instagram-following-scraper

Extract the accounts followed by public Instagram profiles through Apify. Use when a user asks who an Instagram account follows or needs following-list usernames and public profile fields; do not use for follower lists, Stories, Highlights, posts, or comments.

Use DataVoyantLab's Instagram Following Scraper on Apify to return the public accounts followed by one or more Instagram profiles.

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: xDzzMiRH9Ha4YgBUy
• Store page: https://apify.com/datavoyantlab/instagram-following-scraper
• Input: {"usernames": ["natgeo"]}
• Maximum: 50 usernames per run
• Billing events: Actor start plus each following item written to the dataset
• Default maximum charge: 5 USD

Do not use this Actor to find who follows the target. That is the instagram-followers-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 50 unique usernames remain.
5. Construct JSON with jq and include:

json

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

Verify pricing and set the cap

Fetch https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/xDzzMiRH9Ha4YgBUy. Select the latest active entry in .data.pricingInfos, then read:

• minimalMaxTotalChargeUsd;
• the Actor-start event price;
• following-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) / following-item price)

Treat this as an estimate. The actual public following list can be smaller. If the active price or required events cannot be read, do not start the run.

Get explicit approval

Before every billable run, show the user:

• the Instagram Following Scraper Actor and validated usernames;
• the current Actor-start and per-following-item 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 a following list 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/xDzzMiRH9Ha4YgBUy/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 items, run ID, dataset ID, requested usernames, applied maximum charge, and whether the result may be partial because the charge limit was reached.

Do not claim completeness when the cap stopped collection. For a failed terminal status, return the public status and run ID without disclosing 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.