Instagram Scraper API - Profiles, Posts, Reels, Stories, Followers

Read Instagram profiles, post and reel feeds, tagged posts, stories and highlights, single-post detail, comments, replies and likers, follower, following and similar-account lists, and search users, hashtags, Reels, music and locations. 20 endpoints, typically 1-2 credits each.

Instagram via Scavio

Read public Instagram data as JSON: profiles, timeline posts, reels, tagged posts, active stories and saved highlights, single-post detail, comment threads, post likers, follower, following and similar-account lists, and search across users, hashtags, Reels, music and locations.

When to trigger

Use this skill when the user asks to:

• Look up an Instagram profile: follower count, bio, verified status, category
• Pull a creator's recent posts, reels, or the posts they were tagged in
• Read a creator's active stories or the stories saved in their highlights
• Read a specific post: caption, media URLs, like and comment counts
• Mine the comments on a post, the replies under one comment, or who liked a post
• List who follows an account, who it follows, or which accounts are similar to it
• Find accounts, hashtags, Reels, audio tracks or places by keyword
• See which Reels use a given song or sound
• Do influencer vetting, competitor tracking, or creator-discovery research on Instagram

For TikTok creators use scavio-tiktok. For TikTok Shop products use scavio-tiktok-shop.

Three things to read before you call anything

1. Most calls cost 1 or 2 credits. Know which is which before you loop. /profile, /user/reels, /user/tagged and /music/posts typically cost 1 credit; every other endpoint typically costs 2. Three exceptions to plan around:

• /user/reels and /user/tagged cost 2 the first time a given username is looked up, then 1. Sending user_id instead of username keeps them at 1.
• /search/users and /search/hashtags cost 8 when you send a cursor. Page 1 is 2. Only ask for page 2 when page 1 genuinely was not enough.
• Any request can cost more (never more than 10) when it needs extra work to answer. credits_used in every response is the exact charge, so read it rather than assuming the typical price.

On the free plan's 50 one-time credits that is about 50 profile lookups or 25 post-detail calls. The full table is below.

2. Post identifiers differ per endpoint. The post endpoints take different identity sets:

Endpoint	Accepts	Does NOT accept
/post	url, media_id, or shortcode	--
/post/comments	shortcode or url	media_id
/post/likers	shortcode or url	media_id
/post/comments/replies	media_id + comment_id	shortcode, url

To get replies, take media_id and pk from a comment in the /post/comments response (every comment carries both) and pass them as media_id and comment_id. Comments then replies is 2 + 2 = 4 credits.

3. Responses keep Instagram's own field names, not a normalized Scavio shape. Unlike Reddit, YouTube or LinkedIn, Instagram responses keep Instagram's structure, and it differs per endpoint (the per-endpoint notes below say where the list lives). Consequences:

• Field names are Instagram's, not friendly ones. On /post, the video URL is at video_versions[].url and the cover image at image_versions2.candidates[]. media_type is the integer 1 (image), 2 (video), or 8 (carousel).
• Each endpoint answers in one structure, but structures differ between endpoints: /user/posts lists items at data.data.items, /user/reels at data.items, /post/comments at data.comments. Read the notes below rather than guessing.

Do not invent friendlier field names when reporting results, and do not claim a field is missing until you have checked the raw keys actually returned.

Setup

Get a free API key at scavio.dev (50 one-time credits to get started, no card required):

bash

export SCAVIO_API_KEY=sk_live_your_key

If you do not have a key yet

An agent running this skill without SCAVIO_API_KEY set will get 401 on every call below. The whole path from nothing to a working key is self-serve:

1. Sign up at dashboard.scavio.dev - email or Google, no card required.
2. A key is created for the account automatically at signup. It is on the dashboard under API Keys, ready to copy.
3. A new account starts with 50 credits. Endpoints in this skill cost 1 or 2 credits each, as the table below says.

When the balance runs out the API answers 402 with a JSON body carrying billing_url. Topping up needs no code change - the same key keeps working. The smallest purchase is 2,500 credits for $25, and monthly plans work out cheaper per credit if the usage is steady rather than one-off.

Every request is a POST with a JSON body and:

text

Authorization: Bearer $SCAVIO_API_KEY

Endpoints

Base URL: https://api.scavio.dev. All paths are under /api/v1/instagram. Credits are the typical cost per call (per page for paginated endpoints); credits_used in each response is the exact charge, never more than 10.

Endpoint	Credits	Description
POST /api/v1/instagram/profile	1	Profile: bio, follower/following/media counts, verified, category
POST /api/v1/instagram/user/posts	2	Timeline posts for a user, about 12 per page
POST /api/v1/instagram/user/reels	1 (2 on a username's first lookup)	A user's reels
POST /api/v1/instagram/user/tagged	1 (2 on a username's first lookup)	Posts a user was tagged in
POST /api/v1/instagram/user/stories	2	Currently active stories
POST /api/v1/instagram/user/highlights	2	A user's story highlights: id, title, cover, item count
POST /api/v1/instagram/highlight/stories	2	Every story saved in one highlight, with media URLs
POST /api/v1/instagram/post	2	Full detail for one post
POST /api/v1/instagram/post/comments	2	Top-level comments on a post
POST /api/v1/instagram/post/comments/replies	2	Replies under one comment
POST /api/v1/instagram/post/likers	2	Accounts that liked a post (up to about 1,000) and the total like count
POST /api/v1/instagram/user/followers	2	Who follows this account
POST /api/v1/instagram/user/followings	2	Who this account follows
POST /api/v1/instagram/user/similar	2	Accounts similar to this one
POST /api/v1/instagram/search/users	2 (8 with a cursor)	Find accounts by keyword
POST /api/v1/instagram/search/hashtags	2 (8 with a cursor)	Find hashtags by keyword
POST /api/v1/instagram/search/reels	2	Find Reels by keyword
POST /api/v1/instagram/search/music	2	Find audio tracks by song or artist
POST /api/v1/instagram/music/posts	1	Reels that use one audio track, plus its total reel count
POST /api/v1/instagram/search/locations	2	Find places by name: id, address, coordinates

Workflow

1. Start from a username. Every user endpoint accepts username (without the @). You do not need to resolve an id first, unlike TikTok.
2. Prefer user_id once you have it. /profile returns it as id (and pk). When both are sent, user_id wins and is more stable than a username, which can be changed by its owner. On /user/reels and /user/tagged it also avoids the 2-credit first lookup.
3. Cheapest useful path for "what is this creator about": /profile (1 credit) for counts and bio, then /user/reels (1) or /user/posts (2) for recent content with captions and engagement counts.
4. Paginate with cursor. Pass the continuation token from the previous response back as cursor. Its name depends on the endpoint: pagination_token (user posts, Reels search), next_max_id (reels, tagged, followers, followings), next_min_id (comments), paging_info.max_id (music posts). Stop when none is present or has_more / more_available is false.
5. Do not rely on count. /user/posts returns about 12 items per page whatever count says. Read how many items you actually got rather than assuming.

Parameters

Identity: username vs user_id

Nine endpoints take a user identity. Both fields are optional individually but at least one is required; omitting both is a 400. user_id takes precedence when both are sent. user_id is a string, even though it looks like a number.

Profile (/profile), stories (/user/stories), highlights (/user/highlights), similar accounts (/user/similar)

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
username	string	--	Instagram handle without @
user_id	string	--	Numeric id as a string. Wins over username

No count, no cursor.

• /profile returns the profile inlined at the root of data: data.username, data.full_name, data.follower_count, data.following_count, data.media_count, data.biography, data.is_verified, data.is_private, data.category, data.external_url. There is no data.user wrapper.
• /user/stories lists live stories at data.items (also grouped per user under data.reels.<user_id>.items), each with taken_at, expiring_at, media_type, thumbnail_url and video_url. An account with no active stories returns an empty list, which is a normal result and not an error.
• /user/highlights lists highlights at data.data.items, each with id (for example highlight:18149897764550869), title, media_count, cover_media and created_at.
• /user/similar lists accounts at data.data.items with id, username, full_name, is_verified, is_private. It works for most creator accounts; some brand accounts return none, which is a normal empty result.

Highlight stories (/highlight/stories)

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
highlight_id	string	required	An id from /user/highlights, with or without the highlight: prefix

Stories are at data.data.items, each with taken_at, media_type, image_versions, and on video items video_url and video_versions. The highlight's own title is at data.data.additional_data.title.

User posts (/user/posts), reels (/user/reels), tagged (/user/tagged)

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
username	string	--	Handle without @
user_id	string	--	Wins over username
count	number	12	Items per page, 1-50 (not honored on /user/posts)
cursor	string	--	Continuation token from the previous response

• /user/posts: items at data.data.items, next page token at data.pagination_token. Each item carries code, caption.text, like_count, comment_count, taken_at, media_type, image_versions and thumbnail_url; video items add video_url, video_versions and play_count.
• /user/reels and /user/tagged: items at data.items, next page token at data.next_max_id. Each item is compact: code, shortcode, media_type, is_video, like_count, comment_count, view_count, taken_at, caption_text, thumbnail_url, video_url, owner.
• On /user/tagged, video_url is null on video items and owner.full_name / owner.is_verified are null. To get a tagged video's URL, call /post with its code.

Followers (/user/followers), followings (/user/followings)

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
username	string	--	Handle without @
user_id	string	--	Wins over username
count	number	12	Users per page, 1-100
cursor	string	--	Continuation token (next_max_id)

Users are at data.users. The path is followings, plural. Follower lists on large accounts are effectively bottomless -- Instagram will not hand over millions of rows. Each page is 2 credits; set an explicit page budget with the user before starting, and stop when the continuation token stops coming back.

Post detail (/post)

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
url	string	--	Full post URL, e.g. https://www.instagram.com/p/DUajw4YkorV/
media_id	string	--	Numeric media id as a string. Highest precedence
shortcode	string	--	The code from the URL, e.g. DUajw4YkorV

One of the three is required. The post is at data.items[0]. Within it: media_type 1/2/8, caption.text, like_count, comment_count, play_count, user, usertags, video at video_versions[].url, cover at image_versions2.candidates[]. For a carousel (media_type: 8) the children are under carousel_media[] -- walk them rather than expecting one media URL.

Post comments (/post/comments)

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
shortcode	string	--	The code from the post URL
url	string	--	Full post URL
cursor	string	--	Continuation token (next_min_id)
sort_order	string	popular	popular or newest

One of shortcode / url is required. media_id is not accepted here. Comments are at data.comments, each with pk, text, user, comment_like_count, child_comment_count, created_at and media_id; data.comment_count and data.has_more_comments describe the thread.

Pass a canonical post URL or a bare shortcode only. A /share/ link, a profile URL, or any URL that is not of the form instagram.com/p/<code>, /reel/<code>, /reels/<code> or /tv/<code> fails. Extract the shortcode yourself and send that instead.

Comment replies (/post/comments/replies)

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
media_id	string	required	The post's numeric media id (the media_id on any comment)
comment_id	string	required	The comment's pk from /post/comments
cursor	string	--	Continuation token

Replies are at data.child_comments; the comment they answer is at data.parent_comment.

Post likers (/post/likers)

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
shortcode	string	--	The code from the post URL
url	string	--	Full post URL

One of the two is required; no cursor. Accounts are at data.data.items (id, username, full_name, is_verified, is_private), up to about 1,000 per post. data.data.total is the post's total like count, data.data.count how many accounts came back.

Search users (/search/users), search hashtags (/search/hashtags)

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
keyword	string	required	Search term, 1-500 chars
cursor	string	--	Rank token from a previous response. Makes the call cost 8

The field is keyword, not query or search. There is no count. Users are at data.users (pk, username, full_name, is_verified); hashtags at data.hashtags (id, name, media_count).

Search Reels (/search/reels)

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
keyword	string	required	Search term
cursor	string	--	pagination_token from the previous response

Reels are at data.data.items, each with code, caption.text, user, play_count, like_count, comment_count, taken_at and video_versions. Next page token at data.pagination_token; each page is 2 credits.

Search music (/search/music) and music posts (/music/posts)

Endpoint	Parameter	Type	Description
/search/music	keyword	string, required	Song title or artist
/music/posts	music_id	string, required	The id of a track from /search/music (numeric)
/music/posts	cursor	string	paging_info.max_id from the previous response

/search/music lists tracks at data.data.items with id, title, display_artist, duration_in_ms and progressive_download_url. Pass the track's id (not audio_id) as music_id.

/music/posts lists the Reels using that track at data.items[].media (code, play_count, like_count, comment_count, video_versions), with the track's total reel count at data.media_count.clips_count and data.formatted_media_count. More pages while data.paging_info.more_available is true; 1 credit per page.

Search locations (/search/locations)

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
keyword	string	required	Place name

Places are at data.data.items with id, name, address, city, latitude and longitude.

Errors

Status	Meaning	What to do
400	Invalid body. The details array names the offending field	Fix and resend. Usually a missing identity field
401	Bad or missing API key	Check SCAVIO_API_KEY
402	Out of credits	Stop. Tell the user, do not retry
429	Too many requests in flight at once	Wait for one to finish, then retry. Not a cooldown
500	Unparseable post URL on /post/comments	Send a bare shortcode instead
502	Instagram data temporarily unavailable	Retry once after a short delay, then give up

A 402 or 429 means stop, not retry harder. Report the condition to the user rather than burning the remaining balance.

Credits and spend discipline

Every successful response carries credits_used and credits_remaining next to data. Read credits_remaining as you go. To check the balance without spending anything, call GET /api/v1/usage (0 credits, no body).

Concurrency is capped per plan -- 1 simultaneous request on free and pay-as-you-go, up to 50 on Growth. Exceeding it returns 429 immediately. Do not fan out parallel Instagram calls unless you know the plan allows it.

Before any multi-call workflow, state the credit cost to the user. "Scanning this account's 500 followers is 2 credits per page of up to 100, so about 10 credits" is the kind of thing to say before starting, not after.

Example

bash

# 1. Follower count and bio -- 1 credit
curl -X POST 'https://api.scavio.dev/api/v1/instagram/profile' \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SCAVIO_API_KEY" \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"username": "nasa"}'

# 2. Recent reels for the same creator -- 1 credit
curl -X POST 'https://api.scavio.dev/api/v1/instagram/user/reels' \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SCAVIO_API_KEY" \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"username": "nasa"}'

# 3. Who liked one post, plus the total like count -- 2 credits
curl -X POST 'https://api.scavio.dev/api/v1/instagram/post/likers' \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SCAVIO_API_KEY" \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"shortcode": "DeJ28eTxo4s"}'

# 4. Which Reels use a song: find the track, then its Reels -- 2 + 1 credits
curl -X POST 'https://api.scavio.dev/api/v1/instagram/search/music' \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SCAVIO_API_KEY" \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"keyword": "espresso"}'
curl -X POST 'https://api.scavio.dev/api/v1/instagram/music/posts' \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SCAVIO_API_KEY" \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"music_id": "1747512212697470"}'

# 5. A creator's highlights, then the stories in one -- 2 + 2 credits
curl -X POST 'https://api.scavio.dev/api/v1/instagram/user/highlights' \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SCAVIO_API_KEY" \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"username": "natgeo"}'
curl -X POST 'https://api.scavio.dev/api/v1/instagram/highlight/stories' \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SCAVIO_API_KEY" \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"highlight_id": "highlight:18149897764550869"}'

Related skills

• scavio-tiktok -- TikTok creator profiles, videos, comments, hashtags
• scavio-tiktok-shop -- TikTok Shop products, prices, reviews
• scavio-x -- X (Twitter) posts, users, timelines, trends
• scavio-linkedin -- LinkedIn people, companies, jobs, posts
• scavio-youtube -- YouTube search, videos, channels, transcripts