Post to Instagram from Cursor

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. Cursor reaches all of it through one connection. This page is about one slice of that — what Cursor can actually do on Instagram, and what Instagram will not let it do.

Connect Hermoso to Cursor

1. 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.
2. Add it to ~/.cursor/mcp.json (or the project’s .cursor/mcp.json):

   { "mcpServers": { "hermoso": {
       "url": "https://app.hermoso.ai/mcp",
       "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer <your key>" }
   } } }

3. Or use the one-click install from the MCP page. That deeplink installs the bare URL and leaves authentication to Cursor’s own OAuth flow instead of a pasted key — both work, they are just different prerequisites.
4. Ask Cursor 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.

The config above is the path Hermoso publishes and tests. If you use the deeplink instead, Cursor performs dynamic client registration against our authorization server and you never hold a key.

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 Cursor gets

• post_to_meta — publishes to Instagram with target: "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

Try it in Cursor

Ask for it in ordinary language — these are sentences, not a DSL:

“Take the six exports in ./public/social, publish them to Instagram as a carousel in that order, and add the permalink to the launch checklist.”

That walks search_instagram → plan_ad → render_ad → post_to_meta (target: "instagram"). Cursor surfaces each tool call in the composer before it runs, so a publish is a click rather than a side effect.

Cursor on Instagram: the part that bites

Order is the product in a carousel, and it is the thing an editor makes easy to get right — the files are in front of you, and Hermoso preserves the order you pass exactly, de-duplicating only exact repeats. Ten slides is Meta’s ceiling, not ours. Remember that an Instagram post cannot be edited or deleted afterwards through the API, so the review happens in the composer.

Put the config in the project’s .cursor/mcp.json rather than the home directory when several brands share a machine — the key is what pins the workspace.

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 Cursor 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 Cursor, post to: Facebook · Threads · TikTok · YouTube · X · LinkedIn · Pinterest — or see everything Cursor can publish to.

Post to Instagram from: Claude · ChatGPT · Claude Code · Codex · Cline · OpenClaw · Hermes

Frequently asked questions

Can Cursor 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 Cursor with an Authorization: Bearer header. Cursor 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 Cursor?

Two steps, once each. Create an API key in Hermoso under Settings → Agents & API keys, then add https://app.hermoso.ai/mcp to Cursor with an Authorization: Bearer header. Then connect Instagram inside Hermoso under Settings → Connectors, which is an OAuth consent screen in a browser. After that Cursor publishes to Instagram as an ordinary tool call.

What is the Instagram caption limit when posting from Cursor?

An Instagram caption is capped at 2,200 characters, and the limit is enforced when the post is queued rather than when it fires. Hermoso enforces it when the post is created or queued, so Cursor is told immediately rather than failing later when nobody is watching.

Can Cursor run Instagram ads as well as posting?

Yes, through the Meta campaign tree — Instagram placements are selected inside a Meta ad set. Objects are created paused, and preview_meta_ad renders the real ad per placement before you spend.