How to Schedule Posts on Mastodon

How to schedule posts on Mastodon: the built-in scheduler, then threads, several servers and other platforms with the Statuz CLI.

· 1 min read

With Mastodon's built-in scheduler

Since Mastodon 4.2, in the web interface:

  1. Open the composer.
  2. Click the schedule icon near Post.
  3. Pick a date and time, then post.

Limits: web only, single posts, one server, no scripting.

With Statuz

A free CLI for Mastodon, Bluesky, X, LinkedIn and Reddit. Mastodon needs no developer app.

Connect

Terminal
npm i -g statuz-cli
statuz accounts connect --platform mastodon --server hachyderm.io
statuz start

Use your server's domain. Repeat for other servers. The daemon (statuz start) sends scheduled posts.

Schedule a post

statuz posts create --text "Office hours Friday, 3pm UTC" --to mastodon --at "thu 6pm"

--at takes ISO times or words like "next monday 8:00". See Scheduling.

With an image and alt text

Terminal
statuz media add --path ./poster.png --alt "Poster: office hours, Friday 3pm UTC"
statuz posts create --text "See you Friday" --media <media id> --to mastodon --at "fri 9am"

Several servers

statuz posts create --text "New episode is out" --to @[email protected] --to @[email protected]

statuz accounts default picks which account --to mastodon means.

Threads

Terminal
statuz posts create --to mastodon --at "tomorrow 10am" \
  --text "Notes on running a small Mastodon server, two years in." \
  --text "Storage grows faster than users. Plan for media." \
  --text "Moderation is the real cost. Budget time for it."

Cross-posting

Add --to bluesky --to x. Text is checked against every limit first: Mastodon 500, Bluesky 300, X 280. See the cross-posting guide.

Content warnings: use Mastodon's own composer.

When to post

No algorithm: posts appear in order and don't resurface.

  • Mornings, 7–9am in your followers' time zone.
  • Lunch, 12–2pm.
  • Evenings, 6–9pm.
  • Tech servers peak in work hours; art servers in evenings and weekends.

Server etiquette

  • Check your server's rules.
  • On small servers, the local timeline matters most.
  • During maintenance, Statuz retries. statuz status shows failures; statuz posts publish --id <id> retries.

Avoid

  • Scheduling without checking the news of the day.
  • Flooding the timeline.
  • Scheduling and never replying.
  • Skipping a test post first.

Start with the quick start.

Schedule it from your terminalStatuz is a free CLI for X, Bluesky, Mastodon, LinkedIn and Reddit. Two minutes to the first post.
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