| name | instagram-skill |
| description | How to use Instagram CLI to interact with Instagram from the command line on behalf of a user. Use this skill whenever the user wants to send or read Instagram messages, check their inbox, reply to or unsend messages, or automate any Instagram DM workflow via the CLI. This includes tasks phrased as "message X on Instagram", "check my Instagram DMs", "send a photo to my friend", "read my unread Instagram threads", or any automation / scripting involving Instagram direct messages.
|
Instagram CLI — Agent Usage Guide
Instagram CLI (instagram-cli) is a terminal client for Instagram. For agents, it exposes
one-turn commands that print to stdout and exit — perfect for scripting and tool-use.
All one-turn commands require the user to already be logged in (instagram-cli auth login).
If a command returns an auth error, prompt the user to log in first. Do not attempt to login using the CLI by yourself.
Thread Resolution
Every command that targets a thread accepts a <thread> argument resolved in this order:
- Thread ID (20+ digit number like
340282366920938463...) — direct, zero extra API calls
- Username — exact Instagram username (e.g.
johndoe)
- Thread title — fuzzy search across inbox (e.g.
"Book Club")
Best practice for multi-step workflows: call inbox --output json first to get thread IDs,
then pass those IDs directly to subsequent commands. This avoids redundant search API calls and
is more reliable than username/title matching.
JSON Output
All commands accept -o json / --output json. Responses follow this envelope:
{ "ok": true, "data": { ... } }
{ "ok": false, "error": "message" }
Always use --output json when you need to parse results programmatically.
Commands
List inbox
instagram-cli inbox [--limit <n>] [--output json]
Returns recent threads. Each thread includes: id, title, users, lastMessage, lastActivity, unread.
instagram-cli inbox --limit 10 --output json
Search threads
instagram-cli inbox --search <query> [--limit <n>] [--output json]
Searches by both username and thread title, merging results by relevance score.
instagram-cli inbox --search "alice" --output json
Send a message
instagram-cli send <thread> --text <message> [--output json]
instagram-cli send <thread> --file <path> [--type photo|video] [--output json]
<thread> is a thread ID, username, or title. --text and --file are mutually exclusive.
Media type is auto-detected from extension; use --type to override.
instagram-cli send johndoe --text "Hey, are you free tonight?"
instagram-cli send 340282366920938463123456789 --text "Got it!"
instagram-cli send "Book Club" --file ./photo.jpg --output json
Read messages
instagram-cli read <thread> [--limit <n>] [--cursor <cursor>] [--mark-seen] [--output json]
Returns messages newest-first. Use cursor from the previous response to paginate older messages.
Pass --mark-seen to mark the thread as read after fetching.
instagram-cli read johndoe --limit 20 --output json
instagram-cli read 340282366920938463123456789 --mark-seen
Each message in JSON output includes: id, itemType, text, userId, username, timestamp, isOutgoing.
Download media from a message
instagram-cli read <thread> --message-id <id> --download <path> [--output json]
Finds the message by ID (paginates up to --max-pages, default 10) and saves the media file.
The file extension is automatically inferred if not provided.
instagram-cli read johndoe --message-id 340282366... --download ./media
Reply to a message
instagram-cli reply <thread> --message-id <id> --text <text> [--output json]
Sends a threaded reply to a specific message.
instagram-cli reply johndoe --message-id 340282366... --text "Totally agree!"
Unsend a message
instagram-cli unsend <thread> --message-id <id> [--output json]
instagram-cli unsend johndoe --message-id 340282366...
Multi-Account Support
All commands accept -u <username> / --username <username> to target a specific logged-in account.
Omitting it uses the default account set via instagram-cli auth switch.
instagram-cli inbox -u myworkaccount --output json
instagram-cli send johndoe --text "Hi" -u mypersonalaccount
Typical Agent Workflow
INBOX=$(instagram-cli inbox --output json --limit 20)
THREAD_ID="340282366920938463..."
instagram-cli read "$THREAD_ID" --limit 10 --output json
instagram-cli send "$THREAD_ID" --text "On my way!" --output json
instagram-cli read "$THREAD_ID" --mark-seen
Error Handling
- Auth errors → user needs to run
instagram-cli auth login
- "No thread found matching" → the username/title didn't resolve; try
inbox --search first
"ok": false in JSON output → the error field contains the reason- Rate limits / network errors are surfaced as error messages; retry with backoff if needed
