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):

ACT (write):

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

Related MCP server: Instagram MCP Server

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:

*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