How Karma Files works
Karma Files uses two official TikTok products: Login Kit for authorization and the Content Posting API to deliver a video to your own TikTok inbox. This page describes the complete flow, step by step.
Step 1 — Authorization with Login Kit
You open the Karma Files uploader and select Connect TikTok. Your browser is sent
to TikTok's own authorization page at www.tiktok.com/v2/auth/authorize/, where you sign
in and review the permissions being requested.
Karma Files requests two scopes:
user.info.basic— used only to display which TikTok account is connected.video.upload— used only to send a video to that account's inbox.
If you decline, nothing is connected. Karma Files never asks for or stores your TikTok password.
Step 2 — Preparing the video
You choose a finished vertical video file from your device. Karma Files displays the file name and size, and gives you a text field for the caption and hashtags. A character counter shows how much of TikTok's caption limit you have used.
Before the upload button becomes available, you must confirm that the video is your own original content, that any third-party material is used under its stated terms and credited, and that you agree to TikTok's Music Usage Confirmation.
Step 3 — Delivering the video to your TikTok inbox
When you press Upload to TikTok Inbox, Karma Files calls TikTok's Content Posting
API endpoint /v2/post/publish/inbox/video/init/ and then transfers the video file in
chunks to the upload URL TikTok returns.
TikTok replies with a publish_id, which Karma Files displays so you have a record of
the upload. The status reported by TikTok is SEND_TO_USER_INBOX.
Karma Files uses the inbox upload flow rather than Direct Post. That means the video arrives as a draft in your TikTok inbox and you finish posting it inside the TikTok app, with TikTok's own editing and privacy controls in front of you.
Step 4 — Finishing the post in TikTok
You open TikTok, find the notification in your inbox, review the draft, add anything TikTok offers such as music or cover selection, and publish it yourself. Karma Files is not involved in that final step and cannot publish on your behalf.
What happens to your data
Karma Files stores the authorization token issued by TikTok so it can perform uploads you request, and it temporarily stores the video file while the transfer to TikTok is in progress. The temporary file is deleted once the transfer finishes. See the Privacy Policy for the full description.