TikTok API guide
TikTok API explained, and when you don't need it
Does TikTok have an API? Yes: the TikTok API covers sign-in, showing videos, posting, research and business. If you just want your business on TikTok, Postdom is the simpler answer: it turns your website into ready-to-post videos in your brand and posts the ones you approve, without building a TikTok integration yourself.
Does TikTok have an API?
Pick the API by the job. These are separate products, not one token that does everything.
| I want to… | Start here | What to check first |
|---|---|---|
| Let someone sign in with TikTok | Login Kit | User sign-in and authorization. Login alone does not grant posting or research access. |
| Show a creator's profile and videos | Display API | App approval and user authorization for the relevant profile and video scopes. This is not a search API for every account. |
| Publish to an authorized creator's account | Content Posting API: Direct Post | Approved video.publish scope, user authorization and posting consent. Unaudited clients are restricted to private viewing. |
| Send a video for its creator to finish in TikTok | Content Posting API: Upload | Approved video.upload scope and user authorization. The creator opens the inbox notification, edits and completes the post. |
| Study public content for an eligible research project | Research API | A separate application and approved research project. Check research eligibility before building a commercial data product around it. |
| Build advertising, organic business or messaging workflows | API for Business | A separate business catalogue with Marketing, Organic and Business Messaging APIs. Check the chosen product's access requirements. |
Free TikTok API alternative: post with Postdom
Building on TikTok's API means registering an app, getting scopes approved, passing an audit before posts can be public, and building the review screens yourself.
Postdom skips all of that for a small business. Paste your website, approve the videos you like, and Postdom posts them to TikTok. The Free plan has no card and makes 1 post a month on 2 accounts, on any platform.
TikTok Content Posting API
To post from your own app, TikTok's Content Posting API has two paths. Direct Post sends the video for posting and needs the video.publish scope. Upload sends it to the creator's inbox to finish in TikTok and needs video.upload. Until TikTok audits your app, Direct Post content stays private.
Register the app and request the right permission
For Direct Post, add Content Posting API, enable Direct Post and obtain approval for video.publish. The target creator must also authorize that scope. Store the user's access token securely; an app key is not a substitute for their authorization.
Ask the creator what will be sent
Fetch current creator information. Show the account and available privacy choices, then let the person preview the content, choose its audience and confirm the required disclosures and consent. Do not silently choose public visibility or treat a stored boolean as proof of consent.
Transfer the content and keep its identifier
Initialize the Direct Post request. Upload the file or use a URL from a verified domain or URL prefix, as required for that transfer method. Keep the returned publish_id; an accepted request is not a finished post.
Check the original request's outcome
Use Get Post Status with the same publish_id. Reconcile a failed or uncertain attempt before starting another. Confirm the actual result and audience rather than announcing public success after an upload.
For video Direct Post, post_info.title has a documented maximum of 2,200 UTF-16 runes. This is the caption/title field on /v2/post/publish/video/init/, not a limit for every TikTok API.
Official field reference · Caption fact verified . This documented native limit is not enforced by Postdom's caption-length check. Use the caption guide before sending a long caption.
Is the TikTok API free?
Don't plan around a blanket "free TikTok API". Each product has its own access rules, and building the integration has its own costs.
- TikTok product access
- Read the selected API's requirements and developer terms. For Direct Post, separate app scope approval, user authorization and the audit needed to lift private-viewing restrictions.
- Your implementation
- Allow for secure token storage, hosting, content transfer, a review interface and handling failed or unfinished requests. Getting an app approved does not build those pieces.
- A managed service
- A service subscription pays for that service's workflow and supported features. For Postdom, check current plans; that price is not a TikTok API fee or a shortcut to unrestricted access.
TikTok API key
There is no single TikTok API key that unlocks everything. Creator-facing products use access tokens the creator grants through sign-in, scoped to what they approved. Research uses its own client token. An app key on its own does not let you post.
Questions about the TikTok API
Does TikTok have an API for posting videos?
Yes. The Content Posting API can post directly with the video.publish scope or send a video to the creator's inbox with video.upload. Both need the creator's authorization.
Can an unaudited app post publicly?
No. TikTok keeps posts from unaudited Direct Post apps private. A separate audit lifts that restriction.
Can I fetch any account's videos?
No. The Display API covers an authorized user's own profile and videos. The Research API is a separate product with its own eligibility and approval.
Do I need the TikTok API to post as a business?
No. Postdom connects your TikTok account and posts the videos you approve, so you don't build or maintain an integration.
Does Postdom have an API too?
Yes. Postdom's REST API and MCP server are included on every plan, for developers who post through their own AI agent. Postdom does not expose TikTok's login, research, ads or messaging products.
Post to TikTok without building an integration
Postdom reads your brand from your website and fills your For You feed with ready-to-post videos, slideshows and single images. You approve, edit or skip each one, and Postdom posts what you approve to TikTok, Instagram and more.
Nothing posts until you approve it. Start free with no card.
Start free with Postdom
Paste your website and see your first video today.