How to Automate Instagram Posts with Claude Code (Step-by-Step)

Summary

Dan Buica demonstrates how to build an Instagram carousel-posting workflow using Claude Code, Notion, and Meta’s Instagram Graph API. The system generates posts, holds them for approval, and publishes approved content on a schedule.

Workflow and Key Features

1. Create an infographic-generation skill in Claude Code

• Install Claude Code and open a dedicated working folder.
• Prompt Claude to create a reusable skill that turns a topic into a three-to-seven-slide Instagram carousel.
• Render slides with HTML and CSS to avoid image-generation costs.
• Have the skill create supporting files, scripts, templates, and captions. A logo can be added to its resources.
• In the example, the output exceeded the slide limit, so Claude selected a smaller set of ideas. Dan also asked it to enlarge small text and update the skill to avoid repeating the layout issue.

2. Set up a Notion content calendar

• Connect Notion to Claude through Claude’s connector settings.
• Ask Claude Code to create an Instagram Content Calendar database with properties such as topic, caption, scheduled date, slide count, and status.
• Add generated posts with a Ready for review status.
• Because slide images did not display properly in a database column, attach them to each Notion entry’s page instead.
• Reviewers can approve or reject posts and set their scheduled dates.

3. Configure scheduled publishing

• Create a cloud-based Claude routine so it can run while the computer is off.
• Configure the routine to check Notion for approved posts scheduled for today or earlier and publish only the first eligible post per run.
• Schedule it to run daily at 10:00 a.m. Notion is a required connector for the routine.

4. Connect Meta and retrieve credentials

• Link the Instagram account to a Facebook Page and add it to a Meta business portfolio.
• Create a Meta app for managing Instagram messaging and content. Add permissions including Pages Show List, Business Management, Instagram Basics, Instagram Content Publish, and—after an initial permissions error—Pages Re-engagement.
• Use Meta’s Graph API Explorer to generate a user access token and retrieve the connected Instagram business account ID.
• Store the account ID and access token as cloud-environment variables. Dan warns that anyone with the token may be able to access the Instagram account within the token’s permissions.
• The initial token was short-lived. Dan used Meta’s Access Token Debugger to extend it to about two months, then replaced the token in the environment settings.

5. Test and refine

• The first publishing test failed because the cloud environment could not access Facebook’s Graph API. Adding graph.facebook.com to the environment’s allowed domains resolved the issue.
• Dan verified that a post appeared on Instagram and that the routine updated the post’s status in Notion.
• He also caught an unwanted error message in a caption, showing that the generation skill may need further adjustments.

Main Speaker and Sources

• Main speaker: Dan Buica, presenting the tutorial and describing his workflow.
• Tools and platforms: Claude Code and Claude routines, Notion, Meta Business settings and developer tools, and the Instagram Graph API.