instagram-mcp

An MCP server for the official Instagram Graph API. Read, publish, comment, and pull analytics across one or many Instagram Business/Creator accounts from Claude (or any MCP client) — ToS-safe, no private/reverse-engineered API.

29 tools across accounts, media, publishing, insights, comments, discovery, and (review-gated) direct messages.

Ships with an optional local publishing panel — a self-hosted web UI to drag in an image/video, write a caption, and publish (feed / carousel / reel / video / story), with collaborator invites and a scheduled-post queue.

npx-style stdio MCP · Python · FastMCP · MIT

Fork of adelaidasofia/instagram-mcp with the local panel added.

Why this one

Most "Instagram automation" tools either (a) wrap the unofficial private API (username + password) — which violates Instagram's Terms and risks a ban — or (b) only post, with no way to read insights, comments, or mentions back. This server is built entirely on the official Graph API, is multi-account from day one, and covers the full read + write surface. The only thing it cannot do without Meta's approval is DMs (see Direct messages).

Related MCP server: Social Analytics MCP Server

Requirements

• An Instagram Professional account (Business or Creator). Personal accounts cannot use the Graph API. Converting is free and reversible (Instagram app → Settings → Account type).

• The Instagram account connected to a Facebook Page.

• A long-lived access token with instagram_basic + instagram_content_publish + instagram_manage_comments + instagram_manage_insights, and the account's numeric Instagram Business Account id. See SETUP.md for the exact token + id steps.

• Python 3.10+.

Install

From PyPI:

pip install adelaidasofia-instagram-mcp

Or from source:

git clone https://github.com/adelaidasofia/instagram-mcp
cd instagram-mcp
python3 -m venv .venv && .venv/bin/pip install -e .

Register it with your MCP client (Claude Desktop / Claude Code) — single-account zero-config path:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "instagram": {
      "command": "instagram-mcp",
      "env": {
        "INSTAGRAM_MCP_ACCESS_TOKEN": "EAA...your-long-lived-token...",
        "INSTAGRAM_MCP_IG_USER_ID": "17841400000000000"
      }
    }
  }
}

instagram-mcp is the console script the package installs. From a source checkout it lives at .venv/bin/instagram-mcp, or run the module directly with python -m instagram_mcp.server.

Or skip the env vars and call add_account at runtime (token goes to your OS keychain). See Multiple accounts.

Local panel

A self-hosted web UI for publishing without an MCP client. Runs entirely on your machine; a cloudflared quick tunnel (no Cloudflare account) briefly exposes only the upload folder so Instagram can fetch the media.

pip install -e . && pip install -r panel/requirements.txt
cp .mcp.json.example .mcp.json            # then fill in token + IG user id
python -m panel.get_cloudflared
python -m panel.run                       # opens http://127.0.0.1:8787

Drag in an image/video → caption → publish (feed image, carousel 2–10, reel, video, story). Collaborator invites, a scheduled-post queue, live quota, and recent-post insights. Full details in panel/README.md.

Tools

Accounts & health — healthcheck, list_accounts, add_account, set_default_account, remove_account, account_info

Profile & media — get_profile, list_media, get_media

Insights — get_account_insights (reach, impressions, profile views, follower count), get_media_insights (per-post reach, saves, shares, interactions), get_audience_insights (follower demographics: age, gender, country, city)

Publishing — publish_image, publish_video, publish_reel, publish_carousel (2–10 images), publish_story, publishing_limit (remaining 24h quota). Video/reel containers process asynchronously; the server polls to completion before publishing.

Comments — get_comments, reply_to_comment, hide_comment, delete_comment

Discovery — search_hashtag, get_hashtag_media, get_mentions, business_discovery (read any public Professional account by username)

Direct messages — list_conversations, get_messages, send_message (see below)

Publishing takes public https media URLs — Instagram fetches the bytes itself, so the image/video must be reachable on the open web (an S3/Cloudflare/any-CDN URL works).

Multiple accounts

Run one server for all your accounts (yours, a brand's, a client's). Each account authorizes its own token:

add_account(label="brand-a", access_token="EAA...", ig_user_id="178414...", make_default=True)
add_account(label="brand-b", access_token="EAA...", ig_user_id="178414...")
list_media(account="brand-b")
get_account_insights(account="brand-a")

Tokens are stored in the macOS keychain (or a chmod 600 file on other platforms), never in the metadata file and never returned by any tool. Omit account on any tool to use the default.

Direct messages

The DM tools require the instagram_manage_messages permission, which Meta grants only through App Review (typically weeks, and stricter in 2025–2026). Until then, the DM tools fail loud with that instruction rather than silently no-op. Once your app is approved and the token carries the scope, set INSTAGRAM_MCP_DM_ENABLED=1. Note Instagram's 24-hour standard-messaging window applies.

Full App Review walkthrough (screencast shot list, reviewer test-instructions template, privacy-policy + business-verification requirements, post-approval flip, message-tag caveat): docs/APP_REVIEW.md.

Safety

• Egress is pinned to the Meta host allow-list (graph.facebook.com / graph.instagram.com). A general SSRF guard (RFC1918 / loopback / link-local / CGNAT / cloud-metadata, fail-closed DNS) backs any URL handling.

• Credentials never leak: every result and error passes a scrubber that strips access tokens (incl. Meta EAA… / IGQV…), bearer headers, app secrets, and API keys before it reaches the model.

• Observability: every call appends a 4-field JSONL audit line (execution_time_ms, io, token_usage, error_class) under ~/.claude/instagram-mcp/audit.log.jsonl.

• Input validation runs before every Graph call (ids, caption length, hashtag/username charset, https media URLs).

License

MIT — see LICENSE.

Built by Adelaida Diaz-Roa. Full install or team version at diazroa.com.