OpenClaw for Mastodon: Photo Posts with Descriptions
Send OpenClaw your photos and a line about them; it drafts the Mastodon post with up to four images and a description for each through Tareno, for you to approve.
Can OpenClaw draft a Mastodon photo post with image descriptions from a chat message?
Yes. Send OpenClaw the photo names and a line about the shoot in a channel configured in your Gateway. It writes the post, drafts a description for each of up to four images and saves a draft for your Mastodon account through Tareno. It cannot see the photos, so you check the descriptions. Scheduling stays pending until you approve it.
Photography is one of the most active corners of Mastodon, and it comes with a strong habit: every image gets a description. For a photographer that is the chore that keeps posts unpublished, because writing a good description for four photos takes longer than taking them. OpenClaw lives in the chat apps a photographer already carries and can turn a few words about a shoot into drafts for the descriptions, which the photographer then corrects. This page follows a street photographer through a post from a Sunday walk, with the honest limit that OpenClaw writes from your words, not from the pixels, and the privacy care that photographing people calls for.
Example: a street photographer posts four photos from a Sunday market
Imagine a photographer who sends OpenClaw four file names and a message on Signal: Sunday flower market, early light, stall of tulips, vendor arranging buckets, no faces. OpenClaw finds the files with list_media, writes a post of 180 characters and drafts a description for each photo from her message: what is in frame, the light, the mood. It tells her that it wrote from her words and cannot see the images. She corrects two descriptions, OpenClaw saves the draft with create_drafts for her Mastodon account, and she approves a Monday 07:30 request.
Step by step
01
Message the photos and what is in them
Send the file names and a few words per image: subject, light, mood. OpenClaw cannot see the photos, so the descriptions are only as good as your words.
02
Let it find the files
The photos are found with list_media, and any name that matches nothing is reported. Four images at most fit on a Mastodon post under Tareno's configuration.
03
Review the descriptions
OpenClaw writes a description for each image and says plainly that it did so from your message. Correct anything that does not match the picture.
04
Check the people and the place
Confirm that nobody identifiable appears without consent and that you are happy to share the location. Ask OpenClaw to leave the place out if not.
05
Save to the account
list_accounts confirms the connected account and create_drafts stores the draft. Servers set their own media limits, so check that yours accepts four images.
06
Request a time and approve
Name a time and time zone. What you get is a pending request, and only your approval in the dashboard releases it.
Prompts to copy
Draft from the message
Use Tareno to find the photos [market-1 to market-4] in my media library. From my notes — [early light, tulip stall, vendor arranging buckets, no faces] — write a Mastodon post within 400 characters and a short description for each photo. Say clearly that you wrote the descriptions from my words and cannot see the images.
Check the sensitive parts
Read the draft again and tell me whether it names a place, a person or a time that could identify someone, or whether a description mentions anything about a person's appearance that I did not intend. Suggest changes and show me the original and the new wording.
Save the draft
Use Tareno to confirm my Mastodon account [handle@server] and save the approved text with the four photos in order as a draft. Return the draft ID, and do not request a time until I give you the day and the time zone.
Request the morning slot
Ask Tareno to schedule draft [draft ID] for [Monday 07:30] in the [Europe/Berlin] time zone. Reply with the pending action ID and tell me the post is not live until I approve it in the Tareno dashboard.
Mastodon limits and tools in Tareno
Text
up to 500 characters; hashtags and mentions are supported; plain text, no rich formatting
Images
jpg, png, gif, webp, up to 40 MB each, up to 4 per post
Video
mp4, mov, webm, 0 to 10 min, up to 50 MB, one video per post
Links
links can sit inside the text and get a preview card
What Tareno can read
posts published outside Tareno: no; comments: no; transcripts: no; video download: no
As configured in Tareno on 2026-10-24. The live rules for your own account come from the get_platform_schema tool.
What Mastodon itself documents
Character and media limits are set by each server, not by Mastodon itself. The documentation's example server allows 500 characters and 4 attachments, and counts every link as 23 characters.
A scheduled status must lie at least 5 minutes in the future, and a poll cannot be combined with media attachments.
Visibility can be public, unlisted, private (followers only) or direct, and a content warning can be set with spoiler text.
Tareno's configuration for Mastodon allows up to four images in jpg, png, gif or webp, but Mastodon's documentation says each server sets its own limits, so a smaller server may accept fewer.
Mastodon's documentation says a scheduled post must be at least 5 minutes ahead, so a morning slot is easy to plan the evening before.
Tareno takes alt text per media item, and Mastodon's culture expects a description with every image, so drafting it is part of the workflow, not an extra.
Tareno does not read posts or replies on Mastodon, so OpenClaw cannot tell you who boosted or answered a photo.
What does not work
OpenClaw cannot see the photos, so it writes descriptions from your words and you check them against the images.
It cannot see boosts or replies, because Tareno exposes neither posts nor replies for Mastodon.
It cannot publish a photo post by itself; the dashboard approval is required.
Mistakes to avoid
Trusting descriptions written without seeing the image. Compare each with the photo.
Photographing a person and posting without consent. Ask first, or choose frames without faces.
Assuming every server accepts four images. Check your server's limits.
Posting the exact location of a private place. Leave it out if in doubt.
Open the client's MCP server settings. Add Tareno with the HTTPS endpoint below using Streamable HTTP. This requires support for authenticated remote MCP, not just local stdio servers.
Choose OAuth, connect and sign in with your own Tareno account. Check the requested permissions. Refresh the client's tool list after authorization.
Run list_accounts first. Confirm the returned workspace and account IDs before creating a draft. If no accounts appear, connect a social account in Tareno first.
https://tareno.co/api/mcp
Use the same Tareno account across supported clients. Open the relevant setup guide for authentication, first use, reconnect, and revocation.
No. It works from the file names and your message, and says so. The descriptions it drafts are a starting point that you correct against the photo, which is why they are written in plain, checkable terms.
Why does Mastodon care so much about image descriptions?
Because many users rely on screen readers and because the community expects it as a courtesy. Tareno takes a description per image, so OpenClaw drafts one for each photo as part of the post.
How many photos can I post?
Up to four in Tareno's configuration. Mastodon's documentation says limits are set per server, so a server could allow fewer or more. OpenClaw asks which four if you send more.
Can I schedule a post for tomorrow morning?
Yes. Mastodon's documentation requires scheduled posts to be at least 5 minutes ahead. Give OpenClaw the day, time and zone, and approve the request in the dashboard.
Do I need a special setup for Mastodon?
No. The same Tareno connection serves every network. Once your Mastodon account appears when OpenClaw lists your accounts, the workflow needs only the photos in your library.
Is a photo public as soon as I send it?
No, only a draft exists at that point. The time request waits in Tareno until you approve it, and `get_action_status` later shows how it ended.