TikTok Content Posting API
An overview of TikTok’s Content Posting API and what it requires from an integrating app.
By André LugThe Content Posting API is TikTok’s official product for publishing video and photo content from a third-party app. It offers two delivery modes — Direct Post and creator inbox — requires a creator_info/query check before any Direct Post, uses separate endpoints for video and photo, and gates public posting behind TikTok’s audit.
The Content Posting API is TikTok's official product for publishing video and photo content to TikTok from a third-party app — it is what any TikTok posting integration, PostGate included, is actually built on. Before you touch a single endpoint, it is worth understanding the product-level shape TikTok designed: two delivery modes, a mandatory pre-publish check, and an audit gate that decides what those modes are allowed to do.
Two delivery modes: Direct Post and Creator inbox
Direct Post publishes content immediately with the privacy level, disclosure, and duet/stitch settings you specify. Creator inbox (TikTok's MEDIA_UPLOAD post mode) instead drops a draft into the creator's TikTok app for them to review, edit, and post themselves. See Direct Post vs. Inbox mode for how PostGate maps this choice to post.options.tiktok.mode.
Why does TikTok require creator_info/query before Direct Post?
Before a Direct Post request, TikTok's own integration guide requires querying creator_info/query for the connected account. That response returns the privacy levels the creator is actually allowed to choose, plus whether they've disabled comments, Duet, or Stitch — and your request has to respect it, not just the options your own UI happens to show.
Video and photo posting are separate operations
The API has distinct endpoints for video (video/init or inbox/video/init) and photo (content/init), with different limits: one MP4 up to 4 GB and 10 minutes for video, versus 1–35 JPEG/WEBP images up to 20 MB each for a photo post. See the photo post API for the details specific to images.
How does audit status shape what the same request is allowed to do?
The Content Posting API surface itself does not change with audit status — the same endpoints, the same fields — but what TikTok lets those requests actually accomplish does. An unaudited client is forced toSELF_ONLY visibility and capped at a small number of distinct users; audit removes both restrictions for the caps sized to your stated usage. See TikTok API audit requirements for what that review actually checks.
Where does PostGate fit on top of this?
PostGate implements this exact API underneath its unified POST /api/posts endpoint, using PostGate's own already-audited TikTok app by default. You get the Content Posting API's real behavior — modes, creator-info constraints, media limits — without registering a TikTok developer app or sitting through its review, and you can bring your own audited app later on PostGate's white-label plan.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between Direct Post and creator inbox mode?
Direct Post publishes content immediately with the privacy level, disclosure, and duet/stitch settings you specify. Creator inbox — TikTok’s MEDIA_UPLOAD post mode — instead drops a draft into the creator’s TikTok app for them to review, edit, and post themselves.
Why do I need to call creator_info/query before posting?
TikTok’s own integration guide requires querying creator_info/query for the connected account before a Direct Post request. The response returns the privacy levels the creator is actually allowed to choose, plus whether they’ve disabled comments, Duet, or Stitch — and your request has to respect it, not just the options your own UI happens to show.
Can I post photos and video in the same TikTok API request?
No. The API has distinct endpoints for video (video/init or inbox/video/init) and photo (content/init), with different limits: one MP4 up to 4 GB and 10 minutes for video, versus 1–35 JPEG/WEBP images up to 20 MB each for a photo post.
Does the API surface change after my app passes TikTok’s audit?
No — the same endpoints and the same fields exist before and after. What changes is what TikTok lets those requests accomplish: an unaudited client is forced to SELF_ONLY visibility and capped at a small number of distinct users, and audit removes both restrictions for caps sized to your stated usage.
