Post with PHP

Post to social media
with PHP.

PHP talks to PostLake with ordinary HTTPS. Same request body as the docs quickstart, profile name, text, optional filters.

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Free tier. No card · one API for every network · full MCP access

In shortOne cURL (or Guzzle) POST to /v1/posts from PHP. Address a profile; decode targets[] before you trust the result.

When this guide is for you

Your product or CMS is PHP and you want fan-out without Facebook/Twitter SDKs.

Before you start

Same setup the docs quickstart uses. Do this once:

Sign up at app.postlake.dev and verify your email (unlocks free credits).
On Channels, create a profile (e.g. my-brand) and connect at least one account. Bluesky is the fastest first channel: no app review. Instagram/TikTok/Facebook need each platform's review before API posting.
Account menu → API Keys → create a key (sk_live_…). It shows once; treat it like a password.

Working example in PHP

Connect accounts once in the dashboard, then this is the publish call:

<?php
$payload = json_encode([
    "text" => "Hello from PHP 👋",
    "profile" => "my-brand",
]);
$ch = curl_init("https://api.postlake.dev/v1/posts");
curl_setopt_array($ch, [
    CURLOPT_POST => true,
    CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
    CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER => [
        "Authorization: Bearer " . getenv("POSTLAKE_API_KEY"),
        "Content-Type: application/json",
        "Idempotency-Key: hello-php-001",
    ],
    CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS => $payload,
]);
$raw = curl_exec($ch);
$post = json_decode($raw, true);
foreach ($post["targets"] as $t) {
    echo $t["platform"] . " " . $t["state"] . PHP_EOL;
}

Make it work in PHP

Tool-specific glue on top of the shared setup above:

Load the API key from the environment (not from source control).
POST JSON with profile set to your Channels profile name.
json_decode the body and loop targets: don't stop at HTTP 200.
Reuse the same pattern for schedule (scheduledAt) and media (med_… ids).

Read the response (don't skip this)

You get one Post with an overall state and a targets[] array. One entry per account. Always check each target; partial success is normal.

{
  "id": "post_a1b2c3",
  "state": "partial",
  "targets": [
    { "platform": "bluesky",  "state": "published", "url": "https://bsky.app/…" },
    { "platform": "linkedin", "state": "failed",
      "error": { "type": "invalid_request", "message": "…", "retryable": false } }
  ]
}

published: every target succeeded. partial: some published, some failed. failed: none published. processing: still going (async networks like TikTok).
You're only charged for targets that actually publish. Failed targets cost nothing.
Send an Idempotency-Key header on writes so a retry never double-posts.
Full detail: Publishing · Errors & retries

Where the post goes

Same rules as the docs. Pick one addressing style:

By profile: "profile": "my-brand" posts to every account under that profile (the name on Channels).
Filter networks: "platforms": ["bluesky", "linkedin"] narrows that set. It is a filter, not a selector: if you have two Pinterest boards, both match pinterest.
By account id: "accounts": ["acc_…"] for exact channels (copy an id on Channels, or GET /v1/social-accounts).
One profile and you omit profile? PostLake uses that profile. Multiple profiles and you omit it? You'll get an error that names them.

See Publishing: where to post.

Do more (same API)

Schedule: add scheduledAt as UTC (trailing Z), or a naive local time plus timezone (IANA, e.g. Europe/London). Credits charge when it fires. Scheduling docs · scheduling guide.
Media: POST /v1/media, then pass the med_… id in media. Media docs.
Per-network caption: textOverrides (e.g. shorter text for X). Per-network options: platformOptions (Pinterest boardId, TikTok privacy, …). Live option lists: GET /v1/platforms/{platform}.
Validate first: POST /v1/posts/validate runs the same checks without publishing (free).

Pitfalls specific to this path

Check curl_getinfo($ch, CURLINFO_HTTP_CODE) and the Post state separately.
UTF-8 captions need Content-Type: application/json and proper JSON encoding.
Platform filter arrays must be JSON arrays, not comma-separated strings.

Prefer an assistant over PHP code? Point it at MCP (https://api.postlake.dev/mcp). Prefer the dashboard? Use Quickstart → No code.

Common questions

How do I post to social media with PHP?

cURL or Guzzle POST to https://api.postlake.dev/v1/posts with Bearer auth and JSON { text, profile }. Decode targets[] for per-network results.

Do I need a package per network?

No. One HTTP call to PostLake covers every connected account on the profile.

Can I schedule from PHP?

Yes, add scheduledAt as UTC or a naive local time plus timezone. See docs → Scheduling for edit/cancel endpoints.

Go deeper in the docs

These guides stay short on purpose. Canonical behaviour lives here:

Also: Media · Errors · MCP · Analytics

Stuck? The docs are the source of truth, start at Publishing.

Open the dashboard →

Post to social mediawith PHP.

When this guide is for you

Before you start

Working example in PHP

Make it work in PHP

Read the response (don't skip this)

Where the post goes

Do more (same API)

Pitfalls specific to this path

Common questions

Go deeper in the docs

Quickstart

Publishing

Scheduling

Platforms

Related guides

Post with Node.js

Post with Python

Schedule posts via API

Post everywhere at once

Post to social media
with PHP.