Limits & Errors
Pinterest's missing inbox, what its API does not expose and the common errors when publishing.
Inbox
Pinterest has no inbox API: no DMs, no comments and no reviews.
What you cannot do
Pinterest's API does not expose:
- Idea Pins (multi-page stories)
- Claiming a website
- Rich Pins (they need meta tags on your website)
- Shopping catalogs
- Changing a published pin's media, destination link or board (only the description; see Edit a published pin)
- Multi-image posts or carousels
Common errors
| Error | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| "Invalid URL or request data." | Pinterest could not process the URL or request data | Check that the media URL is public, returns media bytes and uses HTTPS. |
| "Unable to reach the URL. Please check the URL is correct and try again." | Pinterest's servers cannot fetch the media | Test the URL in an incognito window. No authentication, no redirect to an HTML page. |
| "Pinterest rate limit reached." | Too many API calls in a short window | Space out pins; avoid bursts of 10 or more at once. |
| "Pinterest requires a boardId. Provide platformSpecificData.boardId." | No board in the request | Send boardId. List boards with GET /v1/accounts/{accountId}/pinterest-boards. |
A publishNow: true post that Pinterest rejects returns 207 with post.status: "failed" and the message in platforms[].errorMessage:
{
"message": "Post created but publishing failed",
"error": "All platforms failed",
"post": {
"_id": "65f1c0a9e2b5af0012ab34cd",
"status": "failed",
"platforms": [
{
"platform": "pinterest",
"status": "failed",
"errorMessage": "Unable to reach the URL. Please check the URL is correct and try again."
}
]
}
}207 is a 2xx status, so fetch(...).ok is true; branch on the status code and on post.status. Error handling covers the envelope.
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