as const },
  idempotency_key: "instagram-image-post-2026-10-20",
};

// Preview first: every problem comes back with a fix.
const preview = await ty.createPost({ ...post, dry_run: true });
if (!preview.ok) throw new Error(preview.errors.map((e) => `${e.code}: ${e.fix}`).join("\n"));

const { post: created } = await ty.createPost(post);
console.log(created.targets[0]?.status, created.targets[0]?.next_step);

Claude Code (MCP)

Add the Turboyap MCP server once, with an agent key from your workspace:

claude mcp add turboyap -e TURBOYAP_API_KEY=ty_agent_… -- npx -y @turboyap/mcp

Then ask:

Post ~/content/label-check.png to our Instagram tomorrow at 8am ET with the caption "Read the label. #ingredients #grocery". If the aspect ratio doesn't fit, pad it. Dry-run first.

The agent calls list_accounts, get_platform_rules, upload_media, create_post with dry_run: true, applies any fixes, calls create_post again to schedule, and reports each account's next_step from get_post. The same server works in Cursor; see the MCP quickstart.

How publishing works

Instagram has one publishing mode. When the scheduled time arrives, Turboyap creates the media container, waits for Instagram to finish processing, then publishes. The target moves scheduled → publishing → processing → published, and platform_url links to the live post.

JPEG only; Turboyap converts PNG/WebP automatically.

Vertical 9:16 slides are outside Instagram's 4:5–1.91:1 range: set fit.aspect to "pad" (keeps all content) or "crop".

Common errors and fixes

Every error has a code, the field that caused it, and a fix an agent can apply without asking you. A request with several problems returns all of them in issues; a dry run returns them without creating anything.

Errors from Instagram itself appear on the target's error with Instagram's own code. Turboyap retries rate limits and temporary failures with backoff, and marks the account for reconnection when Instagram rejects its token.

Approval and audit

• Level 1, review everything (default): a post an agent schedules starts as pending_approval and waits until a human approves it with a human key (POST /v1/posts/:id/approve). Agent keys can't approve.
• Level 3, full autopilot: agent posts schedule directly. Every action is still logged. Level 2, guardrails, is coming soon.
• Posts created by humans schedule directly at any level.
• Edits re-open review: if an agent changes the caption or time of an approved post on a level-1 account, it goes back to pending_approval.
• Dry runs show the outcome: each target's status_on_create tells the agent whether the post will wait for approval.
• Audit log: every create, approval, edit, publish and failure is recorded with whether a human or an agent did it, the key id, and the MCP client name. The kill switch (POST /v1/workspace/pause) stops every publish to Instagram and every other platform at once.

Read more in the autonomy dial.

FAQ

Related

• Instagram carousel API
• TikTok photo post API
• Bluesky image post API (beta)
• Telegram photo post API (beta)
• Discord image message API (beta)
• Post one slideshow to TikTok and Instagram
• REST API reference
• Platform rules
• Social media API limits tracker

This page as markdown: /api/instagram/image-post.md. Everything for LLMs: /llms.txt.