instagram-caption-scraper

Scrapes and returns the caption from any public Instagram post or reel URL. Use this when the user shares an Instagram link and wants to extract, read, summarise, translate, or analyse the caption of that post or reel.

Purpose

Extract the caption text from a public Instagram post or reel URL provided by the user.

When to Use This Skill

Trigger this skill when the user:

• Shares an Instagram URL containing /p/ or /reel/
• Says "get the caption", "what does this post say", "read this reel", "summarise this Instagram post"
• Wants to translate, rewrite, or analyse an Instagram caption

How to Run

Execute the following shell command, replacing {{url}} with the Instagram URL:

python3 {{skill_dir}}/instagram_scraper.py {{url}}

The script will return one of:

• CAPTION: <text> — successfully extracted caption with metadata
• ERROR: <reason> — failure with explanation

Example Triggers

• "Get the caption from https://www.instagram.com/p/DRiFkfoiIuC/"
• "What does this Instagram reel say? https://www.instagram.com/reel/ABC123/"
• "Summarise this post: https://www.instagram.com/p/XYZ/"
• "Translate this Instagram caption: https://www.instagram.com/p/ABC/"

Output Format

On success the script returns:

CAPTION: <full caption text>

---
Owner   : @username
Type    : GraphImage / GraphVideo / GraphSidecar
Likes   : 1234
Shortcode: ABC123

Rules

• Only trigger when a valid Instagram URL (/p/ or /reel/) is present
• Never fabricate or guess caption content if the script returns an error
• If the post is private, inform the user and suggest they check the account's privacy settings
• Always display the full caption before offering any summary or analysis
• If the user asks to summarise or translate, do so AFTER displaying the raw caption

Setup Notes

Requires Python 3.8+ and the instaloader library:

pip3 install instaloader==4.14.1