Instagram API

An Instagram API alternative on fetcher.sh — pay-per-call in USDC via x402, or prepaid credits with a Bearer key, no login and no session cookies. Use when the user wants to resolve an Instagram profile by @handle, search users by keyword, pull a profile's posts, reels, stories, tagged posts, followers, or followings, look up a single post by its shortcode, read a post's comments, fetch posts under a hashtag or reel-only hashtag feed, pull posts from a location, or pull posts using a specific audio/music track. Also covers Instagram follower export, hashtag and location monitoring, influencer discovery, competitor content tracking, and Instagram data pipelines without an official Graph API business verification or a headless browser.

Instagram data on demand: profile lookup by @handle, posts, reels, stories, tagged posts, followers and followings, hashtag and location feeds, audio/music feeds, and post comments — one plain HTTP GET per call, paid as you go. No login, no session cookies, no headless browser, no Graph API business verification.

Base URL: https://instagram.fetcher.sh

Quick reference

Base URL	https://instagram.fetcher.sh
Auth	Authorization: Bearer bby_live_... or x402 (USDC)
Price	$0.004/call (flat)
Endpoints	16, all GET
MCP	https://instagram.fetcher.sh/mcp
Machine-readable	/openapi.json · /llms.txt · /skill.md

Which endpoint do I need?

I want to...	Call
Look up a profile by @handle	GET /api/user/handle/{handle}
Search accounts by name	GET /api/user/search
Get a user's posts, reels, or stories	GET /api/user/{id}/posts / /reels / /stories
Get a user's followers or followings	GET /api/user/{id}/followers / /followings
Look up a post by its share-URL shortcode	GET /api/post/code/{code}
Get a post's comments	GET /api/post/{id}/comments
Find posts under a hashtag	GET /api/hashtag/{name}/posts
Find posts tagged at a location	GET /api/location/{id}/posts

Full param details for every row: references/endpoints.md.

Authentication

Two ways to pay, same data — full mechanics in the fetcher skill:

bash

# 1. Prepaid credits (recommended — get a key at https://fetcher.sh/topup
#    or via POST /api/credits/topup, see the fetcher skill)
export FETCHER_API_KEY="bby_live_xxxxxxxxxxxx"
curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $FETCHER_API_KEY" \
  "https://instagram.fetcher.sh/api/user/handle/nasa"

# 2. x402 pay-per-call — omit the header; a GET with no payment returns 402
#    with machine-readable payment requirements (USDC on Base, Polygon,
#    Arbitrum, Monad, or Solana). @x402/fetch signs and retries automatically.

Every response is { "status": number, "message": string, "data": ... }; the HTTP status mirrors status.

Endpoints (16 — all GET, $0.004/call)

Endpoint	What it returns
/api/user/handle/{handle}	Full profile by @handle — follower counts, bio, numeric ID
/api/user/search	Profiles matching a keyword query
/api/userid/{handle}	Just the numeric user ID for a @handle
/api/user/{id}	Profile by numeric ID
/api/user/{id}/posts	A user's posts
/api/user/{id}/posts/tagged	Posts the user is tagged in
/api/user/{id}/reels	A user's reels
/api/user/{id}/stories	A user's active stories
/api/user/{id}/followers	A user's followers
/api/user/{id}/followings	Accounts a user follows
/api/post/code/{code}	A single post by its shortcode (from the post URL)
/api/post/{id}/comments	A post's comments
/api/hashtag/{name}/posts	Posts under a hashtag
/api/hashtag/{name}/reels	Reels under a hashtag
/api/location/{id}/posts	Posts tagged at a location
/api/audio/{id}/posts	Posts using a specific audio/music track

{id} / {handle} / {name} / {code} are path parameters. Optional cursor / page paginate; query (user search) is required where it appears.

Scenarios

Resolve a profile by handle — the endpoint most callers want first:

bash

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $FETCHER_API_KEY" \
  "https://instagram.fetcher.sh/api/user/handle/nasa"

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $FETCHER_API_KEY" \
  "https://instagram.fetcher.sh/api/user/handle/natgeo"

Search for profiles by keyword, or resolve just the numeric ID for a handle:

bash

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $FETCHER_API_KEY" \
  --data-urlencode "query=fitness influencer" -G \
  "https://instagram.fetcher.sh/api/user/search"

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $FETCHER_API_KEY" \
  "https://instagram.fetcher.sh/api/userid/nasa"

A profile's posts, reels, stories, and tagged posts (by numeric ID from the handle lookup above):

bash

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $FETCHER_API_KEY" \
  "https://instagram.fetcher.sh/api/user/528817151/posts"

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $FETCHER_API_KEY" \
  "https://instagram.fetcher.sh/api/user/528817151/reels"

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $FETCHER_API_KEY" \
  "https://instagram.fetcher.sh/api/user/528817151/stories"

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $FETCHER_API_KEY" \
  "https://instagram.fetcher.sh/api/user/528817151/posts/tagged"

Followers and followings:

bash

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $FETCHER_API_KEY" \
  "https://instagram.fetcher.sh/api/user/528817151/followers"

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $FETCHER_API_KEY" \
  "https://instagram.fetcher.sh/api/user/528817151/followings"

A single post by shortcode (the part of the URL after /p/), and its comments:

bash

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $FETCHER_API_KEY" \
  "https://instagram.fetcher.sh/api/post/code/C0JD3tntcmy"

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $FETCHER_API_KEY" \
  "https://instagram.fetcher.sh/api/post/3245142029192513970/comments"

Posts and reels under a hashtag, posts from a location, and posts using an audio track:

bash

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $FETCHER_API_KEY" \
  "https://instagram.fetcher.sh/api/hashtag/travel/posts"

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $FETCHER_API_KEY" \
  "https://instagram.fetcher.sh/api/hashtag/travel/reels"

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $FETCHER_API_KEY" \
  "https://instagram.fetcher.sh/api/location/213131048/posts"

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $FETCHER_API_KEY" \
  "https://instagram.fetcher.sh/api/audio/271328201351336/posts"

MCP

json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "instagram": {
      "url": "https://instagram.fetcher.sh/mcp",
      "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer bby_live_..." }
    }
  }
}

Free: search_endpoints, describe_endpoint, check_balance. Paid: fetch_data (any endpoint above), topup_credits, plus the named shortcut instagram_user_handle. Drop the headers block to pay per call with x402 instead — see the fetcher skill for the full flow.

Errors

• 400 — missing/invalid parameter (message names it)
• 401 — unknown or rotated key
• 402 — payment required (x402 challenge) or topup_required (credits exhausted)
• 404 — not a priced path
• No rate limits; no refunds on upstream failures (settlement precedes delivery)

Reference

• Deep dives: references/endpoints.md (every param) · references/scenarios.md (one curl per endpoint) · references/faq.md · references/comparison.md (vs. the official Instagram Graph API and a browser scraper)
• Task guides: profile lookup · hashtag and location monitoring
• Slash command: /instagram-profile
• Full agent setup: https://instagram.fetcher.sh/skill.md
• OpenAPI 3.1 contract: https://instagram.fetcher.sh/openapi.json
• Condensed catalog: https://instagram.fetcher.sh/llms.txt
• Payment, credits, and MCP deep dive: fetcher skill
• Site: https://instagram.fetcher.sh