instagram-followers-scraper

Extract follower lists from public Instagram profiles through Apify. Use when a user asks who follows one or more Instagram accounts or needs follower usernames and public profile fields; do not use for following lists, Stories, Highlights, posts, or comments.

Use DataVoyantLab's Instagram Followers Scraper on Apify to return public follower accounts and the profile fields available in the Actor dataset.

This skill uses a paid external service on Apify. It requires a paid Apify account or an approved DataVoyantLab Free-user entitlement.

The requested usernames are sent to Apify to perform the scrape. Tell the user this before execution. Never send the Apify token anywhere except the documented Apify API.

Actor contract

• Actor ID: TESQ47dR6CqaVdLh8
• Store page: https://apify.com/datavoyantlab/instagram-followers-scraper
• Input: {"usernames": ["natgeo"]}
• Maximum: 10 usernames per run
• Billing events: Actor start plus each follower item written to the dataset
• Default maximum charge: 5 USD

Do not use this Actor to find accounts that the target follows. That is the instagram-following-scraper skill.

Prepare the request

1. Require APIFY_TOKEN and never display or persist it.
2. Accept usernames, @username values, or Instagram profile URLs.
3. Normalize to usernames, remove duplicates, and reject empty values.
4. Stop if more than 10 unique usernames remain.
5. Construct JSON with jq and include:

json

{
  "skill": true,
  "skillName": "instagram-followers-scraper",
  "skillVersion": "1.0.1"
}

Verify pricing and set the cap

Fetch https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/TESQ47dR6CqaVdLh8. Select the latest active entry in .data.pricingInfos, then read:

• minimalMaxTotalChargeUsd;
• the Actor-start event price;
• follower-item-fetched.eventPriceUsd.

Use the budget explicitly supplied by the user. Otherwise use 5 USD. Reject a user budget below minimalMaxTotalChargeUsd; never silently raise it.

Estimate the maximum result count as:

text

floor((maximum charge - Actor-start price) / follower-item price)

Treat this as an estimate, not a promised result count. If the active pricing or required events cannot be read, do not start the run.

Get explicit approval

Before every billable run, show the user:

• the Instagram Followers Scraper Actor and validated usernames;
• the current Actor-start and per-follower prices;
• the estimated maximum result count;
• the proposed charge cap, using the user's budget or proposing 5 USD; and
• that the Apify account linked to APIFY_TOKEN will be billed.

Ask the user to explicitly approve that exact charge cap. A request for followers is not payment authorization. Do not start the run without an affirmative reply. If the usernames, pricing, or cap change, recalculate and ask again.

Run asynchronously

Start:

text

POST https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/TESQ47dR6CqaVdLh8/runs
  ?waitForFinish=60
  &maxTotalChargeUsd=<user budget or 5>
Authorization: Bearer $APIFY_TOKEN
Content-Type: application/json

Poll GET /v2/actor-runs/<run ID>?waitForFinish=60 until terminal status. On SUCCEEDED, retrieve:

text

GET /v2/actor-runs/<run ID>/dataset/items?clean=true&format=json

Run only after the approval above.

Return

Return:

• all retrieved follower items;
• run ID and dataset ID;
• the requested usernames;
• the applied maximum charge;
• whether the result may be partial because the charge limit was reached.

Do not claim a complete follower list when the charge cap stopped collection. For a failed terminal status, return the public status and run ID without revealing private implementation details.

If Apify rejects an unapproved Free account, tell the user to email [e-mail] with their Apify user ID to request access.