Share a post in a few simple steps

This is the easiest way to prepare social posts with ReachWeaver. You can use it without an account connection, password, payment or API key. You do not need to understand JSON.

Important: this feature prepares private folders with captions and checklists. It does not sign in, upload, schedule or publish anything. You finish each post in the social media app yourself.

Even easier: open the browser composer

From the ReachWeaver folder:

python3 -m reachweaver share --web --open

Use its editor, tap the social-network choices, attach a photo or video if you like, preview the exact captions and save a new private folder. Then open the native platforms and publish yourself. Your draft is kept as you type, saved packages can be reopened, updated (after a confirmation) or duplicated, and once you have posted by hand you can paste the post’s link under Mark as posted so ReachWeaver can measure it. It never connects to a social account, uploads files to a network or publishes. See the browser workflow guide.

Option A: answer a few questions

From the ReachWeaver project folder, enter:

python3 -m reachweaver share --guide

ReachWeaver asks which networks you want (for example, instagram,threads; an empty or mistyped answer is asked again, with a “Did you mean” and the list), asks for your caption, offers to check a photo or video (type its path, or press Enter to skip; nothing is uploaded), asks for the video title when you chose YouTube (required for YouTube; Enter skips YouTube: an empty answer is asked once more, then YouTube is skipped with YouTube skipped (no title). Run reachweaver share --guide again and choose only YouTube to add it.), reviews the requirements and asks Save these files? [Y/n]. Enter saves, because saving only writes private files on your computer. It creates a private folder named something like state/share-YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS.

Already have the words, for example a saved idea that reachweaver next offers as reachweaver share --guide --text '<idea>'? The guide then shows that caption and asks Keep this caption? [Y = keep / e = edit]: Enter keeps it, e lets you type a new one.

The caption may take several lines: type each line at the > prompt and press Enter on an empty line to finish (or Ctrl-D). An empty line ends the caption, so for blank lines between paragraphs save the text in a file and use --file.

Before it asks to save, the terminal shows the final text for each network, so you can copy it from there: a header per network with its length against that network’s limit, in plain words (for example Instagram (photo post): 72 of 2200 characters allowed, Bluesky: 72 of 300 characters allowed; TikTok’s sourced rule counts UTF-16 units, which are characters unless one such as most emoji counts as 2, and then the line says so; YouTube’s sourced description rule is in bytes, so it reads 72 of 5000 bytes allowed), then the text. A long text shows its first three lines (about 280 characters) and … full text in instagram/caption.txt. When your caption fits every network you chose, every copy is the same text, and the terminal says so once: Same text for all 3: it fits every network, so nothing was changed. ReachWeaver does not invent differences: a copy changes only when a sourced rule requires it (see the next section).

Open the OPEN-FIRST.md file in that folder. It says what to paste into each app, which options to choose yourself, and what to double-check before posting, with one short Tip per network (restating a fact ReachWeaver has a source for; a suggestion, not a promise of reach). Every platform has its own caption/post and CHECKLIST.md, written in plain words: “Not posted yet”, “ReachWeaver cannot post to Instagram; you post it yourself”, “Instagram needs a photo or video: attach it in the app”. The machine-readable manual-export.json keeps its status codes.

When a caption is too long, or a phrase does not fit

Each network’s copy is fitted to that network’s rule. It is cut at the end of the last sentence that fits (when that keeps most of the text), otherwise at a word with …. A closing link, alone or on a short last line such as Read more: https://..., is kept and the text before it is shortened instead. The SHORTENED line names everything removed: the removed passage (its start and its end, so a closing call to action is visible), LINK REMOVED: for any link that could not stay, and cut hashtags. --no-shorten keeps the text as written and blocks instead.

“link in bio” is flagged where a link in the post itself works: Bluesky (rich text links), Telegram (clickable URL entities) and Mastodon (links in posts), all checked 2026-10-21; for LinkedIn the note says that clickability is unverified. The text is never changed for you.

If you installed the command-line program, you may type reachweaver instead of python3 -m reachweaver.

Option B: one command, no questions

python3 -m reachweaver share --platform instagram,threads --text "A simple look at our new feature #opensource" --out state/my-first-share

This saves two private folders and one simple OPEN-FIRST.md guide. It is an offline package, not an Instagram or Threads post.

For captions containing multiple lines, save a text file and run:

python3 -m reachweaver share --platform instagram,tiktok --file my-caption.txt --out state/video-share

Choose a new output folder every time. Existing folders are never overwritten.

When one network is blocked

If one network cannot be prepared and the others can, Share writes the others and lists the skipped one with its fix, for example:

SKIPPED 1 network(s); the other 2 are prepared below:
 - YouTube skipped: add --title "…" and run again with --platform youtube

Exit codes, for scripts: 0 every chosen network was prepared; 1 some were skipped (each listed with its fix; the others were prepared, unless you used --preview or answered no to saving); 2 blocked, nothing written. A problem that belongs to no single network (no caption, --note without a human-only community, --title without YouTube) still blocks everything, and so does every network being blocked. Add --strict for all or nothing: any blocked network then writes nothing and exits 2.

A file named with --attach that does not exist says where it looked: Attachment not found: nothere.mp4 (looked in /your/folder). Check the name or leave it out. (exit 2). A folder or a symbolic link given instead of a file gets its own plain message.

Bluesky, Mastodon, Telegram and LinkedIn

ReachWeaver can also send to these four networks through their APIs, but you do not need to connect anything to share there. Share gives you the same kind of copy-ready package as for Instagram:

python3 -m reachweaver share --platform bluesky,linkedin,mastodon --text "A small update for new creators" --out state/my-text-share

Each package is checked with the same text rule that draft and check use for that network (for example 300 graphemes on Bluesky), and each one says: Copy and post it yourself; to send it from ReachWeaver instead, connect the account and use draft → review. Share itself never sends, never writes the local database or send queue and never records a post. After you post by hand, record it from its link with reachweaver posted LINK --likes N (the terminal output and OPEN-FIRST.md say the same).

To add one of your accounts for that send route, run reachweaver account-add bluesky (or mastodon, telegram, linkedin). It asks only for public details such as your handle, never a password, and prints the names of the environment variables you set yourself. Then follow reachweaver connect --guide.

One caption, fitted to each network

Every network gets its own copy of your caption. When the caption is longer than a network’s limit, Share shortens that copy at the last word that fits, adds “…”, and marks it SHORTENED in the plan, in OPEN-FIRST.md and in that network’s CHECKLIST.md, naming any hashtags that were cut. Read the ending before you post. The limits come from rules ReachWeaver already applies: the draft/check rule for Bluesky, Mastodon, Telegram and LinkedIn, the official limits recorded for Threads, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube descriptions, and ReachWeaver’s conservative cap for Facebook Pages. Networks without a known limit (X, for example) keep your text exactly as written, with a note when it is longer than ReachWeaver’s internal guardrail.

Hashtags are never moved or rewritten: ReachWeaver has no sourced rule for moving them on any network, so your text keeps its order and the existing hashtag warnings (one topic tag on Threads, at most five in the Instagram app) still appear. Nothing is written by AI: the only change is the cut.

Prefer to shorten it yourself? Add --no-shorten: an over-long caption then blocks with the network’s rule, and nothing is written.

Photos and video

Say which photo or video you plan to attach:

python3 -m reachweaver share --platform instagram,tiktok --text "Watch this short demonstration" --attach demo.mp4 --out state/my-video-share

The file is never copied or uploaded. Share reads its header offline (container, size, width and height, duration) and checks it against the limits ReachWeaver has a cited source for: for example Bluesky’s 10-minute video limit, Instagram’s 4:5 to 1.91:1 image ratio or TikTok’s 23-60 fps. Each finding appears as a MEDIA PROBLEM (a documented hard limit) or Media advice (a recommendation) line in the plan and in that network’s CHECKLIST.md. In the terminal, findings about the file itself (an unreadable header, an extension that does not match, EXIF metadata), any finding every chosen network has word for word, and the note on what the check reads are printed once, under Attached media:, before the networks; each network then lists only its own findings (each CHECKLIST.md keeps all of them). With no problem it says no problem found, and when some values cannot be read from the header or have no sourced limit it adds one plain line, some details could not be checked from the file header (that's normal), instead of listing the checker’s field names (the machine-readable manual-export.json keeps the full list). These findings never block the package: you decide in the app. YouTube rules are the Shorts rules and apply only if you post a Short. Networks without a sourced media table (Threads, Facebook Pages, X and most others) say so. No external tool such as ffprobe is needed.

You still choose the actual file, check rights, likeness consent, alt text, subtitles and disclosures, and publish in the native app. For those checks too, use --media with a rights-confirmed media manifest (media-check).

Instagram defaults to an image post without a video attachment, or a video post when an attached video’s extension is supplied. TikTok and YouTube use video formats.

A YouTube video

YouTube needs a title and a description:

python3 -m reachweaver share --platform youtube --title "See ReachWeaver in action" --text "Here is what the demonstration covers." --out state/my-youtube-video

You get title.txt and description.txt. Without --title, YouTube is skipped (with that fix named) and any other networks you chose are still prepared. You must upload the video yourself and decide visibility, made-for-kids status and synthetic-content disclosures in YouTube Studio.

Facebook Pages

Use facebook or facebook pages. It means a Facebook Page you manage. It is not a personal-profile or group posting feature.

python3 -m reachweaver share --platform "facebook pages" --text "An update for our Page" --out state/my-page-post

Groups and moderated communities

Reddit, Hacker News and other human-only venues are not suited to AI-prepared promotional text. Use short notes instead. ReachWeaver produces NOTES.md, and you write the final message according to the community rules:

python3 -m reachweaver share --platform reddit --note "Read subreddit rules and share an original, useful answer" --out state/my-reddit-notes

You can combine a normal network with a human-only one, as long as you provide both –text (normal caption) and –note (your own short ideas). The ready-made caption is never included in the human-only package.

Do not automate groups, DM strangers, copy spam across communities, or bypass login or policy restrictions.

Useful commands

What you want	Command
See easy network choices	python3 -m reachweaver share –list
See options for all supported/researched networks	python3 -m reachweaver delivery-options
Check your text before saving files	Add –preview
Change a post for only one destination	Edit that platform’s caption.txt or post.txt before manually pasting
Remember a post you shared manually	reachweaver mark-shared (see the repeat-guard guide)
Measure a post you shared manually, with its numbers	reachweaver posted LINK –likes N –replies N (see below)
Keep an over-long caption as written (and block)	Add –no-shorten
All or nothing when one network is blocked	Add –strict (default: prepare the others, exit 1)
Add your account for an actual API send	reachweaver account-add bluesky, then reachweaver connect –guide; Share intentionally never sends

Measure posts you shared by hand

Share cannot see what you post. After you have posted, give ReachWeaver the link, and the numbers you see if you have them, in one command:

reachweaver posted https://bsky.app/profile/you.bsky.social/post/3kabc --likes 12 --replies 3 \
  --at yesterday --text "the caption you posted"

The network comes from the link and your account is picked when only one fits. Run the same command later with new numbers to update them. report --week, insights and the dashboard then show the post, labelled “posted by hand”. reachweaver mark-shared --platform P --url LINK does the same without numbers and can also remember images and videos for the repeat guard. The record is only a note in your local database: it never sends anything and can never be approved, scheduled or sent. Details: manual export.

If you need automated sending, that is a different, approval-first process and only works for specifically supported, owner-authorized accounts. One Share package is not consent to publish automatically.

Share does not generate media or text, rewrite or optimize a caption (it only shortens an over-long copy at a sentence end or a word, keeping a closing link, and says what it removed), move hashtags, guarantee better visibility, detect the target account, validate native post outcomes, collect analytics or publish by itself. It does apply existing per-platform preflight checks where available and refuses to save any packages if one chosen network has a blocking error. Media findings from --attach are advice for you and never block.

Privacy: all generated text is local. Files are stored under a new owner-only folder (0700 on POSIX, text files 0600). No new dependency, hosted service or additional charge is required.