Post Social / Docs / Troubleshooting
Troubleshooting and error reference
Post Social explains each failure in plain words. Find the message you saw below, and what to do about it. Names and numbers in a message are shown here as <…>.
Start here
The quickstart lists the most common problems and their fixes. See If something fails.
To see what happened to a post, ask your AI for its publishing results. Each account has its own result: published with a live link, failed with a reason, or still in progress. A post is live only when the results show published with a live link. See post statuses.
For some problems Post Social tries again on its own, and the message says so. If a failure says it isn't something you can fix, email support@postsocial.xyz.
An account needs to be reconnected
| What you see | What to do |
|---|---|
| “… was refused because the <platform> access expired. Reconnect <platform> and try again.” | The platform no longer accepts Post Social’s access. On the Accounts page choose Reconnect and sign in again. |
| “<account> was disconnected. Reconnect it to publish.” | The account was disconnected. Connect it again from the Accounts page. |
| “… was refused by LinkedIn … Reconnect LinkedIn to grant posting access.” | LinkedIn did not allow posting. Reconnect LinkedIn and approve posting when it asks. |
| “Reconnect this TikTok account to allow sending drafts.” | The TikTok connection is missing the permission to send drafts. Reconnect TikTok. |
| The account shows Needs attention on the Accounts page | Choose Reconnect on that account. |
Problems connecting an account
| What you see | What to do |
|---|---|
| “Instagram did not return a professional account. Switch the account to Business or Creator and try again.” | Change the Instagram account to a Business or Creator account in Instagram, then connect again. |
| “Meta connected but shared no Facebook Pages. Reconnect and choose at least one Page in Edit settings.” | Connect again and choose at least one Page when Facebook asks. |
| “Meta returned <n> Facebook Page(s), but none allow posting. Reconnect and give Post Social access to manage a Page.” | Connect again and give Post Social access to manage a Page. |
| “Google did not return lasting access. Remove Post Social at myaccount.google.com/permissions, then connect again.” | Remove Post Social from your Google account’s permissions, then connect YouTube again. |
| “Bluesky sign-in could not start. Try again.” | Check the handle you entered (for example name.bsky.social) and try again. |
| “Accounts are connected by a person in the Post Social web app. Use a connect link.” | An AI can’t connect accounts. Ask it for a connect link and open it yourself. |
Problems found before a post is sent
Post Social checks every post against each platform's rules before sending. A post with problems is saved as a draft and the problems are listed, so nothing goes out half-right. Fix them, then publish the draft.
| What you see | What to do |
|---|---|
| “<Platform> posts can be at most <n> characters; this one is <m>.” | Shorten the text. Ask your AI to write a shorter version for that platform. Limits are on the Platforms page; on X, links count as 23 and emoji as 2. |
| “<file> is still being checked; only ready media can be posted.” | The file is still processing. Wait a moment and try again. If it says failed, upload it again. |
| “<Platform> … must be <type>; <file> is <type>.” | The file type isn’t accepted for that kind of post. Convert it (for example to MP4 or JPEG) and upload it again. |
| “… must be at least <n> seconds” or “… can be at most <n>; <file> is <m>.” | The video is too short or too long for that platform. Trim it, or post it to a different platform. |
| “Facebook Reels must be vertical 9:16” or “YouTube Shorts must be vertical or square” | Re-export the video in a vertical (or, for YouTube, square) shape. |
| “A <platform> <post type> needs exactly 1 video” or “… needs 2 to <n> files” | The number of files doesn’t match the post type. Attach the right number of files. |
| “Choose an Instagram post type” / “Choose a Facebook post type” / “Choose a Threads post type” | Say what kind of post it is: image, Reel or carousel on Instagram; text, link, image, Reel or video on Facebook; text, image, video or carousel on Threads. |
| “Add a title for the YouTube Short.” or “Choose who can see the YouTube Short” | YouTube needs a title (up to 100 characters) and a visibility: public, unlisted or private. |
| “Choose who can see this TikTok: everyone, friends, followers or only you.” | TikTok direct posts need an audience. Tell your AI who should see it, or set the account to Inbox first. |
| “Branded content on TikTok cannot be private …” | Choose a wider audience, or turn off branded content. |
| “Duet and Stitch aren’t available for TikTok photo posts” | Turn Duet and Stitch off for photo posts. |
| “A Facebook text post cannot include media” (and the same for link, Threads text, LinkedIn text, Bluesky text and X text posts) | Text-only posts can’t have files. Choose an image or video post type, or remove the media. |
| “The scheduled time is in the past.” / “Posts can be scheduled up to a year ahead.” | Give a time from now up to a year ahead, with a time zone. |
| “A post can go to at most 20 accounts.” / “A post can include at most 35 media files.” | Split the post into more than one. |
| “One of the chosen accounts is not connected to this workspace.” / “<account> is listed twice.” | Check the account list from list_social_accounts and use each account once. |
A platform limit or rule
Platforms limit how much an account can post, and set their own rules. See the Platforms page for the limits Post Social checks.
| What you see | What to do |
|---|---|
| “… limit for this account is used up for now. Post Social will try again later.” (Bluesky, LinkedIn, X) | The platform is limiting that account. Nothing to do: Post Social retries on its own. |
| “This Bluesky account has reached its daily video upload limit. Post Social will try again later.” | Nothing to do. It retries later. |
| “YouTube’s daily upload limit is used up … after it resets at midnight Pacific time.” | Nothing to do. It retries after the reset. |
| “This account reached its safe posting limit for now; it will go out when the limit resets.” | Nothing to do. The post goes out when the limit resets. |
| “TikTok says this account can’t post right now (often a daily limit). Try again later.” | Wait and post again later. |
| “TikTok says this account has posted too much today. Try again tomorrow.” | Post again tomorrow. |
| “TikTok’s daily limit for this app has been reached. Try again tomorrow.” | Post again tomorrow. |
| “TikTok has several Post Social drafts waiting in this account’s inbox. Open TikTok to post or delete them, then try again.” | Clear the drafts in TikTok, then post again. |
| “TikTok has blocked this account from posting right now.” | This is TikTok’s decision about the account. Check the account in TikTok. |
| “TikTok hasn’t cleared this Post Social app to post publicly, so it can only post to TikTok accounts set to Private …” | Make the TikTok account private, or send the post as a draft to your TikTok inbox. |
| “This TikTok account can’t post with that audience. Choose one of: …” or “That audience isn’t available for this TikTok account.” | Choose one of the audiences listed. |
| “This TikTok account allows videos up to <n> seconds; this one is <m>.” | Trim the video to the length TikTok allows for that account. |
| “Comments / Duet / Stitch is turned off for this TikTok account; turn it off for this post.” | Turn that option off for the post, or turn it on in TikTok. |
Billing and plan limits
| What you see | What to do |
|---|---|
| “This workspace reached its monthly X limit, so this post didn’t go out. Raise the X cap on the Billing page (or add a card), then post it again. Other platforms are not affected.” | Raise the X cap or add a card on the Billing page, then post again. See X posts in pricing and billing. |
| “This workspace has <n> connected accounts and the <plan> plan covers <m>, so posting is paused. Add a card on the Billing page, or disconnect accounts, then post again.” | Add a card on the Billing page, or disconnect accounts until you’re within the plan. |
| “Your <plan> plan allows <n> … limit.” (status 402) | You have reached a plan limit, such as published posts in a month. See Rate limits and status. |
| “Your <plan> plan allows <n> API calls a day, and today’s are used up. Calls work again after midnight UTC.” (status 429) | Wait until after midnight UTC. |
The platform couldn't process a file
| What you see | What to do |
|---|---|
| “<Platform> could not process the video / images / media …” | The platform rejected the file after upload. Re-export the file and post again. |
| “One of the images could not be made small enough for Bluesky (1 MB).” | Use a smaller or simpler image. |
| “The stored media could not be read.” (Post Social retries this itself) | If it keeps failing, upload the file again. |
Post Social isn't sure whether it went out
| What you see | What to do |
|---|---|
| “… was interrupted … Check the <platform> before posting it again.” | The post may have gone out. Look at the account on the platform first, so you don’t post it twice. |
| “The platform has not confirmed the post after 30 minutes. Check the platform before posting again.” | The same: check the platform first. |
| “The photos may already be on TikTok … Check your TikTok profile before posting again.” | The same: check your TikTok profile first. |
Something on Post Social's side
| What you see | What to do |
|---|---|
| “Something went wrong on Post Social’s side while publishing. Contact support and we’ll get it posted.” | Email support@postsocial.xyz. It isn’t something you can fix. |
| “X posting is temporarily unavailable on Post Social’s side … Nothing is wrong with your account.” | Email support@postsocial.xyz. The post didn’t go out. |
| “Something went wrong on our side. Try again in a moment.” (API status 500) | Try again in a moment. If it keeps happening, email support@postsocial.xyz. |
API error codes
REST errors always look like {"error":{"code","message"}}, and the MCP server returns the same message to your AI. The message is written for people. See the REST API page.
| Status | Code | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 400 | invalid_request | The request has a problem, such as a missing or unknown field, or a post that breaks a platform’s rules. The message says which. |
| 401 | unauthorized | No valid key or sign-in was sent. |
| 402 | plan_limit | A plan limit would be passed, such as published posts in a month. |
| 403 | forbidden | Not allowed. For example, test keys can’t publish, only a person can manage keys and connect accounts, and apps approved by a reviewer can only read. |
| 404 | not_found | That post, account, profile, media item or key wasn’t found in this workspace. |
| 405 | method_not_allowed | That address doesn’t accept this method. |
| 409 | conflict | The post is in a state that doesn’t allow this, such as editing a post that already started sending, or publishing something that isn’t a draft. |
| 413 | too_large | The request body is too large. Upload media with start_media_upload instead. |
| 422 | idempotency_mismatch | The Idempotency-Key was already used for a different request. |
| 429 | rate_limited | Too many requests. Wait the number of seconds in the Retry-After header. See Rate limits and status. |
| 500 | internal_error | Something went wrong on Post Social’s side. Try again in a moment. |