flock

[!IMPORTANT]

🚧 In active development 🚧

I use flock every day while I build it, and master moves fast. Now and then a commit breaks something; a fix usually follows within hours. If something stops working, check the latest commits or pull again later.

flock schedules a video out to YouTube, Instagram, TikTok and Facebook, with its own text and its own release time for each platform.

• Write for each platform separately. YouTube takes a title and a description, Instagram, TikTok and Facebook a caption.
• Automate the edits you always make. Each platform can have "replace X with Y" rules, applied when you confirm.
• See exactly what goes out before anything is sent.
• Your PC can be off at release time. The video and the schedule go to a PocketBase instance (on a NAS, say), and a worker publishes from there.

All four publish for real. Facebook takes reels on a Page.

Requirements

• Node 22+ and pnpm
• A PocketBase instance of its own, reachable from your PC and from the machine the worker runs on (port 8091 in the examples)
• A developer app for each platform you want to publish to — see The worker

Install

Get the code:

git clone https://github.com/Chrotesque/flock.git
cd flock
pnpm install

Put the PocketBase superuser details in scripts/.pb-creds.json:

{ "url": "http://<host>:8091", "email": "[email protected]", "password": "…" }

Create the collections. This is safe to re-run; run it again after every update, since a new version may add collections or fields:

pnpm setup-pb

Point the app at the same instance in .env (start from .env.example):

PUBLIC_POCKETBASE_URL=http://<host>:8091

Run the app

For development:

pnpm dev

To publish it, set FLOCK_DEPLOY_DEST in .env to PocketBase's pb_public folder, then:

pnpm deploy

This builds the app and mirrors it into that folder. PocketBase serves it straight away, with no restart.

[!WARNING] The mirror deletes anything in that folder that is not part of the build. Point it only at a pb_public that belongs to flock. pnpm deploy:dry shows what would change.

From flock's website. The same page also opens at https://flock-scheduler.netlify.app/app/. It asks once for your server's address (the one flock opens at), keeps it in that browser, and talks only to that server. The browser has to reach the server over https, and it needs a profile picked again there, since to the browser it is a new site. Change… under Settings → Storage and defaults names another server.

pnpm build:site builds that copy into site/app/ and zips site/ into site/site.zip, ready to upload to a static host.

Showing flock inside another site (iframe):

1. Copy pb_hooks/strip_xframe.pb.js into PocketBase's pb_hooks/ folder (a container mounts it at /pb/pb_hooks).
2. Set FLOCK_FRAME_ANCESTORS in PocketBase's environment to that site's origin.
3. Restart PocketBase.

The worker

Confirming an upload only queues it. The worker is a separate process that keeps running when no browser is open. It:

• publishes each release. YouTube gets the video right away and releases it at the slot itself; TikTok and Instagram are held until their slot.
• lists the watch and project folders, copies videos from your PC to the network, and files finished videos into their NAS folder.
• reads YouTube's, Instagram's, TikTok's and Facebook's numbers for the Dashboard (followers included),
• looks up the TikTok accounts a caption @mentions, so the compose screen shows whose each one is before it goes out, and
• scores titles with vidIQ if you set that up.

A platform you have not set up just leaves its releases waiting in the queue.

Start from the example config. It will hold your client secrets, and git ignores it:

cp worker/.worker-config.example.json worker/.worker-config.json

YouTube

In the Google Cloud console:

1. Create a project and enable YouTube Data API v3 and YouTube Analytics API (APIs & Services → Library).
2. Set up the OAuth consent screen as External, and add each Google account that owns a channel as a test user.
3. Under Credentials, create an OAuth client ID of type Desktop app.

Put the client ID and secret in the config, then connect a channel:

pnpm worker:auth

Run it once per channel. pnpm worker:youtube lists the channels the worker can upload to; with several, each brand picks its own in Settings → Brands.

Good to know:

• Publish the consent screen. While it is in Testing, Google ends the connection after 7 days and you would re-run worker:auth every week.
• Playlists need a broader permission. Connect with pnpm worker:auth --with-playlists to have videos added to playlists. Without it they are skipped, and the Review step says so.
• Subscribers per video and the Dashboard's YouTube skip rate (plays that never became an engaged view) come from YouTube Analytics, about two days late. A channel connected before flock asked for Analytics (0.16.40) keeps flock's own subscriber estimate and shows no YouTube skip rate until it is connected again.
• Thumbnails and paid promotion are set in YouTube Studio, not by flock, and Instagram's Paid partnership label in the Instagram app on a phone. To finish in the sidebar links each video's Studio page and reminds of the label.
• Stats cost API quota. The Dashboard's YouTube numbers come from the newest 50 videos, read every 30 seconds, and each channel's subscriber count, read every 10 minutes: under half of the 10,000 units a day. Uploads have their own allowance of 100 a day; the units also pay for playlist adds, renames and Calendar edits. At 8,000 units the automatic reads stop until the quota resets (Refresh on the Dashboard still reads until 9,000), so the last 1,000 are always left for those. statsSeconds, statsVideos, statsBudget and statsCeiling in the config adjust it.

TikTok

TikTok cannot schedule, so the worker uploads at the slot and TikTok posts once it has processed the video, usually a minute or two later.

On the TikTok for Developers portal:

1. Create an app with Login Kit and the Content Posting API, turn on Direct Post, and tick the user.info.basic and video.publish scopes.
2. Under Login Kit's Desktop tab, register the redirect URI http://localhost:8765/tiktok. Put the same address in the config as tiktok.redirectUri.
3. Put the client key and client secret in the config as tiktok.clientKey and tiktok.clientSecret. Until the app is reviewed, use its sandbox keys and add your account as a target user.

Then connect, signed in to the TikTok account that will post:

pnpm worker:auth --tiktok

• To add another account, switch accounts in TikTok in that browser and run it again.
• If the browser lands on a page that does not load, paste that page's address into the terminal.
• pnpm worker:tiktok shows who each account posts as, which audiences it offers and whether the Dashboard reads its numbers.

TikTok on the Dashboard (optional): add the Display API to the app and tick video.list and user.info.stats too — on a live app that is a portal revision TikTok reviews; a sandbox can grant them straight away. Then sign each account in again with them:

pnpm worker:auth --tiktok --with-stats

The worker then reads the account's newest public videos (views, likes, comments, shares) and its follower count every 10 minutes into PocketBase's post_stats (ttStatsPosts, ttStatsSeconds; 0 turns it off), and links each post flock made to its video. Without --with-stats the sign-in asks for posting only, and TikTok shows no videos on the Dashboard.

To try it on a sandbox without touching your running worker's config: pnpm tiktok:demo init writes worker/.worker-config.demo.json (TikTok key, secret and redirect URI and the PocketBase address copied from your config — put the sandbox's key and secret there if yours is the live app's), pnpm tiktok:demo sign-in signs a sandbox target user in with the reading scopes, and pnpm tiktok:demo read reads its videos and followers once. A brand whose TikTok account has the same handle shows them.

Signing in from flock's page. The Dashboard's info button (ⓘ) turns red while a brand's TikTok account cannot be read, and its popup has Continue with TikTok. TikTok sends the browser back to flock's /connect/tiktok page, which has to be registered on the app as a redirect URI (on flock's website: https://flock-scheduler.netlify.app/app/connect/tiktok). Something has to answer it: set "pageSignin": "stats" in the worker config's tiktok section (or true to ask for posting only), or run pnpm tiktok:demo serve for the sandbox while signing in.

Limits:

• Private accounts only, until TikTok approves your app for public posting (its app review, then its Content Posting API audit). Until then, posts are visible to the account alone.
• Videos: MP4, MOV or WebM, under 4 GB.
• Cover: TikTok takes no cover image, only a moment in the video. When the upload has a Cover image (picked while writing for Instagram or Facebook), the worker holds it for 0.2 s at the end of the TikTok video (or the beginning) and makes that moment the cover; this needs ffmpeg and ffprobe where the worker runs (on the PATH, beside the config, or named by ffmpegPath / FLOCK_FFMPEG). Without an image, or without ffmpeg, the cover is the Cover frame set in TikTok's options, and the post says why.

Instagram

Every video goes out as a Reel: MP4 or MOV, under 1 GB, 3 seconds to 15 minutes. The worker uploads it ten minutes before its slot (instagramLeadSeconds) and publishes it on the minute. Instagram sometimes refuses an upload it had accepted in full, and a connection can drop. In either case the worker starts the upload again, pausing longer each time, until 15 minutes past the slot. A reel that gets through late goes out at once.

You need:

• a professional (Business or Creator) Instagram account, linked to a Facebook Page you manage;
• a Meta app of type Business on developers.facebook.com, with Instagram set up for Facebook login. In Development mode, having a role on the app is enough; no App Review is needed.

Put the app's App ID and App secret (App settings → Basic — not the Instagram app ID) in the config as instagram.appId and instagram.appSecret, then run:

pnpm worker:auth --instagram --token

It lists the permissions you need and waits for a token. To make one, in the Graph API Explorer:

1. Set Meta App to your app and choose User Token.
2. Add the listed permissions.
3. Click Generate Access Token and allow the Page and the Instagram account.
4. Paste the token at the prompt.

The worker keeps each Page's own token, which does not expire.

• Several accounts: with more than one Page, it lists them; answer 1,2 or all. Running it again adds or refreshes accounts and drops none.
• Consent screen instead of a token: leave out --token. That needs the Facebook Login for Business product; a configuration id goes in instagram.configId. Once the app is Live, Facebook only sends you back to an address registered on the app, so the token route is the simpler one.
• pnpm worker:instagram shows each account and how much of its daily allowance (100 posts) is used.
• Covers: a cover image is placed on your Page as an unpublished photo (it never appears there), handed to Instagram, then deleted. A failed connection is tried again for up to five minutes; after that the reel uses its Cover frame, and To finish warns that it went out without its cover.
• Paid partnership: Meta's API takes Instagram's label but does not show it, so flock does not send it. Add it in the Instagram app; To finish lists each reel for it.
• Reel views: with instagram_manage_insights granted, the worker also reads each account's newest 100 posts, their views and each reel's skip rate every 10 minutes, into PocketBase's post_stats (igStatsPosts, igStatsSeconds; 0 turns it off), and the Dashboard shows them.

Facebook

Every video goes out as a public Reel on a Facebook Page: MP4 (or MOV), 3 to 90 seconds. Facebook holds a reel for its release time itself, so the worker uploads it as soon as the slot is within four weeks; a slot less than ten minutes away goes out at once. A Page allows 30 reels a day through the API.

It uses the same Meta app as Instagram, which has to be Live (App Mode at the top of the app's dashboard): in Development mode, Facebook shows the reels only to people with a role on the app. Going Live needs the privacy policy, terms and data deletion addresses filled in under App settings → Basic; posting to your own Pages needs no App Review.

The Pages your Instagram accounts are linked to are ready to use without another step. For other Pages, or to choose which:

pnpm worker:auth --facebook --token

It works like the Instagram setup: it lists the permissions (pages_show_list, pages_read_engagement, pages_manage_posts), takes a token from the Graph API Explorer, lists every Page the token can post to, and keeps each Page's own token. Running it again adds or refreshes Pages and drops none. pnpm worker:facebook shows which Pages the worker posts to.

Then choose each brand's Page in Settings → Brands.

• Covers: a cover image becomes the reel's cover on the Page. A failed connection is tried again for up to five minutes. If Facebook refuses it, or the five minutes pass, the reel goes out with a frame Facebook picks, the post's entry in the Log says why, and To finish warns of it.
• Reel numbers: the worker reads each Page's newest 100 reels every 10 minutes — every reel on the Page, including the ones Instagram shares there — with their likes and comments, for the Dashboard (fbStatsPosts, fbStatsSeconds; 0 turns it off). Their views need one more permission, read_insights: add it in the Graph API Explorer and run the setup again (pnpm worker:auth --instagram --token, or --facebook --token if you listed your Pages that way). Until then the Dashboard says the views are not read.

vidIQ (optional)

Make a key at app.vidiq.com/account/settings/mcp, put it in the config as vidiqKey, and check it without spending credits:

pnpm worker:vidiq

The Details step then has a Score title button beside the YouTube title. Each score costs credits.

Run it

pnpm worker:dry    # show what is queued, upload nothing
pnpm worker        # run
pnpm worker:once   # one pass, then exit
pnpm worker:stats  # one stats read, then exit

If it starts with Cannot reach http://…:8091, PocketBase is not reachable yet. The worker keeps retrying for five minutes.

One worker or two

• No NAS: run one worker on your PC with "role": "all" (the default). It does everything.
• A NAS that stays on: run a "role": "nas" worker there and a "role": "local" worker on your PC.
  • The NAS worker publishes, files videos, keeps the stats, scores titles and lists the network folders.
  • The PC worker lists your PC's folders, opens the folder dialog, plays previews and fetches files named in a pasted block. Its config needs only pocketbaseUrl and "role": "local".
• Keep the platform logins in one config. A PC worker with them takes over while the NAS worker is down, but TikTok replaces its login on every use, so two copies soon stop working.
• Never run an all worker beside the others. One worker per role runs on a machine; starting a second does nothing.

The sidebar shows one dot per worker (PC left, NAS right): green running, red stopped, amber with a ring while the PC does the NAS worker's work as well.

Without Node: a single program

pnpm build:worker

This writes dist/worker/flock-worker.exe. Copy it and your .worker-config.json into one folder on the other machine.

• It takes the same flags as pnpm worker, and flock-worker auth --tiktok connects an account.
• It reads the config beside itself, or wherever FLOCK_WORKER_CONFIG points. A downloaded copy saved as worker-config.json (browsers drop the leading dot) is read too.
• It is unsigned, so Windows may warn the first time.

On Windows the build also writes flock-worker-background.exe, which runs without a window:

• It shows the flock icon in the notification area: double-click to open flock, right-click to open the log, the warning settings or stop it.
• When a post did not go out (it failed, or its slot passed unsent), a warning slides in on your second screen and stays on top until you press Dismiss. Open in flock opens that upload, where Retry is. Dismissing it only hides it on this PC: the post stays in flock's To finish. A post dismissed or retried in flock leaves the warning by itself.
• Warning settings… in the icon's menu picks the screen (second, main, the one with the mouse, or a particular one), where on it, the size, pulsing, sliding in, and whether the posts are named (off for screen recordings). Show a test warning shows how it looks.
• Start with Windows in the same menu starts it when you sign in. It shows in Windows' Settings → Apps → Startup too. If you used to start it from a shortcut in the Startup folder, delete that shortcut.
• flock-worker-background.exe --stop stops it too.
• It logs to flock-worker.log beside itself. If it cannot start (no config, flock out of reach for five minutes, one already running), a message box says why.
• Hovering a worker dot in the sidebar shows the machine and the worker's version.

Local folders are paths on the worker's own machine: after moving the worker, set them again in Settings.

On a NAS, in a container

pnpm build:worker also writes dist/worker/flock-worker.cjs, the whole worker for plain Node. Put it and the config in one folder on the NAS, and create a container from node:24-alpine with:

• that folder mounted at /config, running node /config/flock-worker.cjs;
• FLOCK_WORKER_ROLE=nas, and FLOCK_PB_URL set to an address of PocketBase the container can reach (a LAN address is safest);
• every share holding a network folder or a destination mounted at /mnt/user/<share>. A folder typed in Settings as \\server\share\folder is read as /mnt/user/share/folder;
• --restart unless-stopped, and on Unraid --user 99:100 with UMASK=000 so copied videos stay editable over SMB;
• FLOCK_RESTART_ON_UPDATE=1, so it restarts itself on a new version;
• for TikTok cover images, static Linux ffmpeg and ffprobe binaries in the config folder, executable by the container's user (chmod 755). Not apk add: it needs root, which --user takes away;
• for the Dashboard's player: port 8790 mapped, FLOCK_PREVIEW_HOST=0.0.0.0, an https address in front of that port (Tailscale Serve, for example — the page is https, so the browser will not play from plain http), and FLOCK_PREVIEW_URL set to that address.

To update it, set FLOCK_WORKER_DEST in .env to that folder (as your PC reaches it) and run:

pnpm deploy:worker

It copies the new worker in and waits until the worker has finished what it was doing and restarted. To connect another account to the NAS config:

FLOCK_WORKER_CONFIG=\\nas\appdata\flock_worker\.worker-config.json pnpm worker:auth --tiktok

Then restart the container.

Using flock

First start

Pick a profile. Nothing can be uploaded or changed until this browser is on one: the Log signs every change with the profile's name. There are no logins — pick an existing profile or add one; a profile can be a person or a machine. Each has its own Dashboard columns, To finish Indicator, time zones and hidden videos, while brands, uploads and folders are shared by everyone. Opening flock from another address counts as another browser.

Brands and accounts

• Everything belongs to a brand: platform defaults, rules, release times, templates. A fresh install has one, My brand; rename it and add more under Settings → Brands. A new brand starts as a copy of the one in view.
• One brand in view, everywhere. With several, brand buttons sit on the upload screen and in Settings; both are the same choice.
• Switching brand mid-upload keeps the video and the text, and resets each platform's options and schedule to that brand's.
• Each brand posts as its own accounts. Settings → Brands lists every account the worker can post as; pick one per platform. A platform without an account is not offered for that brand, and a post never goes out on another brand's account.
• Instagram's daily allowance (100 posts per account per 24 hours) shows beside the account in Settings and on the Review step.

Giving flock a video

• Upload it in the browser. Drop a file on the picker. Fine up to a few hundred MB; there is no resume, and the limit is 5 GB.
• Use a watch folder. Add folders in Settings → Watch folders: Choose folder… opens the folder dialog on the PC the worker runs on, Type a path takes a network path like \\nas\videos\incoming. Their videos appear in one Watch folders list on the Upload step.
  • A network folder (LAN) is used where it lies: no upload, and no size limit.
  • A local folder's video is copied to a network watch folder when you confirm. With several network folders, a radio button in Settings picks which.
• Use a project folder. See Project folders.

Right-click a file in any list to play it. Previews come from the PC worker (port 8790), so they work while it runs, in a browser on that PC.

The lists are as fresh as the worker's last scan; nothing shows before it has run once. A file that has been uploaded before is hidden; Show N uploaded before brings it back.

Uploading, step by step

Upload has four steps: Upload, Details, Schedule, Review.

1. Upload. Drop a video on the picker, or drag one from a list on the right onto a video box. One video goes to every platform. Press a platform under Own file to give it a video of its own; that arrangement is remembered.

2. Details. The platform buttons in the top bar switch which platform you are writing for.

• A yellow ! means that platform still needs something; a green check means it is done.
• Hover a button for two controls: turn the platform on or off for this upload (left), and its options for this upload (right).
• Type a template's name in braces, like {outro}, to drop it in.
• While writing a TikTok caption, the part past about 100 characters turns red: that is what TikTok hides behind "more".

At the top of the boxes on the right, Product name takes what the video is about, such as the game's name, for the whole upload. It is optional. The boxes below it follow the platform you are writing for:

• Instagram and Facebook: an optional Cover image (JPEG or PNG, up to 8 MB for Instagram and 10 MB for Facebook). One image serves both; the switch in the box's corner gives each its own. TikTok takes the same image (Instagram's, when the two have their own); its Cover Time box only asks where in the video it goes, Beginning or End (the default).

• YouTube: playlists, from the channel's own. Click the field, tick as many as you like, then Done; each shows as a tag with an × to take it off.

• TikTok: the Post to TikTok box, with the choices TikTok wants made on every post:

  • who can view the video, from what the account offers, with nothing preselected;
  • whether viewers may comment, Duet or Stitch, all off until ticked;
  • the Content Disclosure Setting, for promotional or branded content.

  The box reads the account afresh from TikTok each time it is shown. If TikTok says the account cannot post right now, the box says so and the upload waits.

Continue unlocks once every platform you ticked is written for and has a video.

3. Schedule. A calendar of the coming days, starting today: 14 days, or 7 to 14 with Show N days (at most 12 while a second time zone is shown). Drag a platform's icon to another day or hour — a label beside it names the slot under the pointer — then pick :00, :15, :30 or :45 from the bar that opens; or type the exact date and time underneath.

• A platform set to Profiles in Settings shows its profiles as buttons here: pick one to fill in its next day and time.
• Release immediately takes a platform off the hours: it shows under today's date instead.
• Striped hours are taken: another video of the same brand goes out in them (hover one to see which), so nothing of this upload can land there. Continue waits while a slot sits in one. Other brands' videos do not count. Tick Override beside Today to use them anyway, for this upload only.
• The dropdown above the hours adds a second time zone's clock.

4. Review. The video plays beside exactly what each platform gets and when, and which account each post goes out as. Warnings show here too, such as a playlist the channel's connection cannot add to, or another brand's name in a post's text, the video's file name or its project folder.

• To confirm, press the tick, then press it again within two seconds while it shows !!!.
• With TikTok in the upload, the tick waits until TikTok's video has played on the stage: TikTok asks for a preview before posting. A video from a folder plays through the PC worker, so it has to be running.

Pasting a prepared upload

Text written elsewhere, in a chat with an assistant say, goes in with one Ctrl+V anywhere in flock, as a flock block: a JSON object starting with "flock": 1.

{
  "flock": 1,
  "brand": "My brand",
  "product": "The game: its subtitle",
  "thumbnail": "C:/Users/me/Pictures/cover.png",
  "youtube": { "title": "…", "description": "…", "tags": ["…"], "playlists": ["…", "…"], "schedule": "2026-10-13 18:00" },
  "instagram": { "caption": "…", "schedule": "2026-10-13 19:30" },
  "tiktok": { "caption": "…", "schedule": "now" }
}

flock opens Upload, switches to the brand, ticks each platform named and fills it in. A note in the corner says what was filled. With several brands, a brand that matches none (a typo) fills nothing: the note asks which brand it is for, suggesting the closest one.

• product fills the Product name box on Details.
• Tags go into YouTube's Other box.
• playlists takes one title or a list ("playlist" works too). A title the channel has no playlist for is named in the note.
• schedule is local time, or "now". It fills the Schedule step, where you can still change it.
• thumbnail is the cover image for Instagram, Facebook and TikTok, read by the worker from its own disk (JPEG or PNG, up to 8 MB).
• Never filled: TikTok's audience, interaction and disclosure choices. Those are picked by hand on every post.

Anything else on the clipboard pastes as usual.

Project folders

A project folder holds one subfolder per video. Add project folders in Settings, local or on the network, like watch folders.

• A subfolder becomes a project when a flock.json appears in it, within a second or two (the worker watches the folders). That file is a flock block, as above. In it, a bare file name like "thumb.png" means an image in the same subfolder.
• New projects in the sidebar lists them. Click one to open Upload, filled from the file, with the subfolder's videos in a Project Folder box.
• One video for every platform: a folder with a single video has it picked; with several, you choose.
• Progress is kept. Click the project again later, after a restart or on another computer, and it is where you left it. TikTok's choices are made again.
• If flock.json changes, the Project Folder box offers to fill from it again.
• Once uploaded, the project leaves the list and the worker renames flock.json to flock_uploaded.json. A new flock.json in the same folder starts a new project.
• Not uploading it? Take it off the list in the Project Folder box.

Other screens

Update available! slides in above Worker when a newer flock has been deployed than the open page runs (it looks every five minutes and whenever you come back to the tab), with a line or two on what changed (hover it for all of them). Click it to reload. It waits while a video is uploading, and asks for a second click when an upload being composed would be lost.

Dashboard, at the top of the sidebar, opens over whatever page you are on, and flock opens on it; its arrow points back while it is open. Click it again, press Esc or go to another page to close it. For the brand in view it shows what follows. Right-click a brand's button for its month over month: views, likes and comments in each whole month of the last year against the month before, all platforms together and each below, with the month still running on top, judged by what its days so far come to over the whole month — YouTube's from YouTube Analytics, Instagram's from its account insights, Facebook's and TikTok's only for months flock read from their first day. It opens as a graph, one line for each of the three, green where a month rose on the one before and red where it fell, the stronger the bigger the change; List shows the months as a table. Beside it, pick the timeframe: the last 30 to 360 days, or Lifetime; it opens on 180 days.

• One filter for all of it: the timeframe (the last 30 days by default, up to 180), which platforms (all of them is Combined), which kinds (Shorts, long form, live) and whether unlisted, private and hidden videos are shown. Every number on the page counts only the videos out in the timeframe. Click it to change it; the choice is kept per browser.
• Today, this week, this month, this quarter and this year: videos out, the views on them and the followers gained (or lost) on every platform together, shortened from 1,000 up (80.6k). Hover the views for the exact figure, the views gained and each platform's share, and the followers for each platform's. These count every video the filter keeps, whatever its timeframe. Followers count from when the worker first read each account.
• Every video: YouTube videos and Instagram reels, with a video posted to both as one row (the same upload, or posted within two hours of each other). Followers, views, likes and comments show the total and each platform's below. Followers are those a video brought: Facebook counts them per reel itself. YouTube and Instagram only say how many an account has, so each rise in that count is credited to the videos gaining views at the time, in proportion (the newest video when none was). Hover a number to see where it came from. Videos out before the worker first read an account show —. Counts from 1,000 up are shortened (1.2k, 85.8k, 102k); hover one for the exact figure. A line shows its views from release, with what is usual for its kind dashed. vs usual gives one arrow for every platform together, with how far off the usual it is, and each platform's arrow below it: ahead (green), about usual (grey) or behind (yellow). Skipped is the share of views dropped at the start: Instagram's estimate of those skipped within the first 3 seconds, and YouTube's plays that never became an engaged view, together on top and each below (weighed by views). A fresh reel shows — until Instagram has a figure, a Short until YouTube Analytics has caught up, about two days. Engaged is the engagement rate by views: likes and comments over views × 100, every platform together on top (weighed by views) and each below. Sort by any column — best first, click it again for the other way round; click a video for everything YouTube and Instagram report about it, and to play it. It plays the copy flock filed in the upload's NAS folder, streamed by the NAS worker; a video sent from the browser plays from flock's own copy when the worker cannot. Click the picture to play or pause. Hover the speaker for the volume (top right before it plays, so you can set it first; ↑ ↓ work too, and the browser remembers it). The full-screen button, a double-click or F goes full screen and Esc comes back. A video that did not go out through flock has no copy to play. A number that has moved since you opened the dashboard turns green, as in 940 (+9); the refresh button (the two arrows at the top right) resets those.

TikTok's numbers are read once its accounts are signed in with --with-stats, and Facebook's views once its Pages grant read_insights. When each platform was last read, and today's YouTube quota, sit behind the ⓘ at the top right.

On a phone (a screen up to 640 pixels wide) flock is the Dashboard alone: the filter is the funnel, the brand one button, and the list keeps the date, followers, views, likes and comments, with the product name on a line above (the title for a video that has none) and a line between the columns. Tap a total for each platform's part. Each column has an icon for its name (an eye for views, a thumb for likes) centred over its numbers, which stays at the top as you scroll. Ratio View, editing, the periods, Jestr, the curve, vs usual, Skipped and Engaged are left out there.

Calendar shows every release on a grid of all 24 hours, starting two days before today: 14 days, or 7 to 14 from Show N days. Each upload is one small box of its platforms' icons in its hour, past ones without a fill, and the current hour is marked in pink; hover a box to read every post of that upload. It opens read-only: press Edit twice within two seconds, then drag an icon to move that platform's post, or a box's grip (its left edge) to move the whole upload, to another day or hour at least 15 minutes ahead. In Edit mode each box also shows its upload's product name under the icons: the part before a colon, and a name typed in capitals in normal capitals. A YouTube video or Facebook reel already uploaded moves there too: the worker gives the platform the new time within seconds. Right-click any post of an upload to release all of it at once or delete it, or tick the platforms to release or delete just those; each button takes three presses within two seconds apiece, and a post already out is left out and says why on hover. A YouTube video or Facebook reel waiting on the platform is put out or deleted there by the worker. A post that can no longer move, because it is out or about to go out, shakes and says why. With several brands, buttons on top show one brand or all.

The same menu's Edit this upload opens it in Upload with everything filled in — each post's text as typed, its options, time and cover, and the video already stored — and confirming there saves over it; Review lists what saving will change first. A post flock still holds (Instagram and TikTok until just before their time) changes completely, a different video included. A YouTube video already uploaded takes a new title, description, tags and playlists, and a Facebook reel a new caption and cover, from the worker; given another video, either is deleted there and uploaded again. A post that is out, or about to go out, opens locked and says why. TikTok's audience and the other choices it wants made by hand are picked again.

Log lists every change with its time and the machine that made it. Filter by category, search, or click a machine to see only its entries. It cannot be edited or cleared. Its Worker tab shows the worker's output live, kept for 14 days: the place to look when a post did not come out as asked. Its Update tab lists what changed in flock itself, one short line per change with its date and version, filterable by Added, Changed, Fixed and Removed.

Each upload in the Log says, per post, whether it was sent to go out Immediately or Scheduled for a slot. Click it to open its overview. It shows the video (click its name to play it), each post's text as typed and as sent, every setting, the account and the slot as confirmed, and the warnings the Review step showed. Beside that is what happened next: each post's state and link, and everything the worker logged about the upload. Uploads from before flock 0.12.0 show what their stored upload still holds, with Immediately or Scheduled worked out from the stored times (dashed).

An upload made for the wrong brand can be moved from its overview: under Brand, pick where it goes (with two brands, the button already names the other one), read what will happen to each post, and press Move to … three times, each within two seconds. The worker does it within seconds:

• A post nothing was sent for yet just goes out as the new brand's account.
• A YouTube video or Facebook reel already on the old account is deleted there, then uploaded again to the new one. Before its slot nobody has seen it; after, its views and comments go with it. The YouTube channel needs the connection made with --with-playlists, which can delete.
• An Instagram reel held for its slot is stopped before it is posted. One already live stays up (flock cannot delete it; do it in Instagram) and is posted again on the new account.
• TikTok posts are not moved.

To finish, in the sidebar, is a box for what needs attention and for YouTube videos with something left to do by hand: green with a check when nothing needs doing now, a yellow-to-pink outline with an exclamation mark when something does, and solid red, slowly pulsing, when a post did not go out (it failed, or its slot passed and it was never sent). It turns gold, with a wobbling medal, when a video is doing far better than usual (below); only red outranks that. The number under it is how many things are listed. Click it to open the list over the page.

• Needs attention comes first, for every brand: failed posts, posts never sent, uploads that hang, videos not yet copied to the NAS, a private YouTube video given a slot, a reel that went out without its cover, a stopped worker, a TikTok or Instagram account that cannot post while posts wait for it, and YouTube's stats or quota. Each post shows its platform and brand and links to the upload's overview in the Log; Dismiss takes it off the list once dealt with (the Log keeps it). The rest go by themselves once fixed.
• A failed post has Retry too, here and on its overview in the Log: press it twice within two seconds to send it again. It goes out at its slot if that is still ahead (the button shows the time), or at once if it has passed. A post the platform already has a link for is never retried.
• A gold row celebrates a video doing far better than usual: its views on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok added up (Facebook is not counted) are at least half as much again as the middle of the brand's top 15% from the last 30 days. It shows the views per platform and how much better it did; the gold checkmark takes it off the list. Only the brands chosen under Finishing steps for are celebrated, and a brand needs at least ten other videos in those 30 days before any is.
• Each video row has the thumbnail (hover it to see it larger), the title (opens the video), whether YouTube reports paid promotion (green $ ticked, red not) and, beside it, whether the reel's Paid partnership label was marked done here (Instagram does not report it), and what is left by hand: the YouTube mark for Studio and, when the upload has an Instagram reel, the Instagram mark for its Paid partnership label (only the Instagram app can add it) — each a yellow dot while open, a check once done, a grey ring while the reel is not out yet. Open in Studio opens the video in YouTube Studio and counts both as done; the label itself is added in the Instagram app on a phone (the website cannot). Reels going out from 20 Oct 2026 on are listed. A legend in the list's top right says what each mark and colour means. Only Shorts get a row: long videos and live streams are never listed.
• From confirm until YouTube has the video, the row shows a turning ring: the upload went through, and YouTube is still to answer.
• With the Jestr integration on (off by default; its switch is not part of the published app), every Short on a connected channel is listed with a Jestr button; press it once the video is linked on Jestr. A scheduled video's button works once it is public.
• With several brands, the chips at the top (Finishing steps for) choose whose finishing steps and Jestr buttons are listed; the brands left out show only posts that failed or were never sent. The choice applies to every computer using flock.

Settings

General is shared by every brand:

• Storage and defaults: the NAS folders finished videos are copied to (the filled circle marks the default), the watch folders, the project folders, and this browser's name.
• Brands: add, rename, order and delete brands, and pick each brand's accounts. Deleting a brand keeps its uploads, and anything queued still goes out.
• Dashboard: the columns of the Dashboard's list of videos. Drag them into order in the preview, or move them one place at a time below it, and untick any you do not want. The thumbnail and the title always lead.
• Other: YouTube's official branding, whether the To finish Indicator shows (each of its states is drawn there with what it means), and extra time zones for the calendar.
• Profiles: Switch puts this browser on another profile. Copy to me replaces your profile's settings with another's; Delete removes a profile, whose browsers are then asked for one again. Copy and Delete take three presses.

The brand in view has:

• Templates: reusable text, dropped in on Details by typing {name}.
• Per platform: display order, release timing, default options and adaptation rules.
  • A platform switched off here starts unticked on a new upload; you can still tick it.
  • Release timing is one fixed time, or Profiles: named patterns like "Horror", each with an optional time and set of weekdays.
  • Adaptation rules run top to bottom, each on the result of the one before. A box at the bottom tries them on sample text.
  • YouTube's defaults include the video's language and the title's (English (US) unless changed).

The website

site/ is the source of flock's website, which the developer portals link to: an overview, how it works, the privacy policy and the terms. It is plain HTML, uploaded by hand to a static host; edit it here and upload the folder again.

Where things live

• Videos, schedules, settings and the log are in PocketBase. A video copied to a NAS folder is copied, never moved.
• Nothing is written before you confirm an upload, except a project's progress, which is kept as you go.
• In the browser only: its name, the brand in view, the video arrangement and view choices such as filters.