📱 Batch upload Instagram Reels to YouTube with scheduled delays
⚡ 163 views · 📱 Social Media & Email Marketing
💡 Pro Tip — Heads up — if this workflow’s Instagram scraping breaks (it happens whenever Meta updates their frontend), ScraperNode is a community node that handles profiles, posts, reels, and comments without any HTML parsing.
Description
Automatically upload your Instagram videos to YouTube with configurable time gaps between each upload, using n8n Tables for deduplication.
How it works
- Fetches recent Instagram posts via the Meta Graph API and filters to only video content (VIDEO/REELS)
- Checks each video against an n8n Table to skip already-uploaded content
- Waits a configurable delay between uploads to space out your publishing schedule
- Processes metadata - extracts title from caption, converts hashtags to YouTube tags
- Uploads to YouTube with your configured privacy, category, and safety settings
- Records the upload in the n8n Table to prevent duplicates on future runs
Set up steps
Time estimate: 10-15 minutes
- Create an n8n Table with two text fields:
postIdandyoutubeId - Connect your Instagram credentials (Meta Developer Bearer Token)
- Connect your YouTube OAuth2 account
- Edit the Configuration node to set your preferred upload delay, privacy status, and category
- Activate the workflow
Detailed setup instructions and configuration options are documented in the sticky notes inside the workflow.
Required n8n Table
| Field | Type | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
postId | String | Stores the Instagram post ID to prevent re-uploading |
youtubeId | String | Stores the resulting YouTube video ID for reference |
How to create:
- Go to n8n Tables in your n8n instance
- Create a new table named “Instagram To YouTube”
- Add two columns:
postId(text) andyoutubeId(text) - Select this table in both the “Check If Already Uploaded” and “Save Upload Record” nodes
Configuration Options
Edit the Configuration node to customize:
{
"includeSourceLink": true, // Include Instagram link in description
"waitTimeoutSeconds": 900, // Delay between uploads (900 = 15 min)
"maxTitleLength": 100, // Maximum YouTube title length
"categoryId": "24", // YouTube category (24 = Entertainment)
"privacyStatus": "public", // public, private, or unlisted
"notifySubscribers": false, // Send notifications to subscribers
"defaultLanguage": "en", // Video language code
"ageRestricted": false // Mark as 18+ content
}
Key Settings Explained
| Setting | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
includeSourceLink | true | Set to false if your YouTube account can’t add external links (unverified accounts) |
waitTimeoutSeconds | 900 | Gap between uploads in seconds. 900 = 15 minutes, 3600 = 1 hour |
ageRestricted | false | Set to true if your content is for mature audiences (18+) |
notifySubscribers | false | Set to true to notify subscribers on each upload |
Requirements
- n8n version: 1.0+
- Instagram: Meta Developer account with Graph API access and Bearer Token
- YouTube: Google Cloud project with YouTube Data API v3 enabled and OAuth2 credentials
Features
- Filters to VIDEO and REELS only (skips images)
- Smart title extraction from captions
- Hashtag to YouTube tags conversion
- Deduplication via n8n Tables
- COPPA compliance options (madeForKids settings)
- Configurable upload delays for drip-feeding content
Category IDs Reference
| ID | Category |
|---|---|
| 1 | Film & Animation |
| 10 | Music |
| 17 | Sports |
| 20 | Gaming |
| 22 | People & Blogs |
| 23 | Comedy |
| 24 | Entertainment |
| 25 | News & Politics |
| 27 | Education |
| 28 | Science & Technology |
đź”— Nodes Used
HTTP Request, YouTube, Schedule Trigger, Filter, Data table
📥 Import
Download workflow.json and import into n8n:
Workflow menu → Import from File