Last updated August 24, 2026

Photo

Overview

The /v2/post/publish/content/init/ endpoint allows you to post directly or upload photos to TikTok.

HTTP URL	/v2/post/publish/content/init/
HTTP Method	POST
Scope	video.publish or video.upload

To directly post photos to users' TikTok accounts, you must query creator information to render the UI elements to be displayed on the export page of your app before you call this Content Posting API.

Learn more about the UX guidelines.
Learn more about the creator_info/query API.

Request

Note: Each user access_token is limited to six requests per minute.

Field Name	Description	Value	Required
Authorization	The token that bears the authorization of the TikTok user, which is obtained through /oauth/access_token/	Bearer {$UserAccessToken}	true
Content-Type	The content format of the body of this HTTP request	application/json; charset=UTF-8	true

Body

Field	Type	Description	Required
media_type	string	Currently only PHOTO is allowed	true
post_mode	string	Enum of: DIRECT POST: Directly post the content to TikTok user's account. MEDIA_UPLOAD: Upload content to TikTok for users to complete the post using TikTok's editing flow. Users will receive an inbox notification.	true
post_info	Post Info Object	The post information	true
source_info	Source Info Object	The media source information	true
is_aigc	bool	Set to `true` if the photo is AI generated content. If set, the photo will be labeled with an AI-generated tag in the description.	false

Post Info Object

Field	Type	Description	Required
title	string	The post title. The maximum length for photo posts is 90 in UTF-16 runes.	false
description	string	The post description. The maximum length for photo posts is 4000 in UTF-16 runes.	false
privacy_level	string	Enum of: PUBLIC_TO_EVERYONE MUTUAL_FOLLOW_FRIENDS FOLLOWER_OF_CREATOR SELF_ONLY The provided value must match one of the privacy_level_options returned in the /creator_info/query/ API.	Required for DIRECT POST
disable_comment	bool	Only works for post_mode = DIRECT POST. If set to true, other TikTok users will not be allowed to make comments on this post.	false
auto_add_music	bool	Only works for post_mode = DIRECT POST. If set to true, recommended music will be automatically added to photos, and users can later choose to change the post's music in TikTok if they prefer other music.	false
brand_content_toggle	bool	Only works for post_mode = DIRECT POST. Set to true if the content is a paid partnership to promote a third-party business.	true
brand_organic_toggle	bool	Only works for post_mode = DIRECT POST. Set to true if this content is promoting the creator's own business.	true

Source Info Object

Field	Type	Description	Required
source	string	Only PULL_FROM_URL is allowed	true
photo_images	list<string>	An array containing up to 35 photo content URLs. The URLs must be publicly accessible and verified by your app. Learn more about pulling from URLs.	true
photo_cover_index	int	Indicates the index (starting from 0) of the photo to be used as the cover	true

Example

Direct Post

Note: To use Direct Post, the target TikTok user must have authorized your app for the video.publish scope.

All content posted by unaudited clients will be restricted to private viewing mode. Once you have successfully tested your integration, to lift the restrictions on content visibility, your API client must undergo an audit to verify compliance with our Terms of Service.

curl --location 'https://open.tiktokapis.com/v2/post/publish/content/init/' \
--header 'Authorization: Bearer act.example12345Example12345Example' \
--header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
--data-raw '{
    "post_info": {
        "title": "funny cat",
        "description": "this will be a #funny photomode on your @tiktok #fyp",
        "disable_comment": true,
        "privacy_level": "PUBLIC_TO_EVERYONE",
        "auto_add_music": true
    },
    "source_info": {
        "source": "PULL_FROM_URL",
        "photo_cover_index": 1,
        "photo_images": [
            "https://tiktokcdn.com/obj/example-image-01.webp",
            "https://tiktokcdn.com/obj/example-image-02.webp"
        ]
    },
    "post_mode": "DIRECT_POST",
    "media_type": "PHOTO"
}'

Upload

After uploading from your app, you should inform users that they must click on inbox notifications to continue the editing flow in TikTok and complete the post. Title and description parameters are now supported with sending photos.

Note: To use upload method, the target TikTok user must have authorized your app for the video.upload scope.

We now support sending title and description in this method and it will be reflected in the editing flow once user clicks on the inbox notification.

curl --location 'https://open.tiktokapis.com/v2/post/publish/content/init/' \
--header 'Authorization: Bearer act.example12345Example12345Example' \
--header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
--data-raw '{
    "post_info": {
        "title": "funny cat",
        "description": "this will be a #funny photomode on your @tiktok #fyp"
    },
    "source_info": {
        "source": "PULL_FROM_URL",
        "photo_cover_index": 1,
        "photo_images": [
            "https://tiktokcdn.com/obj/example-image-01.webp",
            "https://tiktokcdn.com/obj/example-image-02.webp"
        ]
    },
    "post_mode": "MEDIA_UPLOAD",
    "media_type": "PHOTO"
}'

Response

Field Name	Nested Field	Type	Description
data	publish_id	string	An identifier to track the posting action, which you can use to check status. The maximum length of this field is 64.
error	code	string	You can decide whether the request is successful based on the error code. Any code other than ok indicates the request did not succeed. Learn more about error codes.
	message	string	A human-readable description of the error
	logid	string	A unique identifier for the execution of this request

Example

200 OK
{
    "data": {
        "publish_id": "p_pub_url~v2.123456789"
    },
    "error": {
         "code": "ok",
         "message": "",
         "log_id": "202210112248442CB9319E1FB30C1073F3"
     }
}

Error codes

HTTP Status	error.code	Description
400	invalid_param	Check error message for details
400	app_version_check_failed	To use MEDIA_UPLOAD post_mode, users' TikTok APP version must not be less than 31.8
403	spam_risk_too_many_posts	The daily post cap from API is reached for the current user
	spam_risk_user_banned_from_posting	The user is banned from making new posts
	spam_risk_too_many_pending_share	The daily upload cap from the API is reached for the current user. To reduce spamming, TikTok limits the number of videos that can be uploaded via API that are not pending approval and posting by the creator. There may be at most 5 pending shares within any 24-hour period.
	reached_active_user_cap	The daily quota for active publishing users from your client is reached
	unaudited_client_can_only_post_to_private_accounts	Unaudited clients can only post to private account. The publish attempt will be blocked when calling /publish/content/init/.
	url_ownership_unverified	To use PULL_FROM_URL as the content transfer method, developer must verify the ownership of the URL prefix or domain. Learn more about content transfer.
	privacy_level_option_mismatch	privacy_level is either unspecified or not among the options from the privacy_level_options returned in /publish/creator_info/query/ API. All clients are required to correctly display the creator account's privacy level options and honor the users' choice. Occurances of this error for product-use applications suggest violations to TikTok's product-use guidance.
401	access_token_invalid	The access_token is invalid or has expired
401	scope_not_authorized	The access_token does not bear user's grant on video.publish or video.upload scope
429	rate_limit_exceeded	Your request is blocked due to exceeding the API rate limit
5xx	internal_error	TikTok server or network error. Try again later.

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Developer Docs

Photo

Overview

Request

Header

Body

Post Info Object

Source Info Object

Example

Direct Post

Upload

Response

Example

Error codes

Photo

#Overview

#Request

#Header

#Body

#Post Info Object

#Source Info Object

#Example

#Direct Post

#Upload

#Response

#Example

#Error codes

Overview

Request

Header

Body

Post Info Object

Source Info Object

Example

Direct Post

Upload

Response

Example

Error codes