How to get into Growth Lab, connect your accounts, post a video, and sort out the things that most often go wrong. If your question is not answered here, email matt@derivenotes.com.
Growth Lab accounts are issued by invitation, to our own team and to the creators who post with us. There is no public sign-up. When your account is set up you receive a sign-in code.
Would like access and have not been invited? Contact us.
Growth Lab connects to TikTok with TikTok's own Login Kit. You sign in on TikTok's page, not ours, and we never see your TikTok password.
Growth Lab asks TikTok for three permissions, and uses each for one thing only:
| Permission | What we use it for |
|---|---|
user.info.basic | To show which TikTok account you are about to post as — your avatar and nickname. |
video.upload | To send the video you chose to TikTok when you press Post. |
video.publish | To publish that video to your profile with the audience and interaction settings you chose. |
We store the resulting access token, refresh token and your TikTok open ID against your Growth Lab user. Your TikTok creator settings are fetched live each time you open the page and are never stored. The Privacy Policy lists everything, in full.
The same walkthrough with screenshots is on How it works.
The audience for the post. The choices are the ones TikTok reports for your account — for example Everyone, Friends, Followers or Only you — and depend on your own TikTok settings. The box starts empty on purpose: TikTok requires you to choose it yourself, and you cannot post until you do.
Whether other people can comment on the video, make a Duet with it, or Stitch it. All three start off; turn on the ones you want. If one is greyed out and marked "off in TikTok", you have turned that interaction off for your whole account in TikTok's settings, and it can only be changed there.
Turn this on if the video promotes a brand, a product or a service, then choose one or both:
These labels cannot be changed once the video is posted.
Tick this if the video is AI-generated, so TikTok can label it.
TikTok's terms for music used in posted videos. Posting to TikTok is the act of agreeing to them, which is why the checkbox sits directly above the Post button.
Instagram posts go to the Instagram professional account you connected, as a Reel, with your caption. Growth Lab can also answer keyword comments on your Reels — see Instagram comment → DM.
YouTube uploads go to your channel as a Short, with the title and the visibility (Private, Unlisted or Public) you choose. YouTube can hold an upload at Private while an app's API compliance audit is outstanding; if that happens, change it in YouTube Studio.
You can withdraw Growth Lab's access to any platform yourself, at any time, and it takes effect immediately without depending on us:
When access is revoked we delete the stored tokens. Posts you already published stay on the platform — they belong to your account, and you manage or delete them there.
Uploaded videos are kept until you delete them, or 90 days after publishing, whichever comes first. Server logs are kept for 30 days. To have everything we hold about you deleted, email matt@derivenotes.com; we delete it within 30 days and confirm. Full details are on the Data deletion page and in the Privacy Policy.
Read the list directly above the button: it names every choice still missing — usually the TikTok audience, the Music Usage Confirmation, or picking a platform at all.
The TikTok account is not connected, or its connection has expired. Press Connect TikTok and approve again.
Until an app's use of TikTok's Content Posting API has been reviewed and approved by TikTok, TikTok only accepts posts from that app to accounts that are themselves set to Private. Set the account to Private (Settings and privacy → Privacy → Private account) to post now.
TikTok limits how many posts an account can make in a short time. Wait, and try again later.
This is a configuration problem on our side, not yours. Tell us and we will fix it.
Your video is longer than TikTok allows this account to post. Trim it and upload the shorter version.
Platforms process new videos before showing them. Give it a few minutes, then use the Open button in the Result panel.
No. Nothing is uploaded to any platform until you press Post on a screen that shows exactly what will be published, and to which account.
No. It can only post to accounts you connected yourself through the platform's own login.
No. You sign in on TikTok's own page; TikTok gives Growth Lab a token, never your password.
No. We only read the creator information needed to show the posting screen, and only publish what you post.
No, none of those. See the Privacy Policy.
Yes, on the platform itself — posts belong to your account. Commercial-content labels on TikTok cannot be changed once posted.
No. Both are made by Derive Notes Pty Ltd, but Growth Lab is a separate product with its own accounts, Privacy Policy and Terms.
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