# Scheduling posts

> How scheduling works: time slots, when an account's phone is free, captions, and what the statuses mean.

Once a video is approved, you schedule it to an account and Pamba posts it from a real device at the chosen time.

![The posting schedule: scheduled, posted, failed, and cancelled posts per day](/help-shots/schedule.png)

## Scheduling a post

From a project (or by asking the agent), pick the account, set the caption, and choose a time, or pick just a day and let Pamba choose a free time on it. Posts publish through physical phones, so time on a phone is real capacity:

- A phone does one thing at a time for every account on it (an avatar's TikTok and Instagram accounts usually share one), and each post holds its phone for a little over 20 minutes.
- **An exact TikTok time** that overlaps another post, a task running on the phone, or a maintenance window is refused, and the message names the next free time. Nothing is scheduled until you pick again.
- **An exact Instagram time** in the same spot moves to the next free time that day, and the scheduled post shows the time it got; if the rest of that day is full, it's refused with the next free time.
- **TikTok and Instagram together**: when both accounts share a phone, the Instagram post takes the first free time after the TikTok one (right after it when the phone is free). Leave room after your TikTok time: if the day has none left for the Instagram post, neither is scheduled.
- **A day without a time** gets a free time on that day (the next day if too little of it is left); if the phone's day is full, it's refused with the next free time.
- An exact time for a new post must be at least 30 minutes ahead; a sooner one gets the earliest free time after that on the same day, or is refused with the next free time.
- "That day" is the day in Pacific time.

## Seeing when an account's phone is free

Before you pick an exact time, you can check which times the account's phone has free:

- **Ask the agent**: "when is @youraccount's phone free tomorrow afternoon?" It reads the account's schedule and suggests times that will be kept exactly as picked.
- **From your own tools**: the [API](/api) route `GET /devices/accounts/schedule` and the MCP tool `get_account_schedule` return the account's openings (the times a post can start and be kept as picked) and what holds the phone in between: other posts on the phone, tasks running on it, and maintenance. See [MCP server](/help/mcp-server) for how an agent should use it.

Openings are a snapshot, not a booking: another schedule can take a time before yours lands. And on rare occasions, when too many posts across Pamba's phones are set for the same moment, a time inside an opening can still be refused, again with the next free time.

## Post statuses

- **Pending**: scheduled, waiting for its time.
- **In progress**: a device is posting it right now.
- **Posted**: live on the platform; analytics start tracking it.
- **Failed**: something stopped it (see [When a post fails](/help/failed-posts)); you can edit, re-approve if needed, and retry.
- **Cancelled**: you called it off; the slot was freed.

## Editing a scheduled post

Pending posts can be rescheduled, recaptioned, or moved to a different account. Failed posts can be edited too, but their new time is picked automatically when you hit Retry.

## Cross-posting

Instagram mirrors can go out alongside TikTok posts, and an Instagram post can share to a linked Facebook account. Mirrors follow their primary post: reschedule the TikTok and the mirrors move with it; retry a failed group and the whole set revives together.

---
HTML version: https://pamba.app/docs/scheduling-posts · All docs: https://pamba.app/llms.txt