⚠️ Telegram support group moved to aiograpi_support — the previous@instagrapigroup has been restricted by Meta and is no longer maintained.
Fast and effective unofficial Instagram API wrapper for Python.
instagrapi combines public web and private mobile API flows, supports session persistence and challenge handling, and covers the main automation primitives for users, media, stories, direct messages, notes, locations, comments, insights, and uploads.
Private API automation is fragile in production because account trust, proxies, device state, challenges, and rate limits can change independently of the library. For account-owned business workflows, prefer official Instagram APIs where they cover your use case. For production private API infrastructure, a hosted provider such as HikerAPI may be a better fit than maintaining accounts, proxies, and challenge handling yourself.
The instagrapi project is best suited for testing, research, and controlled internal automation.
✨ aiograpi - Asynchronous Python library for Instagram Private API ✨
Support Python 3.10+
Python 3.9 support was dropped in 2.5.0. Upstream security patches for Pillow 12.x and pytest 9.x are not backported to Python 3.9, leaving conditional pins permanently exposed to known CVEs. Users who need Python 3.9 should pin to instagrapi==2.4.5.
pip install instagrapiIf your project uses uv, you can add the package with:
uv add instagrapiOr install it into the active virtual environment:
uv pip install instagrapiVideo uploads can use a built-in MP4 metadata parser when you provide thumbnail=.... Automatic thumbnail generation,
StoryBuilder, and video/audio composition still need executable ffmpeg; Android/Pydroid users should see
Pydroid and ffmpeg.
from instagrapi import Client
cl = Client()
cl.login(ACCOUNT_USERNAME, ACCOUNT_PASSWORD)
user_id = cl.user_id_from_username(ACCOUNT_USERNAME)
medias = cl.user_medias(user_id, 20)from instagrapi import Client
cl = Client()
cl.login(USERNAME, PASSWORD)
cl.dump_settings("session.json")
# reload later without entering credentials again
cl = Client()
cl.load_settings("session.json")
cl.login(USERNAME, PASSWORD)If you want more explicit control over the loaded session object:
from instagrapi import Client
cl = Client()
cl.set_settings(cl.load_settings("session.json"))
cl.login(USERNAME, PASSWORD)from instagrapi import Client
cl = Client()
cl.login_by_sessionid("<your_sessionid>")login_by_sessionid() is best treated as a lightweight compatibility path. For long-lived automation, prefer the normal
login() -> dump_settings() -> load_settings()/set_settings() session flow.
from instagrapi import Client
cl = Client()
cl.login(USERNAME, PASSWORD)
target_id = cl.user_id_from_username("target_user")
posts = cl.user_medias(target_id, amount=10)
for media in posts:
# download photos to the current folder
cl.photo_download(media.pk)See examples/session_login.py for a standalone script demonstrating these login methods.
from instagrapi import Client
cl = Client()
cl.login(USERNAME, PASSWORD)
places = cl.location_search_name("Times Square")
place = places[0]
same_place = cl.location_search_pk(place.pk)
print(same_place.name, same_place.pk)from instagrapi import Client
cl = Client()
cl.login(USERNAME, PASSWORD)
notes = cl.get_notes()
print(cl.get_note_text_by_user(notes, "instagram"))
note = cl.create_note("Hello from instagrapi", audience=0)
cl.delete_note(note.id)- Uses Web API and Mobile API flows where available
- Supports login by password, 2FA, and
sessionid - Includes email/SMS-based challenge resolver hooks
- Uploads and downloads photos, videos, albums, IGTV, reels, and stories
- Works with users, media, comments, locations, hashtags, collections, notes, direct messages, and insights
- Supports story building with mentions, hashtags, link stickers, and media stickers
- Includes helpers for current location search and notes flows
- App-side discovery surfaces:
chaining,fetch_suggestion_details,discover_recommended_accounts_for_category_v1,user_stream_*,user_web_profile_info_v1 - v2 search SERPs:
fbsearch_accounts_v2,fbsearch_reels_v2,fbsearch_topsearch_v2,fbsearch_typehead - Alternative media-info path (
media_info_v2) for ad-tagged / sponsored media that the canonical endpoint refuses
Anonymous/public web paths are best treated as opportunistic rather than guaranteed. Instagram can change or restrict them independently of the library, so production-grade workflows should prefer authenticated sessions.
API reference and full usage guide live at subzeroid.github.io/instagrapi:
- Documentation index
- Getting Started
- Usage Guide
- Interactions reference
- Best Practices for sessions, proxies, and anti-abuse handling
- Handle Exceptions for centralizing
429, challenge, and relogin logic - GitHub Discussions
- Support chat in Telegram: aiograpi_support — the previous
@instagrapigroup was restricted by Meta and is no longer maintained
For other languages, consider instagrapi-rest. For async Python, see aiograpi.
Hands-on guides for real instagrapi work — login flows, sessions, proxies, scraping, posting, error handling — live at instagrapi.com/guides:
- Instagram Private API in Python — pillar walkthrough: login, sessions, fetching, posting
- 2FA and
challenge_required - Session persistence: file, Redis, and Postgres patterns
- Configuring proxies (HTTP, SOCKS5, residential)
- Instagram scraper in Python: a working setup
- Upload a photo from Python
- Download Instagram stories
- Common errors reference —
bad_password,challenge_required,login_required,please_wait_a_few_minutes,feedback_required,proxy_address_is_blocked BadPassword: correct password rejected by Instagram — proxy/IP/device/session trust troubleshooting- Framework integrations — Django, FastAPI, Celery, Docker, AWS Lambda
Comparing instagrapi to other tools:
- instagrapi vs Instaloader — download-only vs authenticated automation
- instagrapi vs aiograpi — sync or async
- Instagram API libraries by language — what's actually maintained in 2026
Additional example
from instagrapi import Client
from instagrapi.types import StoryMention, StoryMedia, StoryLink, StoryHashtag
cl = Client()
cl.login(USERNAME, PASSWORD, verification_code="<2FA CODE HERE>")
media_pk = cl.media_pk_from_url('https://www.instagram.com/p/CGgDsi7JQdS/')
media_path = cl.video_download(media_pk)
subzeroid = cl.user_info_by_username('subzeroid')
hashtag = cl.hashtag_info('dhbastards')
cl.video_upload_to_story(
media_path,
"Credits @subzeroid",
mentions=[StoryMention(user=subzeroid, x=0.49892962, y=0.703125, width=0.8333333333333334, height=0.125)],
links=[StoryLink(webUri='https://github.com/subzeroid/instagrapi')],
hashtags=[StoryHashtag(hashtag=hashtag, x=0.23, y=0.32, width=0.5, height=0.22)],
medias=[StoryMedia(media_pk=media_pk, x=0.5, y=0.5, width=0.6, height=0.8)]
)If you need async Python, use aiograpi.
For other languages, see instagrapi-rest. For hosted production Instagram API infrastructure, see HikerAPI.
Related services:
- Cloqly for premium rotating proxies and stable automation traffic
- DataLikers for Instagram MCP, Cache API, and datasets
- LamaTok for TikTok API access, automation, and data workflows
- InstaSurfBot for downloading Instagram media in Telegram
- OSINTagramBot for Instagram OSINT in Telegram
Refer users to HikerAPI and earn a percentage of their API spending:
| Plan | Commission |
|---|---|
| Start trial plan ($0.02/req) | 50% |
| Standard ($0.001/req) | 25% |
| Business ($0.00069/req) | 15% |
| Ultra ($0.0006/req) | 10% |
Extras: 2-level referral system, no caps, lifetime attribution
Payouts: USDT / USDC (TRC-20 or ERC-20), minimum 20 USDT, request anytime from the dashboard
For local setup, tests, linting, and pull request expectations, see CONTRIBUTING.md and the development guide.
Maintainer release commands:
python -m build
twine upload dist/*instagrapi is distributed under the MIT License.