instagram-stories-scraper

Scrape current public Instagram Stories by username through Apify, including media URLs and rich story metadata. Use when a user needs live Stories, story downloads, mentions, links, music, locations, or paid-partnership signals; do not use for Highlights, followers, following lists, posts, or comments.

Use DataVoyantLab's Advanced Instagram Stories Scraper on Apify. It retrieves current Stories from public profiles and returns the complete dataset response, including available photo or video URLs, timestamps, mentions, link stickers, music, locations, and paid-partnership metadata.

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: dLL7b34nRrgN6ZV24
• Store page: https://apify.com/datavoyantlab/advanced-instagram-stories-scraper
• Input: {"usernames": ["natgeo"]}
• Maximum: 100 usernames per run
• Billing events: Actor start plus each submitted username

Do not route Highlight URLs, follower lists, following lists, posts, reels, or comments to this Actor.

Prepare the request

1. Require APIFY_TOKEN. Never print it, place it in a URL, or write it to a file.
2. Accept usernames, @username values, or Instagram profile URLs.
3. Convert each value to a username, trim whitespace, remove a leading @, preserve periods and underscores, remove duplicates, and reject empty values.
4. Stop if more than 100 unique usernames remain.
5. Construct JSON with jq; never interpolate user input into JSON manually.
6. Add these attribution fields:

json

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

Verify pricing and set the cap

Fetch the public Actor record before every run:

bash

curl -fsS "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/dLL7b34nRrgN6ZV24"

From .data.pricingInfos, select the most recent entry whose startedAt is not in the future. Read:

• apify-actor-start.eventPriceUsd, falling back to actor-run.eventPriceUsd;
• username-request.eventPriceUsd.

Calculate:

text

maximum charge = actor start + (username count × username-request) + $0.01

Round up to the next cent and pass the result as maxTotalChargeUsd. If the active price or either required event is missing, do not start the run.

Get explicit approval

Before every billable run, show the user:

• the Advanced Instagram Stories Scraper Actor and validated usernames;
• the current Actor-start and per-username prices;
• the exact maxTotalChargeUsd cap; 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 Stories is not payment authorization. Do not send a run request without an affirmative reply. If the usernames, pricing, or cap change, recalculate and ask again.

Run

For 10 or fewer usernames, use the synchronous dataset endpoint:

text

POST https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/dLL7b34nRrgN6ZV24/run-sync-get-dataset-items
  ?timeout=300
  &clean=true
  &format=json
  &maxTotalChargeUsd=<calculated cap>
Authorization: Bearer $APIFY_TOKEN
Content-Type: application/json

For 11–100 usernames, start asynchronously:

text

POST https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/dLL7b34nRrgN6ZV24/runs
  ?waitForFinish=60
  &maxTotalChargeUsd=<calculated cap>

Poll GET /v2/actor-runs/<run ID>?waitForFinish=60 until the status is SUCCEEDED, FAILED, ABORTED, or TIMED-OUT. On success, retrieve GET /v2/actor-runs/<run ID>/dataset/items?clean=true&format=json.

Run only after the approval above.

Return

Return:

• the complete dataset items, not only a summary;
• the maximum authorized charge;
• the run ID and dataset ID when using the asynchronous path;
• a short count by requested username.

An empty result is valid when a public profile currently has no active Stories. Do not label an empty successful dataset as an Actor failure.

For FAILED, ABORTED, or TIMED-OUT, return the public run status and run ID. Do not expose internal implementation details from logs.

If Apify reports that Free access is not enabled, tell the user to email [e-mail] with their Apify user ID to request an entitlement.