Pinterest

Publish image and video pins to a Pinterest Business account through the Pinterest API v5. Postli sets the title, description, source URL, board, and (optionally) a section within the board.

Requirements

• A Pinterest Business account — consumer accounts cannot use the publishing API. Convert in Pinterest Settings → Account management.
• At least one board created on the account — pins can’t be saved with no board.
• Compliance with the Pinterest Developer Guidelines.

Spec

Create your Pinterest app

Pinterest gates its publishing API on per-app approval. Reviews typically take 2–5 business days.

1. Go to developers.pinterest.com/apps while signed into a Pinterest Business account, and click Connect app.
2. Fill in the app details: name, description, contact email, business website, terms-of-service URL, and privacy-policy URL. Pinterest auto-rejects apps with stub legal links.
3. In the app settings, add the Redirect URI:
   https://app.usepostli.com/api/integration/pinterest/callback
4. Request the scopes you need: boards:read, boards:write, pins:read, pins:write, user_accounts:read. Each scope needs a 1–2 sentence reason.
5. Submit for review and wait for the Approved status badge on the app card.
6. Copy the App ID and App Secret Key from the approved app.
7. In Postli, open Settings → Integrations → Pinterest, paste both values, and save.

OAuth setup

Once credentials are saved, go to Integrations → Pinterest → Connect. Pinterest’s consent screen lists the requested scopes. Approve all of them — partial grants will block board listing or pin creation.

Scopes Postli requests:

Pin types in detail

Image pin

Single image with title, description, and source URL. The 2:3 vertical ratio (1000×1500) consistently outperforms square or landscape on Pinterest. Postli warns in the channel tab if your media is not 2:3.

Video pin

Single video with cover image, title, description, and source URL. Postli uploads via Pinterest’s media-upload endpoint, polls for transcoding, then creates the pin once the video is ready.

Source URL & UTMs

The source URL is what every pin click leads to. With Postli’s auto-UTM setting on, the URL is decorated with utm_source=pinterest, utm_medium=social, and the campaign tag at publish time — so you see Pinterest revenue attribution out of the box.

Auto-comments

Pinterest’s public API does not expose pin-comment endpoints. Auto-comments are therefore disabled for Pinterest pins. Engagement metrics (saves, clicks, impressions) are read normally.

Rate limits

Pinterest enforces a per-app and per-user rate limit (typically 200 calls per minute per app). Postli batches and back-offs on 429. Pin volume itself is not capped — you can pin hundreds per day.

Gotchas & best practices

• Personal accounts can’t use the API. Convert to Business in Pinterest Settings.
• Source URL is mandatory. Pinterest will reject pin creation if it’s missing.
• 2:3 vertical wins. Square pins still publish, but get less reach.
• Refresh token expires. If the user doesn’t use Postli for >60 days, the refresh token can expire and a re-auth is required.
• Idea pins (multi-page) are not supported by Postli today. Use a video pin for similar effect, or pin pages individually.

Webhooks

Postli does not subscribe to Pinterest webhooks. Engagement is polled.