late-api

name	late-api
description	Manage Late.co social media scheduling API — list, reschedule, bulk delete, and sync scheduled posts. Use this skill when asked to manage scheduled posts, clean up the Late queue, reschedule posts, inspect Late API state, or troubleshoot Late API issues.

Late API Management Skill

Operational workflows for managing scheduled social media posts via the Late.co API (https://getlate.dev/api/v1). This skill helps you list, reschedule, bulk delete, and sync posts when the posting schedule changes or issues arise.

Prerequisites

• LATE_API_KEY environment variable set (Bearer token, format: sk_...)
• The project's schedule.json in the repo root defines posting time slots per platform

Authentication

All requests use Bearer auth:

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $env:LATE_API_KEY" https://getlate.dev/api/v1/posts

API Base URL

https://getlate.dev/api/v1

---

API Reference

Posts

Method	Endpoint	Description
GET	/v1/posts	List posts. Supports query params: status (draft/scheduled/published/failed), platform, profileId, dateFrom, dateTo, createdBy, includeHidden
POST	/v1/posts	Create a post. Fields: content, platforms (array of {platform, accountId}), scheduledFor (ISO datetime), timezone, isDraft, publishNow, mediaItems, queuedFromProfile, queueId, tags, hashtags, tiktokSettings, platformSpecificData
GET	/v1/posts/{postId}	Get a single post by ID
PUT	/v1/posts/{postId}	Update a post. Only draft/scheduled/failed/partial posts can be edited. Fields: content, scheduledFor, tiktokSettings
DELETE	/v1/posts/{postId}	Delete a post. Published posts cannot be deleted. Refunds upload quota
POST	/v1/posts/bulk-upload	Bulk upload from CSV. Optional dryRun query param

Accounts

Method	Endpoint	Description
GET	/v1/accounts	List connected social media accounts

Profiles

Method	Endpoint	Description
GET	/v1/profiles	List profiles
POST	/v1/profiles	Create a profile

Queue (Late's built-in scheduling)

Method	Endpoint	Description
GET	/v1/queue/slots?profileId=X	Get queue schedules for a profile. Add all=true for all queues
POST	/v1/queue/slots	Create a new queue. Body: profileId, name, timezone, slots, active
PUT	/v1/queue/slots	Update queue. Body: profileId, queueId, timezone, slots, reshuffleExisting (auto-reschedule existing posts)
DELETE	/v1/queue/slots?profileId=X&queueId=Y	Delete a queue
GET	/v1/queue/preview?profileId=X&count=N	Preview upcoming N queue slots
GET	/v1/queue/next-slot?profileId=X	Preview next available slot (informational only — do NOT use with scheduledFor)

Media

Method	Endpoint	Description
POST	/v1/media/presign	Get presigned upload URL. Body: {filename, contentType} → {uploadUrl, publicUrl, key, expiresIn}
PUT	{uploadUrl}	Upload file bytes to the presigned URL with Content-Type header

Analytics

Method	Endpoint	Description
GET	/v1/analytics	Get post performance metrics and engagement data

Publishing Logs

Method	Endpoint	Description
GET	/v1/logs	View publishing attempt logs (API endpoint, status, request/response, retries). Retained 7 days

Webhooks

Method	Endpoint	Description
GET	/v1/webhooks	List configured webhooks
POST	/v1/webhooks	Create a webhook. Events: post.scheduled, post.published, post.failed, post.partial, account.connected, account.disconnected, message.received

---

Rate Limits

Plan	Requests/min
Free	60
Build	120
Accelerate	600
Unlimited	1,200

Additional limits:

• Velocity: 15 posts/hour/account
• Daily: Platform-specific (X: 20, Pinterest: 25, Instagram/Facebook: 100, Threads: 250, others: 50)
• Cooldown: Escalating backoff on repeated errors (10min → 20min → 40min → 24h)

---

Project-Specific Context

schedule.json Format

The project's schedule.json (repo root) defines local posting time slots:

{
  "timezone": "America/Chicago",
  "platforms": {
    "linkedin": {
      "slots": [
        { "days": ["tue", "wed"], "time": "08:00", "label": "Morning thought leadership" }
      ],
      "avoidDays": ["sat", "sun"]
    }
  }
}

Existing LateApiClient (src/L2-clients/late/lateApi.ts)

The project has a TypeScript client with these methods:

• listProfiles() → LateProfile[]
• listAccounts() → LateAccount[]
• getScheduledPosts(platform?) → LatePost[]
• getDraftPosts(platform?) → LatePost[]
• createPost(params) → LatePost
• updatePost(postId, updates) → LatePost
• deletePost(postId) → void
• uploadMedia(filePath) → {url, type}
• validateConnection() → {valid, profileName?, error?}
• listQueues(profileId, all?) — List all queues for a profile
• createQueue(params) — Create a new queue
• updateQueue(params) — Update queue (supports reshuffleExisting)
• deleteQueue(profileId, queueId) — Delete a queue
• previewQueue(profileId, queueId?, count?) — Preview upcoming slot times
• getNextQueueSlot(profileId, queueId?) — Get next available slot

Approved posts use queue-first scheduling: VidPipe resolves queueId via {platform}-{clipType} naming, sends queuedFromProfile + queueId, and relies on Late FIFO order. Manual scheduledFor is fallback-only.

Local Queue (src/services/postStore.ts)

Published posts are tracked locally in publish-queue/ (pending) and published/ (done). Each item has metadata.json with latePostId, scheduledFor, platform, accountId, status.

Scheduler (src/services/scheduler.ts)

findNextSlot(platform) finds the next available time slot by:

1. Loading schedule.json config
2. Fetching booked slots from Late API + local published items
3. Generating candidates in 14-day chunks, sorted chronologically
4. Returning the first unbooked candidate

---

Operational Workflows

1. List All Scheduled Posts

curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $env:LATE_API_KEY" \
  "https://getlate.dev/api/v1/posts?status=scheduled" | python -m json.tool

Filter by platform:

curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $env:LATE_API_KEY" \
  "https://getlate.dev/api/v1/posts?status=scheduled&platform=linkedin"

Filter by date range:

curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $env:LATE_API_KEY" \
  "https://getlate.dev/api/v1/posts?status=scheduled&dateFrom=2026-02-01&dateTo=2026-03-01"

2. Reschedule a Single Post

curl -s -X PUT -H "Authorization: Bearer $env:LATE_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  "https://getlate.dev/api/v1/posts/{postId}" \
  -d '{"scheduledFor": "2026-02-20T08:00:00-06:00"}'

3. Bulk Reschedule All Posts (Schedule Change)

When schedule.json changes, use this workflow:

1. Read the new schedule from schedule.json
2. Fetch all scheduled posts from Late API
3. For each post, compute the new optimal time slot based on the updated schedule
4. Update each post with the new scheduledFor datetime via PUT /v1/posts/{postId}
5. Report what changed (old time → new time for each post)

Important: Always confirm with the user before executing bulk reschedule. Show them the proposed changes first.

Recommended: Use vidpipe sync-queues --reshuffle for automated bulk reschedule via Late queue system. Use vidpipe realign --queue or vidpipe reschedule --queue for queue-based alternatives.

4. Bulk Delete Scheduled Posts

# First list to confirm what will be deleted
curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $env:LATE_API_KEY" \
  "https://getlate.dev/api/v1/posts?status=scheduled&platform=twitter"

# Then delete each post by ID (published posts CANNOT be deleted)
curl -s -X DELETE -H "Authorization: Bearer $env:LATE_API_KEY" \
  "https://getlate.dev/api/v1/posts/{postId}"

Important: Always list and confirm with the user before deleting. Show post content previews.

5. Sync Local Queue with Late API

Compare local published/ metadata with Late API state:

1. Read all local published items from recordings/*/publish-queue/ and published/
2. For each item with a latePostId, fetch the Late post via GET /v1/posts/{postId}
3. Report mismatches:
   • Orphaned in Late: Posts in Late API with no matching local item
   • Orphaned locally: Local items with latePostId that no longer exists in Late
   • Schedule mismatch: scheduledFor differs between local metadata and Late API

6. Validate Late API Connection

curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $env:LATE_API_KEY" \
  "https://getlate.dev/api/v1/profiles"

If this returns profiles, the connection is valid. If 401, the API key is invalid or expired.

7. View Publishing Logs

curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $env:LATE_API_KEY" \
  "https://getlate.dev/api/v1/logs"

Shows publishing attempts with platform API endpoint, HTTP status, request/response bodies, and retry info. Logs are retained for 7 days.

8. Inspect Connected Accounts

curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $env:LATE_API_KEY" \
  "https://getlate.dev/api/v1/accounts" | python -m json.tool

Returns all connected social accounts with _id, platform, username, displayName, isActive, profileId.

9. Update Late Queue Slots (with auto-reshuffle)

If you want Late's built-in queue (not the local schedule.json) to reschedule existing posts:

curl -s -X PUT -H "Authorization: Bearer $env:LATE_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  "https://getlate.dev/api/v1/queue/slots" \
  -d '{
    "profileId": "PROFILE_ID",
    "timezone": "America/Chicago",
    "slots": [
      {"day": "tue", "time": "08:00"},
      {"day": "wed", "time": "12:00"}
    ],
    "reshuffleExisting": true
  }'

The reshuffleExisting: true flag tells Late to automatically move existing queued posts to match the new slots.

---

Safety Rules

1. Never delete published posts — the API will reject it anyway (400 error)
2. Always list before bulk operations — show the user what will be affected
3. Confirm destructive actions — ask the user to approve before deleting or rescheduling multiple posts
4. Use dryRun for bulk uploads — test with ?dryRun=true query param first
5. Respect rate limits — add delays between bulk API calls (60 req/min on free plan)
6. Handle 429 responses — check Retry-After header and wait before retrying

Troubleshooting

Problem	Cause	Fix
401 Unauthorized	Invalid or expired API key	Check LATE_API_KEY env var, regenerate key at getlate.dev settings
429 Rate Limited	Too many requests	Wait for Retry-After period, add delays between bulk calls
400 on DELETE	Trying to delete a published post	Published posts cannot be deleted — only draft/scheduled/failed
400 on PUT	Trying to update a published post	Published/publishing/cancelled posts cannot be edited
Empty posts list	Wrong status filter or no posts exist	Try without status filter, check platform filter matches account
Media upload fails	Presigned URL expired (1 hour)	Request a new presigned URL and retry upload
Duplicate 409	Same content posted to same account within 24h	Change content or wait 24 hours
Account cooldown	Repeated publishing errors	Wait for cooldown to expire (escalating: 10min → 24h)