# The Octopus

Run one command from Claude and post to eleven social platforms, once you have your own SocialClaw account connected.

## What it does

The Octopus is SocialClaw's command-line tool plus a skill, so instead of typing CLI commands yourself, you can tell Claude "post this everywhere" and it publishes through your SocialClaw account. It covers X, LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook Pages, TikTok, Discord, Telegram, YouTube, Reddit, WordPress, and Pinterest, all from one place instead of eleven separate app windows.

To connect your accounts and post, you need a SocialClaw account on a trial or paid plan.

## Who it is for

Anyone posting the same content across several social accounts by hand: a solo marketer, a small agency, or a business owner who currently copy-pastes the same update into X, LinkedIn, Instagram, and a handful of others one at a time. If you are already paying for (or willing to trial) a scheduling tool anyway, this replaces that manual routing job with one Claude command.

## What it is and what it runs in

- **It's a command-line tool (`socialclaw`) plus a skill** that teaches Claude how to use it, so you can ask in plain language instead of typing commands yourself.
- **It runs in Claude Code.** It also works with other tools that support skills, since it ships as an MCP server too.
- **It's not free.** The CLI installs at no cost, but posting through it needs your own SocialClaw account on a paid or trial plan.

## Before you start

- Node.js and npm installed on your machine (this is an npm package)
- A SocialClaw account, which needs a paid or trial plan to actually post. There is a free sign-up, but posting requires an active plan. Create one at SocialClaw.

## Install

Open Claude Code (or your agentic tool) and run these steps.

### Step 1: Install the CLI

This puts the `socialclaw` command on your machine.

```
npm install -g socialclaw
```

### Step 2: Confirm it's running

This prints the tool's help screen, so you can see it installed cleanly with no errors.

```
socialclaw --help
```

### Step 3: Install the skill so Claude can use it

This adds the SocialClaw skill to Claude Code, so you can ask in plain language instead of typing CLI commands yourself.

```
npx skills add ndesv21/socialclaw
```

### Step 4: Create a SocialClaw account

Sign in with Google at the SocialClaw dashboard, then activate a trial or paid plan. Without an active plan, the CLI can list its own commands but cannot connect to any social account.

## Run it

The first real command you'll run is checking your connected accounts:

```
socialclaw accounts list --json
```

Before you've logged in, that returns:

```
No SocialClaw API key is configured.
Open https://getsocialclaw.com/dashboard, sign in with Google, create an API key, then run:
  socialclaw login --api-key <key>
```

Once you have a workspace key from an active plan, log in with `socialclaw login --api-key <key>`, and Claude can post through the skill using plain language, like "post this update to X and LinkedIn."

## Troubleshooting

**"No SocialClaw API key is configured."** You have not logged in yet. Create a key on the SocialClaw dashboard and run `socialclaw login --api-key <key>`.

**A command returns `plan_required` or a `subscription_*` error.** Your API key is valid, but your workspace does not have an active trial or paid plan. Go to the SocialClaw pricing page or dashboard to activate one, retrying the same command will not fix this.

**`npm install -g` fails with a permissions error.** This is a common global npm issue, not specific to this tool. Use a Node version manager like nvm, or install locally into a project folder instead of globally.

## Credit

The CLI and skill are open source, built by ndesv21 (https://github.com/ndesv21/socialclaw), MIT license, 86 stars. Posting through it requires your own SocialClaw account on a paid or trial plan, that part is not free.