Publish now, through one gateway

A Ready draft in Social can now be published straight to Instagram or LinkedIn through the platforms’ own programming interfaces. Accounts are connected with each platform’s own sign-in, Claude may publish only where a per-account switch allows it, and every attempt is written down.

Until now nothing in Sketchbook posted anything: a Social draft was text and photos that went out by hand. On 18 October the permission changed, with one condition attached: “ok so I give claude persmission to post on my personal social media, but with the gateway build into /sketch”. So this release adds exactly that: one publishing path inside Sketchbook, and no other way for Claude to post to a personal account. It never drives a browser, and there is no other route.

Connecting an account

A new screen, Settings, Social accounts, lists every account and platform. Connecting one opens that platform’s own sign-in page; the platform then sends the browser back to Sketchbook, which only accepts the answer from the owner’s own browser, from a sign-in started there in the last ten minutes, and only once.

• The sign-in is kept on the server only. It is never sent to the web page or the app, and never written to a log.
• Instagram’s sign-in lasts 60 days and Sketchbook renews it by itself before it runs out.
• LinkedIn’s also lasts 60 days, but LinkedIn does not let an app like this renew it, so the screen says “Needs renewing” a week before and the owner presses Connect again.
• Disconnect is one press. Only the owner can connect or disconnect.

Each platform needs a small developer app that only the account owner can create under their own login. Sketchbook does not create one. The steps for each platform, including the exact return address to register, are on the screen itself until the app is set up.

Publish now

A draft marked Ready gets a Publish now button. It asks first, then posts the draft’s caption and photos through the platform’s official interface, and the draft becomes Posted with the post’s link and the time. Before anything leaves, the server checks everything again: the draft is Ready, the account is connected, the caption and the number of photos fit the platform, and the private journal rule holds (the page is a normal notebook page, and no photo has ever been held by a journal page).

Instagram fetches photos from a web address rather than taking them directly. For each photo Sketchbook makes an address that cannot be guessed, lasts half an hour at most, shows only that one prepared photo, and is deleted the moment the publish finishes, whether it worked or not. LinkedIn takes the photos directly.

Claude, and the switch

Claude may press Publish now too, for personal and business accounts. Every connected account has a switch, “Claude may publish here”. It starts on, because that was the permission given, and only the owner can change it: when Claude tries, it is refused. With the switch off, Claude’s publish is refused with a plain message, and the owner can still publish.

Claude still cannot mark a personal draft Posted by hand. The only way a personal draft becomes Posted on Claude’s side is the gateway’s own successful publish.

Everything written down

Every publish attempt, by the owner or by Claude, is recorded with who, when, which account and platform, which draft, and what happened: posted, refused or failed. Social has a new Published list that shows it, on the web and in the app. When Claude posts, a notification says so, in the bell and on the phone: “Claude posted to Instagram (personal)”, with the link.

What each platform allows

Every fact here comes from the platforms’ own developer documents, read on the day.

• Instagram: works for professional accounts (business or creator), with one photo or a carousel of up to ten.
• LinkedIn: personal posts work, with text and up to twenty photos. Company pages need a separate LinkedIn programme that LinkedIn reviews and approves, so they are not built.
• Facebook: personal profiles cannot be posted to by any app. Facebook withdrew that permission in 2018 and offers only its share window, so the app says “Facebook personal profiles can’t be posted to automatically”. Facebook business pages are possible but not built yet.
• X: its interface no longer has a free tier. Every post is billed, so it is not built and nothing in Sketchbook can spend money there.

In the app

The phone and tablet app, version 1.5.7, has Publish now on Ready drafts, the Published list, and a Social accounts section in Settings with the switch and Disconnect. Connecting an account is done in the browser, because that is where the platform’s sign-in returns.

Not yet

No account is connected yet: each needs its developer app first. Nothing has been posted to a real account, and the app has not been tried on a real phone or tablet yet.