Connect Facebook & Instagram (step by step)

Facebook is the fussiest channel to set up because Meta manages permissions through use cases. The recommended one-click connect below handles the token for you (and never expires); the manual token method further down still works as a fallback. Instagram reuses the same Facebook Page, so doing Facebook connects both.

Recommended: one-click connect (permanent token)

Connect with your app's App ID and App Secret. NumroQ signs you in, gets a long-lived token that does not expire (no more hourly re-connecting), links your Page, and connects any linked Instagram automatically. Set the app up once, exactly as below. The three steps people miss are marked IMPORTANT.

Create the app at developers.facebook.com with the Manage everything on your Page use case (add the Instagram use case too if you want Instagram).
Settings → Basic. IMPORTANT: set App Domains to numroq.com, the bare domain with no https:// and no trailing slash, otherwise it silently fails to save and disappears. Add a Website platform with Site URL https://numroq.com/. Save Changes.
Add the Facebook Login product (Add Product → Facebook Login → Set up), then open Facebook Login → Settings.
Turn Client OAuth Login and Web OAuth Login ON. IMPORTANT: paste your redirect URL into the Valid OAuth Redirect URIs list field and press Enter, then Save. The "Check URI" button only tests a URL, it does not add it, so a URL that only passed the checker but is not in the list will fail. Your redirect URL is shown on the Social Autopilot page, for example https://yourdomain/admin/social/facebook/callback.
Settings → Advanced. IMPORTANT: turn "Native or desktop app" OFF. A server connect uses your App Secret, so the app must be a Web app; if this is on, the connect fails with "the app is configured as a desktop app".
Copy your App ID and App Secret (Settings → Basic), paste them into the Facebook section in NumroQ, and click Connect Facebook + Instagram. Authorize on Facebook, and it is connected permanently.

If a connect fails, NumroQ shows Facebook's own reason. Almost always it is one of the three IMPORTANT items above: App Domains not saved as the bare domain, the redirect URL not actually in the list field, or "Native or desktop app" still on. An authorization code is single-use, so if you retried on a stale tab, start Connect fresh.

Manual token method (fallback)

If you cannot use the one-click connect, you can paste a Page token directly (use the collapsible "Or paste a Page token manually" option under the Facebook section). For a token that does not expire this way, use a System User token (see the end of this article). The steps below walk through generating a Page token by hand.

1. Create the Meta app with the right use case

Go to developers.facebook.com/apps and click Create App.
Enter an app name (for example "MySite Social") and, if asked, select your Business portfolio so the app belongs to your business.
On the use-case step, choose Manage everything on your Page. If you also want Instagram, add the Instagram use case too. Do not pick only "Facebook Login", because that grants user permissions, not Page permissions.
Finish creating the app.

2. Add the Page permissions to the use case

In the app dashboard, open Use cases, find Manage everything on your Page, and click Customize.
Add these permissions: pages_show_list, pages_manage_posts, pages_read_engagement. For Instagram also add instagram_basic and instagram_content_publish.

This step is the one people miss. Until these permissions are added to the use case, they will not appear in the Graph API Explorer dropdown in the next step.

3. Generate your Page token in the Graph API Explorer

Open developers.facebook.com/tools/explorer. Top right, set Meta App to your new app.
Under Permissions, click Add a Permission and tick the same permissions you added above (they now appear).
Click Generate Access Token, then reauthenticate. In the popup, allow the permissions and make sure your Page is selected.
In the query box, run me/accounts?fields=id,name,access_token and click Submit.
In the response, inside "data", copy the id (your Page ID) and the access_token value. Copy the token from inside the data, not the box at the top of the page, and copy only the token string (no braces or quotes).

4. Connect in NumroQ

Open Social Autopilot → Channel · Facebook Page.
Paste the Page ID and the Page access token, then click Connect. You should see "Facebook connected".
NumroQ is forgiving here: if you accidentally paste your User token, it will find and store the correct Page token for you. If the Page ID does not match, the error lists the Pages your token can post to, with their IDs, so you can pick the right one.

5. Instagram (optional, reuses the Facebook token)

Make sure your Instagram account is a Business or Creator account (in the Instagram app: Settings → switch to a professional account).
Link that Instagram account to your Facebook Page (Facebook Page settings → Linked accounts → Instagram).
Ensure your token has instagram_basic and instagram_content_publish (from step 2).
In NumroQ, open Channel · Instagram, paste the same Page ID and token, and click Connect. NumroQ finds the linked Instagram account automatically.

Instagram captions cannot carry a clickable link, so put your /links page in your Instagram bio; that is where Instagram traffic goes.

Making the token permanent

A token generated this way from a short-lived login lasts about an hour, which is fine for testing. For a token that does not expire, use a System User: in business.facebook.com → Business settings → Users → System users, create a system user, use Add assets to give it your app (Develop) and your Page (Manage Page), then Generate new token, select the app, set expiration to Never, tick the Page permissions, and generate. Paste that token into NumroQ.

Common errors

"Cannot parse access token": you pasted the whole response. Paste only the token string.
"That token cannot read this Page": you used a User token without pages_read_engagement, or the Page ID is wrong. Use the Page token from me/accounts, or read the error, which lists the Pages your token manages.
"No permissions available" when generating a system-user token: the system user is missing the app or the Page. Assign both under Add assets, then try again.
Dropdown has no Page permissions: they were not added to the "Manage everything on your Page" use case yet (step 2).