Publishing to Threads via API: A technical guide

Before you start: Verification and app review

Before your app can publish to Threads in production, you must complete two steps:

1. Tech Provider Verification - Meta requires verification of your identity as a tech provider before you can access Advanced Access permissions. This process can take up to a week.
2. App Review - Each permission requires a separate app review submission with a screencast demonstrating how your app uses that specific permission. If your app has not been approved for Advanced Access for threads_content_publish, you can only post to your own account and your app’s tester accounts.

The app review process takes 2-4 weeks per Meta’s documentation. Each screencast must show the complete user journey for that permission in your app.

Required permissions

To publish content and access insights on a Threads account, your app needs these permissions approved:

• threads_basic - Required for all Threads API endpoints
• threads_content_publish - Create and publish posts
• threads_manage_insights - Access account and post analytics

Each of these permissions needs its own app review submission with a screencast.

The container model

Threads publishing uses the same two-step container model as Instagram:

1. Create a container — POST to /{threads-user-id}/threads to create the media container
2. Publish the container — POST to /{threads-user-id}/threads_publish with the container ID to make it live

All requests go to the Threads-specific base URL: https://graph.threads.net/v1.0/. This is different from the graph.facebook.com base URL used by Facebook and Instagram.

All media must be hosted on a publicly accessible URL at the time of the create request — Meta will cURL your media directly from that URL. Wait at least 30 seconds between creating and publishing a container to allow processing time.

Publishing text, image, and video posts

POST to /{threads-user-id}/threads:

{
  "media_type": "IMAGE",
  "image_url": "https://example.com/photo.jpg",
  "text": "Your caption text"
}

Set media_type to TEXT, IMAGE, or VIDEO. For video posts, use video_url instead of image_url. Text posts are limited to 500 characters — emojis count as their UTF-8 byte length.

Publish with a POST to /{threads-user-id}/threads_publish:

{
  "creation_id": "<THREADS_MEDIA_CONTAINER_ID>"
}

Publishing carousels

Carousels support up to 20 images and/or videos per post (minimum 2 items). This is a three-step process:

Step 1: Create item containers

Create a container for each image or video with is_carousel_item set to true:

{
  "media_type": "IMAGE",
  "image_url": "https://example.com/photo1.jpg",
  "is_carousel_item": true
}

Repeat for each item, up to 20.

Step 2: Create the carousel container

POST to /{threads-user-id}/threads:

{
  "media_type": "CAROUSEL",
  "children": "<CONTAINER_1>,<CONTAINER_2>,<CONTAINER_3>",
  "text": "Carousel caption"
}

Step 3: Publish

POST to /{threads-user-id}/threads_publish with the carousel container ID. Carousels count as a single post against the rate limit.

Topic tags, links, and GIFs

These extras are available when creating a media container:

Topic tags make posts discoverable. Use the topic_tag parameter (1–50 characters, no periods or ampersands):

{
  "media_type": "TEXT",
  "text": "Discussing the latest in AI",
  "topic_tag": "artificial-intelligence"
}

Links attach a URL preview to text-only posts. Use the link_attachment parameter, or include a URL in the text field and it will automatically become the link preview. Posts are limited to 5 unique links total.

GIFs can be attached to text-only posts using the gif_attachment parameter. Tenor is the only supported provider:

{
  "media_type": "TEXT",
  "text": "Nailed it",
  "gif_attachment": {"gif_id": "<TENOR_GIF_ID>", "provider": "TENOR"}
}

Media specifications

Images: JPEG or PNG, 8 MB max, aspect ratio up to 10:1, width between 320 and 1440 pixels, sRGB color space.

Videos: MOV or MP4 container, H264 or HEVC codec, 23–60 FPS, max 1920px width, 5 minutes max duration, 1 GB max file size. Audio must be AAC at up to 48 kHz, mono or stereo.

Rate limits

Threads profiles are limited to 250 posts per 24-hour period. Carousels count as a single post against this limit.

The same video, through Postproxy

Here’s how it’s done with Postproxy. One simple request with only what matters:

curl -X POST "https://api.postproxy.dev/api/posts" \
     -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
     -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
     -d '{
       "post": {
         "body": "Quick demo of the feature we have been working on"
       },
       "profiles": ["threads"],
       "media": ["https://example.com/video.mp4"]
     }'

One request. Postproxy handles the container creation, the processing wait, the status check, and the publish step.

What Postproxy handles

Postproxy maintains approved permissions and handles the complexity:

• All required permissions approved through app review
• Threads access token exchange and refresh
• The two-step container creation and publishing flow
• Unified API for text, images, videos, and carousels
• Rate limit monitoring and request pacing

Your system sends content. Postproxy handles the Threads-specific implementation.

Connect your Threads account and start publishing through the Postproxy API.