How to schedule Instagram Reels from Google Drive with SocialQ

What do you need before you start?

Four things: a Mac, an Instagram account set up as a Business or Creator account, a Google Drive folder to hold your posts, and your own Composio API key. SocialQ runs on macOS on both Apple Silicon and Intel Macs; there is no Windows version yet. Composio is the service that handles the connections to Instagram and Google Drive, using your key — SocialQ itself keeps your files and keys on your computer.

Two extras are optional. A Resend API key lets SocialQ send email alerts in addition to Mac notifications, and Cloudflare R2 can be used for media hosting. Neither is required to publish.

• A Mac — Apple Silicon or Intel.
• An Instagram Business or Creator account (personal accounts are not supported).
• A Google Drive folder for your scheduled posts.
• Your own Composio API key.
• Optional: a Resend key for email alerts; Cloudflare R2 for media hosting.

How do you add a Reel to the schedule?

Create a folder in your Drive posts folder named for when the Reel should go live — for example 2026-11-14_1800 for 6:00 PM on 14 November 2026 — and put two files in it: video.mp4 and caption.txt. That is the whole scheduling step. Times are read in Pacific Time unless you have changed the time zone in SocialQ’s settings.

Photos and carousels work the same way with JPEG images in place of the video. The full naming rules, including zero-padding and the 24-hour clock, are in the folder layout guide.

How does a Reel get from Drive to Instagram?

In three stages: scan, approve, publish. SocialQ scans your Drive folder hourly and adds new posts to its approval queue. You review each one — the queue has an in-app Reel player, a week and day calendar, and a countdown such as “Goes live in 7 h 52 min” on approved posts — and approve it. At the folder’s time SocialQ publishes it to Instagram and moves the folder into Posted (or Failed, if something went wrong).

Approval is not optional. A post that has not been approved by its scheduled time is marked Missed and never goes out late on its own; an hour before an unapproved post is due, SocialQ sends a Mac notification (and an email, if you have set up Resend) so you have time to act. How approvals and missed posts work covers this in detail.

Can SocialQ add music to a Reel?

Yes. In Settings you can choose a song, and SocialQ mixes it under the video’s own sound before posting. You control the volume, the start point within the song, and whether it loops. A post can also carry its own audio file, which overrides the default song for that one Reel.

One honest caveat: because the sound is mixed into the video file before upload, Instagram shows it under the name you gave it. It is not linked to a track in Instagram’s own music library, so it won’t appear as a tappable song from that library on the Reel.

What are trial reels, and can SocialQ post them?

Trial reels are an Instagram feature that shows a Reel to people who don’t follow you first. SocialQ can publish Reels as trial reels, either for a whole workspace or for individual Reels. Instagram only offers trial reels to accounts that meet its follower minimum, so the option is only useful on accounts that qualify — check Instagram’s own requirements for your account.

How do you manage more than one Instagram account?

Each Instagram account gets its own workspace in SocialQ, and a single licence covers unlimited workspaces and accounts. Settings such as trial reels can be set per workspace, so an account that qualifies for trial reels and one that doesn’t can each be configured appropriately.

Can an AI assistant help manage the schedule?

Yes. SocialQ includes a built-in connector using the Model Context Protocol (MCP), which lets AI tools such as Claude and ChatGPT work with your queue: list posts, write captions, approve posts and reschedule them. It is the same queue you see in the app, so anything an assistant changes shows up there too.