How to schedule social media posts with Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor or Codex

What you need before you start

Scheduling social media posts from Claude through overads needs four things: an overads workspace on the Pro or Scale plan, at least one connected social account, an AI app that supports remote MCP servers, and the right to connect that app. The overads MCP server lives at https://api.overads.io/public/v1/mcp and uses the Streamable HTTP transport, according to the overads MCP server docs.

1. Connect the accounts in overads first. The assistant can only post to connections that already exist in the workspace, and it reads them with the list_connections tool.
2. Check the plan. Free workspaces cannot connect to the MCP server, by signing in or with a key.
3. Check your role. Only a workspace owner or admin can approve a sign-in for that workspace; other workspaces show dimmed on the approval screen.
4. Check the AI app's own plan. Anthropic and OpenAI each decide which of their plans can add a custom MCP server, as the sections below set out.

If MCP is new to you, the guide to what an MCP server is explains the protocol and how it differs from an API.

Two ways to connect: sign in or an API key

The overads MCP server accepts two kinds of credential: a signed-in connection, made by approving the app on an overads screen, or a workspace API key sent in the Authorization header. The sign-in route follows the MCP authorization specification, which builds on OAuth 2.1 and makes authorization optional for MCP servers. overads' public setup document lists Claude, ChatGPT and Claude Code as sign-in clients, and Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor, VS Code, Codex and Windsurf as API key clients.

A signed-in connection and a key reach the same tools, filtered by the permissions each one carries. The differences are practical:

• A signed-in connection never puts a secret in a file. The assistant holds an access token that overads issues for one hour and renews it, and a connection left unused for 90 days ends on its own.
• A signed-in connection reaches the MCP server only. It cannot call the overads REST API, manage webhooks or manage workspaces.
• The approval screen is never remembered. Every new connection shows it again, with one checkbox per permission, all ticked to start with.
• An API key is the route for every other client, for automation tools and for your own code. It sits in the client's settings file until you revoke it.

Connect Claude or ChatGPT by signing in

Claude and ChatGPT connect to overads by adding the server URL as a custom connector and signing in to overads when the app asks. No key is copied or pasted.

In Claude:

1. Open the connectors settings and choose to add a custom connector. Anthropic's custom connector guide gives the current menu path, which on October 8, 2026 started at Customize, then Connectors.
2. Name it overads and paste https://api.overads.io/public/v1/mcp as the remote MCP server URL. Leave the OAuth client ID and secret empty.
3. Add, then connect. Sign in to overads in the window that opens, pick the workspace, untick any permission the assistant should not have, and approve.

Anthropic's guide says a custom connector works across claude.ai, Claude Desktop and the mobile apps, and that the connection originates from Anthropic's servers rather than your own device.

In ChatGPT:

1. Follow OpenAI's guide to adding a custom MCP server, which on October 8, 2026 started from ChatGPT Plugins, then Add custom MCP server, on ChatGPT for the web.
2. Enter the same server URL and choose OAuth as the authentication.
3. Accept OpenAI's risk warning, sign in to overads, pick the workspace and approve.

Creating a post is a write action. OpenAI's help article on developer mode and MCP apps says full MCP support with write actions is rolling out in beta to Business, Enterprise and Edu plans, and that MCP apps are not available on mobile. On a Business plan, the same article says only admins and owners can use developer mode. Check your plan there before relying on ChatGPT to schedule.

Connect Claude Code, Cursor or Codex

Claude Code can connect to overads by signing in or with a key, while Cursor and Codex are documented by overads with a workspace API key. To sign in from Claude Code, add the server and then authenticate from inside a session:

claude mcp add --transport http overads --scope user https://api.overads.io/public/v1/mcp

Then run /mcp, pick overads and choose Authenticate. The overads approval page opens in your browser. Because Claude Code returns the sign-in to a program on your computer, the page shows a caution; approve only a sign-in you started yourself. Anthropic's Claude Code MCP docs say a server added without --scope loads in the current project only, so --scope user makes overads available in every project.

For a key, create one in overads under Settings, on the API keys and MCP page. A key that only needs to schedule text posts needs connections:read, posts:read and posts:write; add media:write if the assistant should upload images or video. In Cursor, the Cursor MCP docs place the server in .cursor/mcp.json for one project or ~/.cursor/mcp.json for all of them:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "overads": {
      "url": "https://api.overads.io/public/v1/mcp",
      "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer sk_live_YOUR_KEY" }
    }
  }
}

In Codex, the server goes in ~/.codex/config.toml. The Codex MCP docs also accept bearer_token_env_var, which reads the token from an environment variable so the key stays out of the file:

[mcp_servers.overads]
url = "https://api.overads.io/public/v1/mcp"
bearer_token_env_var = "OVERADS_API_KEY"

overads documents the http_headers form for Codex; the environment variable form is Codex's own option and was not tested for this article. Codex's docs say the ChatGPT desktop app, the Codex CLI and the IDE extension share this configuration.

Drafts, schedules and approvals: what each request becomes

The overads create_post tool turns a request into a draft, a scheduled post or a post held for approval, depending on three fields. The MCP tools reference documents them: content (1 to 10,000 characters), connectionIds (1 to 20 connections) and the optional scheduledAt, requireApproval, variants and platformSettings.

Three habits keep a scheduling session predictable. First, tell the assistant your time zone: scheduledAt is ISO 8601 with a time zone, and the scheduling and approvals guide recommends sending UTC. Second, ask for requireApproval on anything public until the setup has run cleanly for a while. Third, ask for a draft when you only want copy; a draft never publishes.

A prompt that works in any of the apps above: "List my overads connections. Draft a LinkedIn post and a Bluesky post announcing our webinar, schedule both for Tuesday at 09:00 Europe/London, and set requireApproval." The assistant calls list_connections, then create_post with a per-network version in variants. Every write tool also accepts an idempotencyKey, so a retried call with the same key returns the first result instead of creating a second post.

Approval stays with people. There is no MCP tool or API call that approves a post, so a model that is wrong about the copy or the time leaves a pending post, not a published one. The guide to human in the loop AI for marketing covers when to loosen that.

Which channels a post can reach

A post scheduled through the overads MCP server can publish to X, LinkedIn, Bluesky, Mastodon and Pinterest, the five channels live in overads Publish on October 8, 2026. Instagram and Facebook are built and await Meta's approval, and Threads, YouTube and TikTok are in review, so an assistant cannot publish to any of them through overads today.

Each network keeps its own limits, and overads checks them when the post is created or edited, not at the scheduled minute. X counts 280 characters the way X counts them, with every link counted as 23; LinkedIn allows 3,000; Bluesky counts 300 graphemes; Mastodon uses 500 by default or the instance's own limit. The social media character limits table has the full list. To send one message in a different length to each network, use the variants field described in the cross-platform posting guide.

Pinterest needs two extra things: a board, passed as platformSettings.pinterest.boardId, and one image or one video. The Pinterest platform page lists the other optional settings, such as a title and a link.

Troubleshooting a refused post

A refused overads post comes back to the assistant with a code that names the problem, so the fix is usually one change to the request. Channel-limit refusals answer when the post is created, with a sentence naming the cap. The full list is in the overads error catalogue.

A connection that suddenly stops working has usually been ended on the overads side. Changing or resetting your overads password, signing out everywhere, leaving the workspace, or an owner pressing Disconnect under Connected apps all end it, and a workspace that moves to the Free plan has its calls refused. Sign in again, or ask an owner or admin to.

Where overads fits

overads fits a team that wants Claude, ChatGPT or a code editor to draft and schedule posts while a person keeps the final say. It is not the right tool for every scheduling job:

• overads publishes to X, LinkedIn, Bluesky, Mastodon and Pinterest only. For Instagram, Facebook, Threads, YouTube or TikTok today, a scheduler with those channels live fits better.
• The MCP server needs a Pro or Scale workspace, and ChatGPT's write actions depend on the ChatGPT plan, so a team on free plans on both sides cannot use this route.
• Sign-in is documented for Claude, ChatGPT and Claude Code only. Cursor, Codex and other clients use an API key.
• The assistant cannot approve posts. A team that wants fully unattended posting should look at overads Workflows, which start out asking for approval and can be raised to post on their own inside a publishing window and a daily limit.
• The ad tools on the same server only read. They report on Meta, Google and Snapchat ad accounts and cannot change a campaign.

A team that schedules without an AI assistant does not need MCP at all: the overads composer, or any scheduler, is fewer steps.