You have Claude open in one tab and Instagram in another, and you want them talking to each other. You can connect Claude to Instagram in about five minutes, but the order matters: Instagram connects to Planoly, then Planoly connects to Claude. Get that order right and everything else falls into place. (For the bigger picture of what the connector can do, see Planoly's MCP hub.)
What Do You Need Before You Start?
- A Planoly account. The free plan works for connecting channels and scheduling posts. It covers one workspace and 10 posts per month per workspace.
- A paid Claude plan. You need one to add the Planoly connector.
- An Instagram Business or Creator account. Planoly works only with professional accounts, so if yours is a personal account, switch it to Business or Creator in the Instagram app first. Link it to a Facebook Page too if you want Claude to read your Instagram analytics or add tags, locations, collaborators or music. Plain auto-posting doesn't need the Facebook Page.
- A paid Planoly plan for analytics. Drafting and scheduling through Claude don't need one, but analytics, shareable report links and the media library do. On the free plan, Claude uploads your file to the post directly.
How Do You Connect Claude to Instagram?
1. Link Instagram to Planoly first. In Planoly on the web, select the Instagram avatar in the channel row at the top right, choose Link Account, and sign in at instagram.com. Every workspace starts with Instagram as a reminder-only channel, so until you do this, posts can't publish on their own. On mobile, tap your workspace avatar, tap Manage, open the workspace, tap the Instagram row, then tap Link account.
Why it works: Claude never touches your Instagram login. The connector works with the channels already linked to your Planoly workspace, and Claude can't link or unlink a channel for you.
2. Add the Facebook Page link if you want analytics. The instagram.com sign-in is enough to publish posts, carousels, Reels and Stories. Instagram analytics, location tags, people tags, product tags, collaborators and music need a second link through the Facebook Page your Instagram Business or Creator account is attached to. Planoly offers it the first time you reach for one of those tools: a card titled "Update Instagram account to..." opens, you select Activate, sign in with Facebook, pick the Page and select Connect.
Why it works: Planoly reads Instagram analytics through that Page connection, not the instagram.com sign-in. Skip this step and Claude can schedule for you but can't tell you which posts performed.
3. Connect Planoly to Claude. Open Planoly's listing in the Claude connector directory, select Connect, and sign in with your Planoly account. You can also start from inside Planoly: select the Claude avatar in the top bar next to your channel icons and the setup dialog walks you through it. Or, from inside Claude, open Settings > Connectors and search "Planoly".
Why it works: Sign-in uses OAuth, so you never paste a password into Claude. One connection covers both Claude chat and Cowork.
4. Paste the verification prompt. Start a new chat and paste this:
"Using Planoly, list my workspaces and the channels in each one. For Instagram, tell me whether it can auto-publish or is reminder-only, and whether it needs reconnecting."
Why it works: Planoly reports each channel's connection state and posting mode, so you find a broken link now instead of when a post fails to go out.
5. Schedule one test post. Give Claude an image and a caption you wrote, and ask it to build an Instagram draft scheduled at least 10 minutes ahead. Claude will ask your permission before it creates or changes anything.
Why it works: Planoly won't schedule an Instagram auto-post less than 10 minutes out, and tools that create or change posts are flagged so Claude checks with you first.
What Can Claude Do With Your Instagram Once It's Connected?
Instagram decides the format from the media you attach, so your request to Claude can stay simple:
- One image publishes as a feed post.
- Two to ten images or videos publish as a carousel.
- One video publishes as a Reel that also appears in your feed. Ask Claude to switch on Exclude from main grid if you want it in the Reels tab only.
- A Story takes one image or one video, and its caption is a private note, not sent to Instagram.
Captions run to 2,200 characters with 30 hashtags across the caption and first comment. Because linking loads your published posts into Planoly's grid view, you can ask Claude to look at your next week of scheduled posts and flag two similar images back to back before they hit your grid. With analytics connected, try: "Pull my Instagram analytics for the last 30 days and show me my top 5 posts and what they have in common."
Why Isn't Claude Seeing My Instagram?
- Your Claude and Planoly accounts use different emails. This is the most common snag we see on setup calls. The connector is tied to whichever Planoly user you signed in as, so if that login isn't the one that owns your workspace, Claude finds no Instagram channel. Disconnect the connector in Claude, sign back in through your browser with the right Planoly account, and run the verification prompt again.
- Analytics come back empty or ask you to upgrade. Check that your Instagram is a Business or Creator account linked through a Facebook Page (step 2), and that you're on a paid Planoly plan.
- "No Instagram Business account found" during the Facebook step. The Instagram account has to be Business or Creator and attached to one of the Facebook Pages you kept selected in Meta's permission screen. Make sure that Page is selected and try again.
- Posts became reminders, or Planoly says the connection expired. If the channel was unlinked, select Link Account on the Instagram avatar and set each converted post back to Auto-post. If Instagram stopped honoring Planoly's access, select Reconnect in the banner under Posting method.
- An older guide told you to turn on developer mode or paste a custom URL. You don't need that for Claude anymore. Planoly is listed in Claude's connector directory, so step 3 is all it takes.
What You Can Do Next
Once your test post goes live, try batching: on a paid plan, point Claude at a folder in your Planoly media library and ask for a week of Instagram drafts to review. If you want to see every tool the connector exposes and how each one behaves, the Planoly technical reference at planoly.ai goes deeper. Posting to a Facebook Page too? Our guide to connecting Claude to Facebook covers the Page-specific rules.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can Claude connect my Instagram account for me?
No. You link Instagram inside Planoly. Claude works with the channels already linked to your workspace and can't add or remove them.
Do I need a Facebook Page to schedule Instagram posts from Claude?
No. The instagram.com sign-in publishes posts, carousels, Reels, Stories and first comments. You need the Facebook Page link only for analytics, tagging, collaborators and music.
Will Claude post without asking me?
Tools that create, change or delete posts are marked so Claude asks before running them. How that prompt looks is up to Claude.
How far ahead do posts need to be scheduled?
At least 10 minutes ahead and no more than a year out.
Does anything I schedule in Claude show up in the Planoly app?
Yes. The connection is to your Planoly account, so drafts and scheduled posts appear on web and mobile.
