Connecting LinkedIn to Social Quack

A few minutes in LinkedIn's developer console, once — then your posts go out on their own, apart from a quick sign-in again every 60 days (step 7).

LinkedIn only lets software post on your behalf through a developer app: a small entry you create inside your own LinkedIn account that produces two values, a Client ID and a Client Secret. You paste those into Social Quack once and never think about them again. There is no application form and no review to wait for — the two products you need are added instantly.

Two things worth knowing before you start:

• The keys stay on your Mac. Social Quack stores them encrypted in its own data folder on your computer. They are never sent to us.
• The limits are yours alone. Because the developer app belongs to you, LinkedIn counts your posting against your app and nobody else's. You are not sharing a pool with other Social Quack customers, so nobody else's activity can get you throttled or blocked.

This connects your personal LinkedIn profile — posts appear as you.

Everything below happens in two places: linkedin.com's developer site, and Social Quack's Channels screen (in the sidebar) → the LinkedIn card → Set up app keys. Open that panel now and leave it open; you will need a value from it in step 4.

1. Have a LinkedIn Page ready

Every LinkedIn developer app must be attached to a LinkedIn Page — the business/organisation kind of page, not your personal profile. If you already have one for your company or your freelance name, use it. If you don't, create a small one; it can be as simple as your own name.

The Page is only there to own the app. Your posts still go out from your personal profile.

2. Create the app

Go to https://www.linkedin.com/developers/apps and sign in with your normal LinkedIn account. Create a new app, attach the Page from step 1, and add a logo — any square image will do.

The new app starts out unverified, and an unverified app cannot add the products you need in step 3. Clearing that takes a minute: open the app's Settings tab, click Verify next to the Page, then Generate URL. That link asks the Page's super admin to approve the app — if you created the Page yourself, that is you, so open the link, approve, and the app is verified on the spot. If the Page belongs to a colleague, send them the link instead; it stays good for 30 days.

3. Add the two products

Open the app's Products tab and add both of these:

Both are instant — no review, no waiting.

Together they cover the three permissions Social Quack asks for on the LinkedIn sign-in screen: openid, profile and w_member_social (that last one is "post on your behalf"). Those are the only three it requests.

4. Add the redirect URL

In the app, go to Auth → OAuth 2.0 settings and add Social Quack's callback address as an authorized redirect URL.

The exact value is shown in the app, in the same Set up app keys panel, with a copy button next to it. This page can't print it: it is specific to your own installation (it carries the port number Social Quack is listening on). Copy it from there and paste it in exactly as shown — LinkedIn matches it character for character, so don't retype it or tidy it up.

5. Paste the keys and connect

LinkedIn's console shows your Client ID and your Primary Client Secret. In Social Quack's Set up app keys panel, paste them into:

• Client ID
• Client Secret — this is LinkedIn's Primary Client Secret; same thing, shorter name.

Click Save and Social Quack goes straight on to the sign-in: your browser opens LinkedIn's permission screen. Approve it, and your profile appears under Connected. There is nothing else to type — LinkedIn does the rest in the browser. If you close that tab by accident, click Connect on the LinkedIn card to start the sign-in again.

6. What a LinkedIn post can hold

Two behaviours that look odd until you know why:

• Write punctuation normally. LinkedIn's posting format treats characters like ( ) [ ] { } @ # < > ~ _ | * as special and rejects a post that uses them plainly. Social Quack handles that for you before sending, so brackets, hashtags and @ signs are safe to type.
• Posts with images land about 20 seconds late. LinkedIn needs a moment to process an uploaded image, and a personal account isn't allowed to ask whether it has finished — so Social Quack waits roughly 20 seconds before publishing rather than risk a failure. Expected, not a fault.

If LinkedIn is busy or rate-limits you, Social Quack treats it as temporary and retries the post rather than failing it.

7. Reconnect every 60 days

A LinkedIn connection lasts 60 days. LinkedIn only issues self-renewing access to approved partner companies, so when the 60 days are up you reconnect by hand: Channels → the LinkedIn card under Add a channel → Connect, approve the permission screen, done — a few seconds.

Signing in again on top of an existing connection updates it and keeps everything you have queued. Never use Remove on the channel to fix a connection problem — that deletes the channel and every post waiting on it.

A week before the 60 days are up, Social Quack shows a notice on the Channels and Queue pages — sign in again by — with a Sign in again button, and the LinkedIn card gets the same note. Click it, approve LinkedIn's permission screen, done: the connection is renewed in place and everything queued stays put. Ignore it and the first sign is a post that fails with LinkedIn token expired — reconnect this channel in Social Quack → Channels; sign in again, then reschedule that post. Claude and ChatGPT see the same notice, so they will mention it too.

If something goes wrong

Still stuck? [email protected].