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Has anyone successfully created a Zap using App Extentions (Beta) in Instagram? If so, we could really use some help here.

Specifically, we need to auto-share the featured image and excerpt (caption) for new WordPress blog posts to our Instagram channel. I finally have the trigger and action steps configured with green checkmarks. However, when testing the zap now I get only the oh so helpful Unexpected Error message:

 

Failed to create an app extensions in Instagram
Raw request failed. Problem executing your request: undefined: An unexpected error has occurred. Please retry your request later.

 

What is this undefined problem? 😕

I have tried again later, and much later. I’ve turned the zap on and off. And, the “Troubleshoot via AI” feature is apparently only available for stopped zaps, not within the editor. However, when manually running the zap, no error is thrown. In fact, nothing seems to happen. I get the green check after Looking for posts, but no further action…

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

 

Hi @therventrepreneur 

It’s likely the Image URL field expects a URL value.

The Image Caption field may not accept html tags. (e.g. <p>, </p>, etc.)

 


It’s likely the Image URL field expects a URL value.

The Image Caption field may not accept html tags. (e.g. <p>,</p>, etc.)

 

Interesting theory, thanks @Troy Tessalone 

Unfortunately the same error occurs when testing with only an URL value for the image and plain text for the caption. Also tried leaving link field blank (it is not required)…

Raw request failed. Problem executing your request: undefined: An unexpected error has occurred. Please retry your request later.


@therventrepreneur 

It may be that the Instagram App Extension itself is not configured correctly.


@therventrepreneur

It may be that the Instagram App Extension itself is not configured correctly.

Thanks @Troy Tessalone … that’s why I’m here. 😎

I tried changing endpoint to /media_publish and still get the same error. Still uncertain about how to configure the query parameters if those are required. If {{input_fields}} are the keys, what are the values?

 


@therventrepreneur 

The screenshot doesn’t show how the Data Body section is configured for the Action, which we would need to see.

 


@therventrepreneur

The screenshot doesn’t show how the Data Body section is configured...

 

Perhaps this is my problem? I couldn’t find documentation on how to configure the body section for posting the image. The “Many APIs require...” comment

led me to believe this might be optional. 😑

I appreciate the help @Troy Tessalone !


@therventrepreneur 

In the App Extensions interface did you ask AI to help you configure the action?


Zap’s bot still has quite a bit to learn...

I tried various prompts using words like image, photo, share, etc. all apparently irrelevant to instagram.

GPT4 suggested variations of the following all of which were unsuccessful:

image_url={{image_url}}&caption={{caption}}


@therventrepreneur 

Perhaps try the Instagram for Business Zap app:

https://zapier.com/apps/instagram-for-business/integrations#triggers-and-actions

 


@therventrepreneur

Perhaps try the Instagram for Business Zap app…

Thank You!!! @Troy Tessalone I looked everywhere for something like this.

It took some tweaking...but for anyone interested, I finally got this zap working by using the Yoast OG Image URL and stripping HTML from the excerpt field.

Thanks again for the good help.

 


That’s awesome @therventrepreneur! Big thanks to Troy for pointing you in the right direction!

Also, thank you for sharing your Zap setup here. This will be helpful to our other awesome Community members.

If you have any other questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to the Community. We’re always happy to help! 🤗


Hi @Troy Tessalone      

I’ve gone through your ideas and appreciate the insights. However, I’m still facing connection issues between the apps and can’t seem to figure out the next steps. I’ve double-checked everything, and it all seems to be working and accessible.

Followed is an link to my previous made topic with more detailed informations: Inst api

Could you please assist me in resolving this?

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

 

 


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