How to Schedule Social Media Posts with an API

The two ways to schedule content

Upload-Post gives you two approaches for scheduling. You can set an exact date and time with the scheduled_date parameter, or you can let the system decide the best time by using the queue system. Both work on any endpoint: video uploads, photo uploads, and text posts.

Option A: Schedule for a specific date and time

Add the scheduled_date parameter to any upload request. The format is ISO-8601, and you can schedule up to 365 days in advance.

curl -X POST https://api.upload-post.com/api/upload \
  -H "Authorization: Apikey your-api-key-here" \
  -F "[email protected]" \
  -F "user=mybrand" \
  -F "title=Coming soon... stay tuned!" \
  -F "platform[]=tiktok" \
  -F "platform[]=instagram" \
  -F "scheduled_date=2025-09-22T10:00:00Z" \
  -F "timezone=Europe/Madrid"

A couple of important details here. The date is in UTC by default, but you can pass a timezone parameter using IANA format (like America/New_York, Europe/London, Asia/Tokyo) so the post goes live at the right local time. This saves you from doing timezone math yourself.

When a post is successfully scheduled, the API responds with a 202 status and includes a job_id:

{
  "success": true,
  "job_id": "scheduler_job_abc123",
  "scheduled_date": "2025-09-22T10:00:00Z"
}

Keep that job_id because you'll need it if you want to edit or cancel the post later.

Option B: Use the queue system

The queue is perfect when you want consistent posting without picking exact times. Instead of choosing a date, you set add_to_queue=true and Upload-Post assigns the next available time slot based on your configured schedule.

Setting up your queue

First, configure your queue settings. You define which days and which time slots you want:

curl -X POST https://api.upload-post.com/api/uploadposts/queue/settings \
  -H "Authorization: Apikey your-api-key-here" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "timezone": "America/New_York",
    "slots": [
      { "hour": 9, "minute": 0 },
      { "hour": 12, "minute": 30 },
      { "hour": 17, "minute": 0 }
    ],
    "days": [0, 1, 2, 3, 4]
  }'

This example publishes at 9:00 AM, 12:30 PM and 5:00 PM (New York time), Monday through Friday. You can define up to 24 slots per day.

Adding content to the queue

curl -X POST https://api.upload-post.com/api/upload \
  -H "Authorization: Apikey your-api-key-here" \
  -F "[email protected]" \
  -F "user=mybrand" \
  -F "title=Monday motivation" \
  -F "platform[]=tiktok" \
  -F "platform[]=instagram" \
  -F "add_to_queue=true"

Upload-Post will automatically assign this post to the next open slot. If it's Wednesday at 2 PM, the post will be scheduled for 5:00 PM that same day. If all Wednesday slots are full, it moves to Thursday at 9:00 AM.

Preview upcoming queue slots

Want to see what times are available before queuing content? Use the preview endpoint:

curl https://api.upload-post.com/api/uploadposts/queue/preview?count=10 \
  -H "Authorization: Apikey your-api-key-here"

This returns the next 10 available slots with their exact dates and times. You can request up to 50 at once.

Managing scheduled posts

Once content is scheduled, you have full control over it through the API.

List all scheduled posts

curl https://api.upload-post.com/api/uploadposts/schedule \
  -H "Authorization: Apikey your-api-key-here"

Returns an array of pending jobs with their job_id, scheduled_date, platform details and a preview URL of the content.

Edit a scheduled post

Need to change the publish date or update the caption? Use a PATCH request:

curl -X PATCH https://api.upload-post.com/api/uploadposts/schedule/scheduler_job_abc123 \
  -H "Authorization: Apikey your-api-key-here" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "scheduled_date": "2025-09-25T14:00:00Z",
    "title": "Updated caption with better hashtags"
  }'

Cancel a scheduled post

curl -X DELETE https://api.upload-post.com/api/uploadposts/schedule/scheduler_job_abc123 \
  -H "Authorization: Apikey your-api-key-here"

The post and its uploaded assets are removed immediately.

Building a content calendar with the queue

Here's a practical workflow that many agencies use. You batch produce content on Monday, upload everything to the queue, and the system distributes it throughout the week automatically. No need to be online at 9 AM on Wednesday to hit the publish button.

This is especially powerful when combined with tools like n8n or Make.com. For example, you can set up a workflow where new files in a Google Drive folder automatically get added to the queue. Check out our Google Sheets scheduling template for n8n for a ready made setup.

Our social media holiday calendar is also handy for planning content around important dates throughout the year.

Scheduling with Python

from upload_post import UploadPostClient
from datetime import datetime, timedelta

client = UploadPostClient(api_key="your-api-key-here")

# Schedule a video for tomorrow at 10 AM Madrid time
publish_date = (datetime.now() + timedelta(days=1)).replace(
    hour=10, minute=0, second=0
)

response = client.upload_video(
    video_path="/path/to/video.mp4",
    title="Scheduled from Python",
    user="mybrand",
    platforms=["tiktok", "instagram", "youtube"],
    scheduled_date=publish_date.isoformat(),
    timezone="Europe/Madrid"
)

print(f"Scheduled! Job ID: {response['job_id']}")

Daily upload limits per platform

When scheduling a lot of content, keep in mind that each platform enforces daily limits. These are rolling 24 hour windows per connected account:

The queue system respects these limits automatically and won't overschedule for any platform.

Frequently asked questions

Can I schedule the same content for different times on different platforms?

Not in a single request, but you can send separate requests for each platform with different scheduled_date values. Or use the queue system, which distributes automatically.

What happens if a scheduled post fails?

You'll get a notification through webhooks (if configured) with the error details. You can also check the status with the GET /api/uploadposts/status?job_id=your_job_id endpoint.

Can I combine scheduling with the no code tools?

Absolutely. Both n8n and Make.com can send the scheduled_date or add_to_queue parameters through the HTTP request module. This means you can build a visual workflow that reads from a spreadsheet and schedules everything automatically.