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OAuth connection

OAuth is the standard flow that lets a third-party app publish to your Instagram or X account without knowing your password.

Definition

Instagram (via Meta Graph API) and X both use OAuth 2.0 for third-party posting. You sign in on their site, grant a scoped permission, and the app receives a token it uses on your behalf.

How to use it

Connect once per brand. Tokens auto-refresh on well-built platforms — if you're prompted to reconnect every few weeks, the scheduler isn't handling refresh correctly.

Common mistakes

  • Storing tokens in plain text on the client
  • Not handling token expiry — leads to silent publish failures
  • Requesting broader scopes than needed