Automate a weekly IG content calendar with Claude

Everything from installing the app to having a content calendar land in your folder every Monday, with no prompting required after setup.

Step 1: Download and install Claude Desktop

1. Go to claude.com/download (or claude.ai/download).
2. Pick your operating system and download the installer.
   • Mac: needs Apple Silicon (M1 or later) for the Cowork feature specifically.
   • Windows: needs Windows Pro, Enterprise, or Education edition for Cowork. Windows Home can use regular Chat, but not Cowork.
3. Open the installer and follow the prompts.
   • Mac: drag Claude into Applications.
   • Windows: run the file, then launch Claude from the Start menu.
4. Sign in with an email/Google account, or create one if this is your first time.

Step 2: Get a paid plan

Cowork (the feature that lets Claude work in your files, run on a schedule, etc.) requires a paid plan — Pro, Max, Team, or Enterprise. It is not available on the free plan.

1. In the app, go to Settings > Billing (or claude.ai/settings/billing).
2. Subscribe to Pro at minimum ($20/month at time of writing — check current pricing in-app).

Step 3: Open Cowork

1. In the message box (same place you’d normally type a chat message), there’s a toggle or tab for Cowork next to Chat. Select Cowork.
2. This is the mode that lets Claude read/write real files, run for extended periods, and be scheduled — regular Chat can’t do any of that.

Step 4: Connect a working folder

The first time you ask Claude to do something with your files, it’ll ask permission to access a folder.

1. Create a folder on your computer for this project (e.g. a folder called “Instagram” or “Marketing”).
2. When Claude asks to access a folder, approve that one.
3. This is where Claude will read your audit from and save the finished calendar to every week.

Step 5: Install Claude in Chrome (needed for real IG/TikTok research)

Without this, Claude can’t actually scroll Instagram or TikTok — it hits login walls and falls back to researching general trends instead of real posts. This step fixes that, but read the tradeoff in Step 7 before deciding if you want it.

1. Open Google Chrome (this only works in actual Chrome, not other browsers).
2. Go to the Chrome Web Store and click “Add to Chrome.”
3. Sign in with your Claude account when prompted, and pin the extension (puzzle-piece icon → thumbtack next to “Claude”).
4. In Claude Desktop, go to Settings > Connectors, find Claude in Chrome, and toggle it on.
5. Log into Instagram and TikTok inside that same Chrome browser, the way you normally would. Claude uses your real logged-in session to browse, it doesn’t have separate credentials.

Step 6: Run the one-time IG audit

Before the weekly task can do anything useful, Claude needs to know what’s wrong with the account. Start a Cowork session and ask something like:

“Audit my Instagram account [@handle]. Look at profile setup, content quality and mix, audience alignment, growth mechanics (hashtags, SEO, engagement), posting strategy, and trust signals. Give me a full breakdown with a prioritized action list.”

Once it’s done, ask Claude to save the result as a file in your connected folder, e.g. IG-Audit-Results.md. This only needs to happen once. Redo it every month or two as the account changes and improves.

Step 7: Set up the recurring schedule

1. In a Cowork session, type /schedule — or click Scheduled in the left sidebar and choose to create a new task.
2. Set the cadence — weekly, e.g. every Monday morning, gives the full week to shoot and post.
3. Set the output expectations: where the file should save, and the naming pattern (e.g. Content-Calendar-[date range].docx).
4. Tell it to run autonomously — make reasonable calls and note them rather than stopping to ask questions, since nobody will be there when it fires.
5. Paste the full prompt from Step 8 as the task’s instructions and save.

Scheduled tasks run remotely, your computer doesn’t need to be on or the app open when it fires.

Step 8: The reusable prompt

Act as my personal brand strategist and social media manager. FIRST: Read the [AUDIT FILE NAME] file in my workspace folder. Note my top content weaknesses, mix issues, weak hook patterns, and specific recommendations. Don’t summarise it back to me — just use it to inform everything below. My brand positioning: [2-4 sentences: what the account should feel like, journey vs. authority, what tone you’re going for, what you want people to walk away feeling] My niche: [your topic + any adjacent lifestyle content that’s on-brand] What I don’t do: [hard no-go topics — be specific] My vibe: [3-5 words] + [a comparison — “X meets Y”] Accounts I want to model (style/energy, not content): [5-6 handles in your niche whose content energy you like] STEP 1 — VIRAL RESEARCH: Browse Instagram and TikTok. Find 10-15 posts performing way above average in my niche. For each, note: hook (first 3 seconds), format, topic, approx. view count, and why it blew up. STEP 2 — PATTERN ANALYSIS (internal note only): Find 3-5 patterns across top content. What hooks, formats, topics, and emotional triggers are working? STEP 3 — CROSS-REFERENCE (internal note only): Match the viral patterns against my audit gaps. Where do they overlap? Use those matches to inform the calendar. STEP 4 — 14-DAY CONTENT CALENDAR: Pick an optimal number of posts for 14 days. Include stories. Each entry can include: – Content type (Reel, carousel, talking head, etc.) – Working title – Hook (first line or first 3 seconds — make it actually good) – Brief outline (3-5 dot points) – CTA (clear, placed where people will see it — not buried) – Which viral pattern it’s based on – Which audit gap it fixes Content mix to hit across the 14 days: [list the categories that matter for your brand — e.g. building in public, educational, personal/lifestyle, engagement-driven] Every hook should stop the scroll. Every post should have a job. Write it all in my voice. Save as: Content-Calendar-[date range].docx in my workspace folder.

Step 9: What happens after setup

• Every Monday (or whatever cadence you picked), Claude runs this on its own, no device needs to be awake.
• It reads the audit, researches what’s currently working in the niche, and drops a finished .docx calendar in the connected folder.
• Check it Monday morning, adjust anything that’s off, then shoot/post through the week.
• Refresh the audit every month or so — the calendar is only as sharp as the gaps it’s working from.

A few things to expect the first time

• Claude will ask permission before it can access a folder, and before creating the scheduled task itself — approve both once.
• Instagram/TikTok often can’t be browsed live during a scheduled run (login walls). Claude falls back to researching current viral formats/patterns for the niche instead of screenshotting specific posts — still useful, just don’t expect literal exact view counts.
• Cowork has three permission modes (Manual, Auto, Skip) that control how often it stops to ask before taking actions. For a recurring task like this, “Auto” is the practical choice — it keeps working without asking about every small step but still blocks anything it flags as unsafe.

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Keeping your browsing data safe

Claude in Chrome acts through your real, logged-in browser session. That’s what makes live IG/TikTok research possible, and it’s also the thing to be careful with:

• Only install the extension from the official Chrome Web Store listing, not a third-party copy.
• Claude in Chrome can read whatever is on screen and click/type on your behalf. Don’t leave other sensitive tabs (banking, email, DMs) open in the same browser window while a scheduled browsing task is running unattended.
• Consider using a separate Chrome profile just for this task, logged into Instagram/TikTok only, so Claude’s browsing session never has access to anything else in your accounts.
• Consider using a separate Instagram/TikTok account for Claude to research, instead of your official ones.
• Review what a scheduled task actually did after it runs (the session log is visible from “Scheduled” in the sidebar), don’t just assume it stayed on-task.