Instagram MCP Server

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that connects Claude Desktop (and other MCP clients) to the Instagram Graph API — read analytics, manage comments, publish photos, carousels, and reels.

Features

11 Instagram Tools

SENSE (read-only):

Tool	Description
ig_get_account_insights	Account insights: reach, follower growth, profile views over a period
ig_get_post_insights	Engagement metrics for a specific post: reach, likes, shares, saves
ig_get_comments	Comments on a post with username, timestamp, and replies
ig_get_stories_insights	Insights for an active story: reach, replies, interactions
ig_get_audience_demographics	Follower demographics: city, country, age/gender breakdown
ig_get_hashtag_search	Search public posts by hashtag (30 unique hashtags per 7-day window)

ACT (write):

Tool	Description
ig_publish_photo	Publish a photo post from a public URL
ig_publish_carousel	Publish a carousel (2-10 images) from public URLs
ig_publish_reel	Publish a reel (short video) from a public URL
ig_reply_comment	Reply to a comment on a post
ig_delete_comment	Delete a comment on one of your posts

Built-in Reliability

• Per-tenant rate limiting — token-bucket rate limiter keyed by IG Business Account ID
• Exponential backoff retry — automatic retry with jitter for transient API errors
• Container-based publishing — create container → poll status → publish (handles async video processing)
• Input sanitization — strips zero-width characters, normalizes whitespace, truncates to API limits
• Prompt injection protection — wraps external API data in randomized markers

Quick Start

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+
• An Instagram Business or Creator account connected to a Facebook Page
• A Facebook App with the Instagram Graph API enabled
• A long-lived Page Access Token

Getting Your Access Token

1. Create a Facebook App
2. Add the Instagram Graph API product
3. In Graph API Explorer, generate a Page Access Token with these permissions:
   • instagram_basic, instagram_content_publish, instagram_manage_comments, instagram_manage_insights, pages_show_list, pages_read_engagement
4. Extend the token to a long-lived token (60 days)

Installation

git clone https://github.com/luminarylane/instagram-mcp-server.git
cd instagram-mcp-server
npm install
npm run build

Configuration

Claude Desktop (claude_desktop_config.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "instagram": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/path/to/instagram-mcp-server/dist/index.js"],
      "env": {
        "INSTAGRAM_ACCESS_TOKEN": "your_long_lived_page_token",
        "INSTAGRAM_BUSINESS_ACCOUNT_ID": "your_17_digit_ig_business_account_id"
      }
    }
  }
}

Environment variables:

Variable	Required	Description
INSTAGRAM_ACCESS_TOKEN	Yes*	Long-lived Facebook Page Access Token
INSTAGRAM_BUSINESS_ACCOUNT_ID	Yes*	17-digit IG Business Account ID

*Can also be passed per-call via tool arguments.

Finding Your Business Account ID

Use the Graph API Explorer:

GET /me/accounts?fields=instagram_business_account

The instagram_business_account.id field is your Business Account ID.

Usage Examples

Once configured, ask Claude to:

• "Show me my Instagram account insights for the last 28 days"
• "What are the engagement metrics for my latest post?"
• "Get the comments on this post" (paste a media ID)
• "Show my follower demographics by country"
• "Publish this photo to Instagram" (provide a public image URL + caption)
• "Create a carousel post with these images"
• "Reply to this comment with 'Thanks!'"
• "Search recent posts with #startup"

Publishing

Photo and carousel publishing is synchronous — the tool returns once the post is live. Reel publishing is asynchronous — the server polls the container status until processing completes, then publishes.

All publish tools accept an optional firstComment parameter to add a comment immediately after publishing (commonly used for hashtags).

Rate Limiting

The server enforces per-account rate limits to stay within Instagram's API quotas. If you hit a rate limit, the tool will return an error with a suggested retry time. The built-in retry logic handles transient 429 responses automatically.

Contributing

1. Fork the repo
2. Create a feature branch (git checkout -b feat/my-feature)
3. Make changes and run tests (npm test)
4. Submit a pull request

License

MIT License — see LICENSE for details.

Acknowledgments

• Anthropic for the MCP specification
• Meta Graph API for the underlying Instagram API