Instagram and TikTok MCP Servers for Claude

By Mika ReyesPublished 6 min read

The short answer

Yes, Claude can post to and read Instagram and TikTok through an MCP server. There are five kinds: official platform MCPs, self-hosted open-source servers, scrapers, automation platforms, and unified social media APIs. The real difference is whose developer app the server uses and who passes app review. Adeli, which is ours, owns those apps and covers Instagram and TikTok in one connection.

Yes, there are Instagram MCP servers for Claude, and TikTok ones too. They come in five types, and the type decides whether Claude can post at all and whether you first have to build your own Meta or TikTok developer app and get it approved.

Is there an Instagram MCP for Claude?#

Yes, several. Claude can publish to Instagram and TikTok, read analytics, and sometimes reply to comments through an MCP server. What differs is who owns the developer app behind the server:

  • The platform itself. Scope is narrow, often ads only.
  • You. You build the app and pass app review.
  • A provider. The provider owns the app and passes review for you.

What is an MCP server?#

An MCP server is a small service that exposes an app's actions as tools an AI assistant can call. The Model Context Protocol (MCP) is an open-source standard for connecting AI applications to external systems, and Claude, ChatGPT, and Cursor all support it.

Think of MCP as a universal adapter. The assistant has one plug, and each MCP server is the adapter for one service. An Instagram MCP server turns "publish this Reel" into calls to the Instagram API and hands the result back to Claude.

An MCP server gets no special access to Instagram or TikTok. It can only do what the platform's API allows, through whatever developer app and tokens sit behind it. That makes the developer app behind the server the first thing to check.

What kinds of Instagram and TikTok MCP servers are there?#

There are five kinds, and they differ mainly in who owns the platform relationship.

Type Posts to IG/TikTok? Reads analytics? Comments? Cross-posts to other networks? Whose developer app? Who handles app review?
Official platform MCP Depends on the platform; often ads only Usually, for what it covers Rarely No, one platform only The platform's Nobody, but scope is narrow
Self-hosted open-source server Yes Yes Yes Usually no Yours You
Scraper MCP No Public data only Reads public comments No None, it scrapes Nobody, but it risks breaking platform terms
Automation-platform MCP Some actions Limited Limited Via separate actions per network The automation platform's The automation platform
Unified social media API MCP (like Adeli) Yes Yes Varies by provider Yes The provider's The provider

1. Official platform MCPs#

Verdict: first-party, but narrow, and one network per server. An official platform MCP is one the social network ships itself. TikTok's MCP server for TikTok for Business, for example, is built around its ads API, not organic posting to your account.

  • Can post: depends on the platform, and often only ads.
  • Whose app: the platform's.
  • Watch out for: no cross-posting. A Meta MCP can't post to TikTok, and a TikTok MCP can't post to Instagram. To publish one piece of content everywhere, you'd connect several servers and repeat yourself in each.

In our experience, the platforms aren't putting much into these MCPs. They can be rough and buggy, and they change often, so a workflow that ran last month may break without warning.

2. Self-hosted open-source servers#

Verdict: full control, full setup. These are the open-source projects on GitHub that you run on your own machine against the Instagram content publishing API or TikTok's Content Posting API. Many are well built and cover publishing, insights, and comments.

  • Can post: yes.
  • Whose app: yours. You create the Meta or TikTok developer app, generate tokens, and keep them refreshed.
  • Watch out for:
    • Meta App Review. Permissions beyond the basics go through Meta's App Review.
    • TikTok's audit. Per TikTok's docs, content posted by unaudited clients is restricted to private viewing until your app passes an audit.

If you already have an approved app, or you only post to your own account, this path works fine. If app review is what's stopping you, Adeli's Instagram API skips it, because Adeli already owns the approved app.

3. Scraper MCPs#

Verdict: research only. A scraper MCP reads public data from Instagram or TikTok (profiles, posts, captions, public engagement counts) without the official API. It's useful for studying a competitor's top posts.

  • Can post: no. It can't post, schedule, or read your private insights, because it never signs in as you through the platform's API.
  • Whose app: none.
  • Watch out for: scraping generally conflicts with Instagram's and TikTok's terms of service, so don't build anything important on it.

4. Automation-platform MCPs#

Verdict: handy if you already use one, thin otherwise. No-code automation platforms expose their integrations as MCP tools, so Claude can trigger an Instagram action the same way it triggers a Slack or Sheets action.

  • Can post: usually a publish action or two per network.
  • Whose app: the automation platform's.
  • Watch out for: limited analytics and comments, each network handled as a separate action, and usage that often counts against the platform's task quota.

5. Unified social media API MCPs#

Verdict: one connection, many networks, no app review of your own. A unified social media API connects to many networks behind one integration, and its MCP server gives Claude one set of tools for all of them.

  • Can post: yes, through each network's official API, and one request can cross-post.
  • Whose app: the provider's. The provider owns the developer app on each network, passes each review, and refreshes the tokens.
  • Watch out for: you depend on the provider and on which networks it supports.

Why can't one platform's MCP cross-post?#

Each platform's API only reaches its own network. The Instagram API has no way to publish to TikTok, so neither does an MCP built on it.

Cross-posting needs a layer above the individual APIs that takes one request and sends it to Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and the rest. That layer is a unified social media API. Adeli is one: it publishes to Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, and X, and if a post fails on one network, the others still go out.

Do I need my own Meta or TikTok developer app?#

Only with a self-hosted server. Official platform MCPs, automation platforms, and unified API providers all run on an app someone else owns.

Whoever owns the app also owns the review queue and the token refresh. Adeli maintains the developer app on every supported network, goes through each platform's review itself, and manages token refresh. The Instagram API and TikTok API pages cover what that includes for each network.

Can Claude post to a personal Instagram account?#

No. Meta's docs say the API publishes to Instagram professional accounts, meaning Business or Creator, so the limit applies to every MCP server that uses the official API. Scrapers don't help either, because they can't post.

You can switch a personal account to a professional account for free in the Instagram app.

How do I add an Instagram MCP server to Claude Code?#

Add the server's URL or start command, then sign in when Claude asks. The commands below follow Anthropic's Claude Code MCP docs.

A hosted server in Claude Code#

  1. Add the server:

    claude mcp add --transport http instagram https://example.com/mcp

  2. Run /mcp inside a Claude Code session and follow the browser sign-in.

  3. Optional: add --scope user to make the server available in every project, not only the current one.

A self-hosted server on my machine#

claude mcp add --transport stdio instagram --env IG_ACCESS_TOKEN=your-token -- npx -y your-instagram-mcp-package

Everything after -- is the command that starts the server.

Claude on the web or Claude Desktop#

  1. Open the connectors settings and choose to add a custom connector.
  2. Paste the server URL and complete the sign-in.

Connectors you add on claude.ai also show up in Claude Code when you're signed in with the same account. Check your servers with claude mcp list, and remove one with claude mcp remove instagram.

How does Adeli fit in?#

Adeli is a unified social media API with an MCP server. Claude can publish posts, schedule content, and read analytics across Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, YouTube, and X through conversation instead of code.

  • Works with: Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, and other assistants.
  • Building your own agent: use Adeli's agent skill or call the API directly.
  • Access: MCP access is by request. Start at the Adeli for agents page.
  • Price: per connected account, and the first 3 accounts are free. See pricing.
faq

Frequently asked questions

Does an Instagram MCP server work with ChatGPT or Cursor too?

Yes. MCP is an open standard, so the same Instagram or TikTok MCP server works in Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, and other assistants that support MCP. You add it once per app, and the server behaves the same in each.

Is there a free Instagram MCP server?

Self-hosted open-source servers are free to run, but you pay in setup time: your own Meta developer app, tokens, and app review. Adeli's first 3 connected accounts are free, and Adeli owns the developer app, so there is no review for you to pass.

Can I use an Instagram MCP from n8n instead of Claude?

Yes. n8n can act as an MCP client, so an agent workflow in n8n can call the same MCP server Claude does. If you would rather skip MCP, n8n's HTTP Request node can call a REST API such as Adeli's directly.

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