Hermoso is a marketing MCP server: 301 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. Cline reaches all of it through one connection. This page is about one slice of that — what Cline can actually do on Instagram, and what Instagram will not let it do.
Connect Hermoso to Cline
- Create an API key. In Hermoso, open Settings → Agents & API keys and press ＋ Create API key. It looks like
hmk_…and carries real spend authority, so treat it like a password. - Add an MCP server in Cline’s MCP settings, pointing at the hosted endpoint with your key:
{ "url": "https://app.hermoso.ai/mcp", "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer <your key>" } } - Ask Cline 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.
This is Hermoso’s generic HTTP MCP block rather than a bespoke Cline integration, and it is worth saying so plainly. What is Cline-specific on our side is the authorization server: it accepts loopback (http://127.0.0.1:PORT/…) redirect URIs precisely so locally installed agents like Cline can complete a registration handshake at all.
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 Cline 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 — research, not 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 post cannot be edited or deleted through the API at all — whatever goes out, stays, and has to be removed by hand in the app.
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 — refused while you are still there to fix it, rather than silently cut on the way out. |
|---|---|
| Visibility | Public only. Meta’s Content Publishing API publishes, full stop — “Instagram publishes immediately when it publishes at all — it 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 Cline
Ask for it in ordinary language — these are sentences, not a DSL:
“Build a 5-slide Instagram carousel from the assets in this project and publish it with a caption under 2,200 characters.”
That walks search_instagram → plan_ad → render_ad → post_to_meta (target: "instagram"). Cline asks before each tool call by default, which is the behaviour you want on anything that publishes.
Cline on Instagram: the part that bites
Instagram is the channel to exclude from auto-approve first. Nothing published can be edited or deleted through the API, so an autonomous run has no undo — the review has to happen before the call. Cline asking before each tool call is the default for good reason here.
If you run Cline in auto-approve, exclude the publishing and campaign tools — those are the ones with a public or a financial consequence.
Research Instagram before you post
search_meta_ads covers Instagram placements as well as Facebook — 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 scrapecreators_fetch.
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. Objects are created paused with no caller override, 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 — which is the input to the next creative, not just a total.
What Cline 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 — and 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 Cline, post to: Facebook · Threads · TikTok · YouTube · X · LinkedIn · Pinterest — or see everything Cline can publish to.
Post to Instagram from: Claude · ChatGPT · Claude Code · Cursor · Codex · OpenClaw · Hermes
Frequently asked questions
Can Cline post to Instagram?
Yes, through Hermoso's MCP server. Create an API key in Hermoso under Settings → Agents & API keys, then add https://app.hermoso.ai/mcp to Cline with an Authorization: Bearer header. Cline then has 301 tools, including the ones that publish to Instagram — and 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 Cline?
Two steps, once each. Create an API key in Hermoso under Settings → Agents & API keys, then add https://app.hermoso.ai/mcp to Cline with an Authorization: Bearer header. Then connect Instagram inside Hermoso under Settings → Connectors, which is an OAuth consent screen in a browser. After that Cline publishes to Instagram as an ordinary tool call.
Can Cline post privately or as a draft to Instagram?
No. Instagram’s Content Publishing API publishes or does nothing — there is no unlisted, private or draft post, and a published post cannot be edited or deleted through the API either. Hermoso refuses a visibility Instagram cannot honour at the moment you ask for it, rather than quietly publishing something weaker.
Can Cline research Instagram before it posts?
Yes. search_meta_ads covers Instagram placements in the Meta Ad Library, and search_instagram searches public Reels by keyword.
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