Hermoso is a marketing MCP server: 876+ tools over one OAuth’d endpoint that let an agent research the ads already running in a market, generate finished image and video ads, publish them, and build the paid campaigns behind them. Claude Cowork reaches all of it through one connection. This page covers one slice of that: what Claude Cowork can actually do on Instagram, and what Instagram will not let it do.
Connect Hermoso to Claude Cowork
- Copy the connector URL.
https://app.hermoso.ai/mcp - Claude → Customize → Connectors → ＋ Add → Add custom connector. Name it Hermoso and paste the URL. Leave the sign-in option on Claude’s default: Hermoso accepts Claude’s published client identity and also registers clients automatically, so there is no client ID to create.
- Connect and approve. Sign in with your Hermoso account on the consent page. No key is pasted.
- Open Cowork and hand it the job. Cowork sees the same connector. Ask it to list your connected channels first, so you know which accounts it can reach.
- Ask Cowork for something. “Pull my three closest competitors’ longest-running ads and remix the best hook into a 9:16 video,” or “post this render to the channel.” The agent picks the tools; you approve the spend.
Anthropic’s help center lists custom connectors on Claude, Cowork and Claude Desktop, and Cowork itself on the paid plans: Pro, Max, Team and Enterprise. On Team and Enterprise an Owner adds Hermoso once under Organization settings, Connectors, and members press Connect. One detail decides the route: a local server in claude_desktop_config.json is not available in Cowork, so the hosted connector is the way in, not npx hermoso mcp. Read from Anthropic’s help center on 2026-10-03. Hermoso is not affiliated with or endorsed by Anthropic.
Then connect Instagram itself, once, under Settings → Connectors in Hermoso. That is an OAuth consent screen, so it is the one step that needs a browser. Everything after it is a tool call.
The Instagram tools Claude Cowork gets
post_to_meta: publishes to Instagram withtarget: "instagram". Instagram is a visual channel and the API agrees: a post needs an image or a video.schedule_post: queues it on the shared calendar, with a per-channel caption if the copy should differ from your Facebook or LinkedIn version.list_meta_comments / reply_to_meta_comment / moderate_meta_comment: read, reply and moderate under a post.meta_page_insights / meta_post_insights: reach, impressions, saves and engagement, per account and per post.search_instagram: keyword search across public Instagram Reels, for research rather than publishing.
Two Instagram facts worth knowing before you automate anything. There is no native Instagram scheduling in Meta’s API, so a schedule is Hermoso’s queue rather than Instagram’s, and passing Facebook’s scheduleAt for Instagram is refused rather than silently posted now. And an Instagram caption cannot be edited once the post is live: the only thing Meta lets you change on a published post is whether comments are enabled. Deleting one is supported: manage_meta_post removes ordinary posts, Stories, Reels and entire carousel albums, though never a single card out of an album.
Instagram limits worth knowing before you automate anything
| Text | An Instagram caption is capped at 2,200 characters. It is enforced when the post is created or queued, so an overlong post is refused while you are still there to fix it instead of being silently cut on the way out. |
|---|---|
| Visibility | Public only. Meta’s Content Publishing API publishes immediately or not at all, and Instagram “has no unlisted, private or draft post.” If you want a review step on Instagram, it has to happen before the call, not after. |
| Carousel | 2 to 10 slides, and images and video may be mixed. That upper bound is Meta’s own, quoted in the capability table it enforces: “Carousels are limited to 10 images, videos, or a mix of the two.” The floor of 2 is ours, because one slide is not a carousel on any platform. A single-slide ask publishes as an ordinary post rather than being refused. |
| Which account | pageId. Instagram publishes through the connected Facebook Page, so the same identity field selects it. |
Try it in Claude Cowork
Ask for it in ordinary language. These are plain sentences, not a DSL:
“Turn our three best customer reviews into a 3-slide Instagram carousel with a caption under 2,200 characters, show me both, and post when I say yes.”
That walks search_instagram → plan_ad → render_ad → post_to_meta (target: "instagram"). How often Cowork stops to check with you is Cowork’s behaviour, not ours. Hermoso’s gates hold either way: campaigns are born paused, and spend switches and deletes need an explicit confirmation.
Claude Cowork on Instagram: the part that bites
Put the review step in the task itself. Instagram has no draft and no edit to a live caption, so a task that runs to the end without pausing has nowhere to catch a typo; the post can still be deleted with manage_meta_post, but it was public in the meantime. Two to ten slides is Meta’s range, and a single image simply posts as an ordinary post.
Cowork can run shell commands, but Anthropic’s default network setting for that sandbox allows package registries rather than every domain, so the hermoso command line is not something to rely on there. The connector is unaffected: Anthropic says connector traffic keeps working whatever the sandbox’s network setting is.
Research Instagram before you post
search_meta_ads covers Instagram placements as well as Facebook, since it is one library. For organic, search_instagram searches public Reels by keyword, which is the surface where the format actually moves; profile and hashtag pulls go through fetch_social_data and search_instagram_hashtag.
The paid half
Instagram placements are bought through the same Meta campaign tree as Facebook: create_meta_campaign → create_meta_adset → create_meta_ad, with placements selectable per platform and position. preview_meta_ad shows the real rendered ad per placement before you spend, and meta_insights breaks results down by age, gender, placement and country. That breakdown is what shapes the next creative.
What Claude Cowork cannot do on its own
An agent with a budget is only useful if the blast radius is bounded, so the fence is in the server rather than in a prompt. Every ad campaign, ad set, ad group and ad is created paused, and the status switches that arm real money refuse to run without an explicit confirmation flag. Every render is quoted first (hermoso_capabilities publishes each model’s exact credit cost before anything spends). Credits are reserved before the first provider call and settled at the exact cost afterwards, so a failed dispatch refunds rather than leaving you billed for nothing. Deletes are confirm-gated too, and every campaign tree is read back from the ad platform before your agent tells you what it built.
One step is deliberately not headless: linking an account is an OAuth consent screen, so you connect the channel once in a browser. Everything after that is a tool call.
The rest of the matrix
From Claude Cowork, post to: Facebook · Threads · TikTok · YouTube · X · LinkedIn · Pinterest · Bluesky · Telegram. Or see everything Claude Cowork can publish to.
Post to Instagram from: Claude · ChatGPT · Claude Code · Cursor · Codex · Cline · OpenClaw · Grok Bot · Hermes · Gemini CLI · Perplexity · Le Chat · Perplexity Computer · Paperclip · AI marketing in Claude
Frequently asked questions
Can Claude Cowork post to Instagram?
Yes, through the Hermoso connector you add in Claude. In Claude, open Customize, Connectors, add a custom connector with https://app.hermoso.ai/mcp and approve it with your Hermoso account. Cowork uses the same connector, and there is no key to paste. Claude Cowork then has 876+ tools, including the ones that publish to Instagram, plus the ones that research the ads already running in your market and render the creative in the first place.
How do I connect Instagram to Claude Cowork?
Two steps, once each. In Claude, open Customize, Connectors, add a custom connector with https://app.hermoso.ai/mcp and approve it with your Hermoso account. Cowork uses the same connector, and there is no key to paste. Then connect Instagram inside Hermoso under Settings → Connectors, which is an OAuth consent screen in a browser. After that Claude Cowork publishes to Instagram as an ordinary tool call.
Can Claude Cowork post a carousel to Instagram?
Yes, 2 to 10 slides, and images and video can be mixed. Ten is Meta’s own published limit, not one Hermoso invented. Claude Cowork calls the same publish tool either way, and a channel that cannot carry a carousel is refused with the real reason attached.
What does it cost to post to Instagram from Claude Cowork?
Publishing to Instagram costs no credits; Meta charges nothing per API call. Credits go on the render itself. Plans are $19, $49 and $149 a month for 1,000, 3,000 and 10,000 credits, and every feature is on every plan including Free. The only exception is enterprise SSO.
Does Claude Cowork need my Instagram password?
No. You connect Instagram to Hermoso once through an OAuth consent screen in a browser, and Claude Cowork then reaches it as a tool call. Linking an account is the one step that is not headless; nothing after it needs a password, and no credential is ever handed to the model.
Can Claude Cowork schedule a Instagram post for later?
Yes. schedule_post queues it on one calendar shared with every other channel, with a per-channel caption if the copy should differ, and list_scheduled and cancel_scheduled read and pull it back. Instagram is one of the ten channels that queue.
Start free with 30 credits at signup and 250+ more to earn. Every feature is on every plan. Credits are spent only on AI models and Ad Spy research; posting, scheduling, ads management and analytics are free.
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