# Instagram for your AI agent: find accounts, read them, and DM from your own

RouterGrowth gives an agent Instagram through one MCP server: hashtag search, a handle's posts, comments on a post and public profiles with the bio link and business email, then direct messages sent from the account you connect. Each call is paid on its own.

HTML page: https://www.routergrowth.com/tools/instagram

## What your agent can do

| Capability | What it returns | Providers | From | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| [`social.search`](https://www.routergrowth.com/catalog/social.search) | Public posts matching a keyword on X, LinkedIn, Reddit, YouTube, TikTok, Instagram or Facebook: brand mentions, category conversations, competitor chatter. | Apify | $0.002 per result | live |
| [`social.posts`](https://www.routergrowth.com/catalog/social.posts) | Recent public posts for a social handle. | Apify | $0.002 per result | live |
| [`social.comments`](https://www.routergrowth.com/catalog/social.comments) | Comments on one public post URL (YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, LinkedIn, Reddit, and replies to a post on X): text, author, likes, replies, time. | Apify | $0.002 per result | live |
| [`social.profile`](https://www.routergrowth.com/catalog/social.profile) | Public profile data for a social handle: name, followers, bio, verified, plus the bio link, every listed link, the person's own domain (link hubs such as Linktree excluded), a public or business email when the profile exposes one, profile URL, business flag, category and location when the platform provides them. | Apify | $0.002 per match | live |
| [`instagram.account`](https://www.routergrowth.com/catalog/instagram.account) | Connect an Instagram account for DMs: returns a hosted sign-in link the account holder opens once (username, password and the two-factor code go to the provider's page, never to RouterGrowth), then reports the connection status. Without a name it reports the account already connected instead of minting a link. Run again with the name to confirm or to get a reconnect link. Free to run; a connected account rents a seat billed monthly. | Unipile | $0 per call | live |
| [`instagram.profile`](https://www.routergrowth.com/catalog/instagram.profile) | One Instagram account as your connected account sees it: name, handle, bio, followers, category, the links in the bio with the person's own domain resolved, the business email, phone and address when the account exposes them, whether they follow you, and the messaging_id a new DM needs. The enrichment step between finding a handle and writing to it. | Unipile | $0.002 per profile | live |
| [`instagram.message`](https://www.routergrowth.com/catalog/instagram.message) | Send a direct message from your connected Instagram account: open a new conversation with a handle (or the messaging_id from instagram.profile), or reply in an existing thread by chat_id. You are the sender of record. A first message to someone who does not follow you lands in their requests folder. | Unipile | $0.0088 per message | live |
| [`instagram.messages`](https://www.routergrowth.com/catalog/instagram.messages) | Conversations on your connected Instagram account, newest first, with unread counts; pass chat_id to read one thread. Poll it after DMs to catch replies. | Unipile | $0.002 per read | live |

## Ask it like this

- Find 40 skincare creators with 10k to 100k followers who posted this month, with the email in their bio. (`social.search`, `social.profile`)
- Read the comments on our competitor's last five posts and list what customers ask for. (`social.posts`, `social.comments`)
- Message these 20 handles from my account with a note about their latest post, then tell me who replied. (`instagram.profile`, `instagram.message`, `instagram.messages`)

## Connect

MCP server: `https://api.routergrowth.com/mcp` (OAuth, or an API key header).

```bash
claude mcp add --transport http routergrowth https://api.routergrowth.com/mcp
```

```bash
npm install -g routergrowth && routergrowth setup
routergrowth run -c social.search -i '{"platform": "instagram", "query": "skincare", "limit": 30}'
```

```bash
curl -X POST https://api.routergrowth.com/v1/run \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $ROUTERGROWTH_API_KEY" \
  -d '{"capability": "social.search", "input": {"platform": "instagram", "query": "skincare", "limit": 30}}'
```

## Worth knowing

- **Public data needs no login.** Search, posts, comments and profiles are public data. Only DMs use your account, connected once on a hosted page where the password and the two-factor code are entered.
- **The profile is the enrichment step.** It returns the links in the bio with the person's own domain resolved, and the business email, phone and address when the account shows them.
- **Where a first DM lands.** A first message to someone who does not follow you arrives in their requests folder. Write it to earn the accept.

## Questions

### Is there an Instagram MCP server?

RouterGrowth is an MCP server with Instagram search, posts, comments, profiles and, on your connected account, direct messages. It works in Claude, ChatGPT, Codex and Cursor.

### Can my agent send Instagram DMs?

Yes, from the account you connect. instagram.message opens a conversation with a handle or replies in a thread, and instagram.messages reads the inbox. You are the sender of record.

### Can I get emails from Instagram profiles?

When a profile exposes a public or business email, social.profile and instagram.profile return it, along with the bio links and the person's own domain to look one up.

### Does search work on keywords?

Instagram search here runs on hashtags. For keyword search across captions, start from the hashtag and let the agent filter the posts it reads.

## Related

- Workflow: [Reach founders whose teams complain about their CRM](https://www.routergrowth.com/workflows/listening-crm-complaints.md)
- Workflow: [Reach teams complaining about cold email deliverability](https://www.routergrowth.com/workflows/listening-cold-email-deliverability.md)
- Guide: [Social media API: profiles, posts and comments from X, Reddit, LinkedIn, TikTok, Instagram and YouTube](https://www.routergrowth.com/use-cases/linkedin-and-social-signals.md)
- Guide: [Brand monitoring across web, social, news, reviews and AI answers](https://www.routergrowth.com/use-cases/brand-monitoring.md)
- Skill: [Social lead discovery](https://www.routergrowth.com/skills/social-lead-discovery.md)
- Skill: [Reddit surface map](https://www.routergrowth.com/skills/reddit-surface-map.md)