Scrapesocial Instagram

Use this skill for read-only Instagram research and retrieval. Keep it at the job-to-command level: choose the right entry point quickly, prefer lighter responses first, and reuse IDs or cursors returned by earlier commands.

Prerequisites

• A Scrape Creators API key is required for this skill. Get one at scrapecreators.com.

Quick Setup

Install the CLI once:

npm install -g scrapesocial

Authenticate with SCRAPECREATORSAPIKEY, then run commands with scrapesocial:

SCRAPECREATORS_API_KEY=... scrapesocial instagram ...

Useful global flags:

• --trim for smaller responses when supported.
• --format jsonl when streaming lists into downstream tools.
• --credit-limit <n> when you want the CLI to hide or block expensive requests.

Quick Start

• If the task is about an account as a whole, start with instagram profiles get.
• If the task is about a creator's regular feed, use instagram posts.
• If the task is about one specific post or reel, use instagram posts get.
• If the task is about spoken content in a reel or video post, use instagram transcript.
• If the task is about finding relevant reels by topic, use instagram reels search.
• If the task is about audience response on one post, use instagram comments.
• If the task is about a creator's reels library, use instagram reels.
• If the task is about story highlights, use instagram highlights, then instagram highlights detail.
• If the task is about embeddable markup for a profile, use instagram embed.

Goal-led workflows

Read [references/instagram-command-map.md](references/instagram-command-map.md) when you need the full command-selection table.

Choose the Starting Input

• Prefer a --handle when the user is researching an account and no richer identifier is available yet.
• Prefer a --url when the user gives a specific post or reel. This is the cleanest way to inspect one item or fetch its comments or transcript.
• Prefer a --user-id only after another command has already returned it. For reels and highlights, this can be faster than resolving by handle again.
• Prefer a returned pagination token over restarting the query. Instagram commands use command-specific cursor fields such as nextmaxid, max_id, or cursor.
• Prefer a returned highlight ID when drilling into a specific highlight after listing highlights.

Working Pattern

1. Start with the highest-level command that matches the job.
2. Use --trim on commands that support it when the goal is quick inspection, summarization, or easier downstream processing.
3. Keep IDs and cursors from the response so follow-up commands do not repeat the same discovery step.
4. Rerun without --trim only when you need fields that the smaller response may omit.
5. Switch from handle-based to ID-based commands after the first lookup when the command supports it and the workflow will page repeatedly.

Common Flows

Audit a creator account

Use instagram profiles get to understand the account first, then branch:

• Use instagram posts for the feed history.
• Use instagram reels for short-form video output.
• Use instagram highlights for archived stories.
• Use instagram embed if the output needs embeddable markup rather than analysis.

Analyze one post or reel

Use instagram posts get when the user has a single Instagram URL and wants metadata or content details. Branch again only if needed:

• Use instagram comments to inspect audience reaction.
• Use instagram transcript to extract spoken dialogue from video content.

Research a topic on Instagram Reels

Use instagram reels search for topical discovery, trend scouting, or seed collection. Once a specific reel is interesting, move to instagram posts get or instagram comments with the reel URL.

Command Notes

• instagram profiles basic is a niche follow-up command when you already have a user ID and only need the lighter basic-profile view.
• instagram highlights detail is not a discovery command. Use it only after instagram highlights returns the highlight ID you want.
• instagram comments, instagram posts, and instagram reels are pagination-friendly. Keep the returned cursor values for iterative collection.
• instagram transcript is only useful for media that actually contains speech.
• This CLI is for retrieval and analysis, not posting, messaging, liking, or other write actions on Instagram.

Reference

Read [references/instagram-command-map.md](references/instagram-command-map.md) for a command-by-command matrix with typical inputs, outcomes, and follow-up moves.