N8n Instagram Reels Publisher

Publish Instagram Reels (and video Stories) from n8n: the resumable-upload way

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Getting error 2207077 or "The media could not be fetched from this uri" when you post a Reel from n8n? The problem is Meta downloading the video from your n8n server. This workflow uploads the file to Meta directly instead, so there is no public URL for Meta to fetch.

A reusable n8n sub-workflow. You give it a video (binary, URL or file path) and a caption. It publishes a Reel, waits until Meta has processed it and returns the media_id and permalink. It can also post the same file as a Story. It was extracted from a workflow that publishes a weekly reel for a local restaurant in production.

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Why posting from n8n fails

The usual approach is to create a media container with video_url=https://your-n8n/webhook/.... Meta's docs say "We cURL the video using the passed-in URL, so it must be on a public server." In our setup that did not work:

• Meta's fetcher sent a HEAD request first. The n8n webhook only answered GET, so it returned 404.
• The GET response had no Content-Length header and no Range support.
• The container ended with status_code=ERROR, and status contained subcode 2207077. That subcode is not in Meta's public error table. The documented one for unreachable URLs is 2207052 ("The media could not be fetched from this uri").

You could try to fix this with a CDN, an S3 bucket or a better file server. It is easier to not rely on Meta fetching anything.

The fix: resumable upload

The Instagram Graph API also has an upload mode where you send the bytes to Meta:

1. POST /{ig-user-id}/media with media_type=REELS&upload_type=resumable. Meta returns { "id", "uri" }, and the uri is on rupload.facebook.com.
2. POST the raw video to that uri with the headers offset: 0 and file_size: <bytes>.
3. Poll the container's status_code until it is FINISHED.
4. POST /{ig-user-id}/media_publish?creation_id=<container id>, then read the permalink.

The Facebook Graph API credential in n8n adds access_token as a query parameter to every request. In production that was all the authentication rupload needed. No extra Authorization header was required.

How it works

sequenceDiagram
    autonumber
    participant C as Caller workflow
    participant N as Reels Publisher (n8n)
    participant G as graph.facebook.com
    participant R as rupload.facebook.com
    C->>N: video (binary / video_url / video_path) + caption
    opt video_url
        N->>N: download the file (n8n fetches it, not Meta)
    end
    N->>G: POST /{ig-user-id}/media  media_type=REELS, upload_type=resumable
    G-->>N: { id, uri }
    N->>R: POST uri  headers offset: 0, file_size: N  body = video bytes
    R-->>N: { success: true }
    loop every poll_interval_seconds, at most max_poll_attempts
        N->>G: GET /{container-id}?fields=status_code,status
        G-->>N: IN_PROGRESS / FINISHED / ERROR / EXPIRED
    end
    N->>G: POST /{ig-user-id}/media_publish  creation_id
    G-->>N: { id = media_id }
    N->>G: GET /{media-id}?fields=permalink,timestamp
    opt also_story = true (never fails the run)
        N->>G: POST /{ig-user-id}/media  media_type=STORIES, upload_type=resumable
        N->>R: POST uri (same bytes)
        N->>G: poll status, then media_publish
    end
    N-->>C: { media_id, permalink, timestamp, story }

On the canvas, these steps are grouped into four sections, each with a sticky note:

• Input: Execute Workflow Trigger (for other workflows) or Manual Test with Test Input, then Config, Normalize Input and an optional Download Video.
• Reel: create the container, attach the binary, upload it to rupload, then a polling loop: Wait → Get Reel Status → Evaluate → Router. The router sends the item to finished (publish), pending (wait again) or failed / timeout (Stop and Error with Meta's status text).
• Story (optional): the same flow with media_type=STORIES. Every error is caught and reported.
• Output: one item, { media_id, permalink, timestamp, story }.

Features

• No public video URL needed. Meta never downloads from your server, so you don't need tunnels, S3 or CORS setup.
• Three input modes: incoming binary, video_url (n8n downloads it), or video_path on the n8n host.
• Clean polling loop instead of a chain of copy-pasted Wait nodes. It stops early on ERROR/EXPIRED and has a configurable timeout.
• Clear errors. The run fails with Meta's own status_code / status and the container ID.
• Optional Story of the same file. A story failure never breaks the reel result: you get story.ok = false and a reason instead.
• Checks input first, using limits from Meta's documentation: caption length, hashtag and mention counts, file size, thumb_offset.
• Portable. All settings are in one Config node, and the token stays in an n8n credential.

Requirements

• Self-hosted n8n 2.x (built and run on the Docker image n8nio/n8n).
• An Instagram professional account (Business or Creator) linked to a Facebook Page, and a Meta app.
• An access token with the permissions listed below, stored in n8n as a Facebook Graph API credential.
• Only for video_path input: NODE_FUNCTION_ALLOW_BUILTIN=fs. If you run n8n with external task runners, set it on the runner.
• The video must match Meta's Reels spec: MP4/MOV, H.264 or HEVC, AAC audio, 23–60 fps, 3 s to 15 min, ≤ 300 MB, 9:16 recommended, moov atom at the front.

Quick start

1. Import

In n8n: Workflows → Import from File → workflows/instagram-reels-publisher.json. If you want the demo, also import workflows/example-caller.json.

2. Credential

Permissions for Instagram API with Facebook Login, per Meta's content-publishing docs:

About the token type: Meta's content-publishing guide asks for a Page access token, and the IG User Media reference lists a User token. Long-lived User tokens "generally last about 60 days". Long-lived Page tokens "do not have an expiration date" and are only invalidated under certain conditions. See Meta's long-lived token docs for both.

3. Config

Open the Config node and set ig_user_id. To find it:

GET /me/accounts                                   -> your Pages and their IDs
GET /{page-id}?fields=instagram_business_account   -> { "instagram_business_account": { "id": "<ig_user_id>" } }

You can run both calls in the Graph API Explorer. The ID is a long number, and it is different from your Page ID and your @handle.

There is no time zone setting. The workflow doesn't schedule or format dates. If you add a schedule in a caller, set GENERIC_TIMEZONE or the workflow's time zone yourself.

4. Test

Open Test Input and put a direct link to a vertical MP4 in video_url. Adjust the caption, then run the workflow from Manual Test. This posts a real Reel to the account in ig_user_id.

5. Use it from your workflows

Add an Execute Sub-workflow node: Source: Database, pick Instagram Reels Publisher (resumable upload), Mode: Run once with all items, and leave Wait For Sub-Workflow Completion on. The trigger is set to Accept all data, so whatever item you send arrives unchanged, binary included. example-caller.json shows the whole pattern: download → add options → call.

One execution publishes one reel (the first input item). To post several videos, put a Loop Over Items node in front of the call.

Publish the publisher workflow. In n8n 2.x, a production run of your caller (schedule, webhook and so on) executes the sub-workflow's published version. If it has never been published, the call fails with "Workflow is not active and cannot be executed." After you edit the publisher, publish it again, or callers keep running the old version. Manual test runs use the draft.

If the caller is owned by a different user or project, open the publisher's Settings → This workflow can be called by and allow it.

Input / output contract

Input (fields on the first item):

Output (one item):

{
  "media_id": "<published reel id>",
  "permalink": "https://www.instagram.com/reel/.../",
  "timestamp": "2026-01-01T12:00:00+0000",
  "story": { "ok": true, "media_id": "<story id>" }
}

The run fails (so the Execute Sub-workflow node in your caller fails too) when the input or Config is invalid, the download fails, container creation or upload fails, the reel container ends ERROR/EXPIRED or doesn't reach FINISHED within max_poll_attempts, or media_publish fails. Story problems never fail the run.

Lessons learned in production

• Don't make Meta fetch from n8n. A webhook that serves a file answers GET only (so HEAD gets a 404), and its response has no Content-Length and no Range support. Meta's fetcher gave up on it with 2207077. Resumable upload avoids the fetch completely.
• The n8n credential is enough for rupload. Meta's curl examples use Authorization: OAuth <token>. The ?access_token= query parameter that n8n's Facebook Graph API credential adds worked in production. The only headers we send are offset: 0 and file_size.
• Poll the status instead of waiting a fixed time. Processing time varies. Stopping right away on ERROR/EXPIRED also shows you Meta's reason immediately.
• Keep each wait under 65 seconds. n8n keeps waits shorter than 65 s in memory. Longer waits put the execution into a waiting state in the database, and community reports show parent workflows sometimes treating a waiting sub-workflow as finished.
• A story failure must not fail the run. By then the reel is already public. If a story error failed the run, a retry or error handler could publish the reel a second time. That's why the story branch reports errors instead of throwing them.
• Upload the video itself as the story. The Graph API can't add the in-app "share reel to story" sticker, and Meta's docs say stickers aren't supported for API stories. Stories also have tighter limits: ≤ 100 MB and ≤ 60 seconds. The production workflow capped its reels at ~95 MB so that the same file always fit both limits.
• Uploads can be slow or flaky. Both upload nodes retry 3 times with a 5-second pause and use a 5-minute timeout.

Troubleshooting

Meanings are quoted from Meta's error code table, except where marked.

Limitations

• One reel per execution. Reels can't go into carousels.
• Stories: no stickers (link, poll, location), no caption. The story is a separate upload, not a "share" of the reel.
• Meta's publishing limits apply. The content-publishing guide says 100 API-published posts per rolling 24 h, and the media_publish reference says 50. Query content_publishing_limit to see your own. An account can create at most 400 containers per rolling 24 h.
• Pages that require Page Publishing Authorization can't be published to until PPA is completed.
• The Normalize Input / Prepare Upload Code nodes load the video into memory once to measure it (only if n8n didn't record the size) or to read video_path. Plan memory for files up to 300 MB.
• The upload is sent in one request (offset: 0). An interrupted upload is not resumed; the node retries from the start instead.
• There is no built-in notification. Set an Error Workflow in the workflow settings if you want alerts.

How it was tested

The Graph API and rupload requests (version, parameters, offset / file_size headers, binary body, credential) are the same ones the production workflow sends to Meta. The reusable workflow around them was run on an isolated n8n 2.41 against a local mock of graph.facebook.com and rupload.facebook.com. The mock runs covered the success path with and without a story, a reel ERROR, a reel timeout, and each way the story can fail (container, upload, status ERROR, status timeout, publish, file too big). They also covered all three input modes (including a call from example-caller.json) and the input checks.

Cost

The workflow uses no paid third-party service: only Meta's Graph API and your own n8n. The real limits are Meta's rate limits (above) and the memory/bandwidth on your n8n host.

References

• Meta: Content publishing (Instagram Platform): resumable upload, rupload headers, polling advice, limits, permissions
• Meta: IG User Media reference: upload_type, share_to_feed, cover_url, thumb_offset, caption limits, Reels/Stories video specs, story limitations
• Meta: IG Container reference: status_code values (EXPIRED, ERROR, FINISHED, IN_PROGRESS, PUBLISHED)
• Meta: IG User Media Publish reference
• Meta: Error codes
• Meta: Get started with Facebook Login (finding the IG user ID)
• Meta: Long-lived access tokens
• n8n: Facebook Graph API credentials
• n8n: Wait node: waits under 65 s stay in memory
• n8n: Execute Sub-workflow
• n8n: Enable modules in Code node (NODE_FUNCTION_ALLOW_BUILTIN)

Contributing

Issues and PRs are welcome. That includes new Meta error codes you've seen, with the exact status text. Please don't include tokens, account IDs or media IDs in issues or exported workflows.

Related

Other n8n workflows from the same production setup:

• n8n-instagram-autopilot: food photos → judged, designed Instagram posts, stories and a weekly AI reel (this publisher is extracted from it)
• n8n-grounded-blog-writer: a WordPress blog writer with trend signals, grounded research and a number checker
• n8n-gmail-ai-labeler: hourly Gmail labeling with a typed decision model

License

MIT