InstagramAPI for posts, Reels & Stories

Publish posts, Reels, and Stories to Instagram — and manage comments and DMs from the same API. Handle covers, audio, collaborators, and engagement seamlessly.

One API for feed posts, Reels, Stories, comment moderation, and direct messages.

Get API key — free See pricing

Free plan No credit card Live in under 5 minutes

Reels

Publish Instagram Reels with custom covers, audio, and trial strategies

Stories

Share ephemeral content with Stories support

Carousel Posts

Create multi-image carousel posts up to 10 images

Collaborators

Add up to 3 collaborators to your posts and reels

Comments

List, reply to, hide, and delete comments on your posts via the API

Direct Messages

Read and send Instagram DMs — private replies, ice breakers, and ig.me link referrals

api.postproxy.dev
POST /api/posts 
$ curl -X POST "https://api.postproxy.dev/api/posts" \
     -H "Authorization: Bearer $API_KEY" \
     -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
     -d '{
       "post": {
         "body": "Behind the scenes of our latest project launch!"
       },
       "profiles": ["instagram"],
       "media": ["https://example.com/photo.jpg"]
     }'
200 OK application/json 
{
  "id": "ig_abc123",
  "body": "Behind the scenes of our latest project launch!",
  "status": "scheduled",
  "draft": false,
  "source": "postproxy",
  "scheduled_at": "2026-05-04T11:00:00.000Z",
  "queue_id": null,
  "created_at": "2026-05-04T11:00:00.100Z",
  "media": [
    {
      "id": "ig_m1",
      "status": "pending",
      "error_message": null,
      "content_type": "image/jpeg",
      "source_url": "https://example.com/photo.jpg",
      "url": null
    }
  ],
  "platforms": [
    {
      "platform": "instagram",
      "status": "pending",
      "permalink": null,
      "error": null,
      "params": {
        "format": "post"
      },
      "attempted_at": null
    }
  ]
}

View full documentation for all platform-specific features for Instagram

View documentation
Integration cost

Skip weeks of Instagram integration work

One test post against a sandbox account is the easy part. Production Instagram publishing means app verification, OAuth across many accounts, media pipelines, dozens of edge cases, and a permanent on-call rotation for "why didn't this one go through this time?"

Weeks of Instagram integration work compressed to hours

Social media integration is not a one-off job — it's a constant commitment. Platforms change their APIs, scopes, limits, and policies on their own schedule. Every change becomes your problem unless someone else is absorbing it.

That's exactly what Postproxy does for Instagram — and every other platform we support — so your team ships features instead of chasing failed publishes.

5 min
Time to your first Instagram post via API
Weeks → Hours
Engineering time saved on integration work
$0
Free plan, no credit card required
Build it yourself
Ship with Postproxy
Submit a Instagram app for verification — review cycles, screencasts, business docs
01
One REST endpoint. One payload schema. SDKs for popular languages
Implement OAuth, token refresh, secure credential storage per account
02
OAuth, tokens, and refresh handled for you — across all accounts
Build media upload pipelines (chunked, async, multi-step) for every format
03
Media upload, chunking, and format detection — automatic
Handle rate limits, quotas, retries, and partial failures across accounts
04
Retries, rate-limit windows, and per-platform receipts built in
Cover dozens of edge cases: expired tokens, scope drift, regional restrictions, policy changes
05
Edge cases are our problem. Failures come back with an explicit reason
Triage every silent failure: "Why didn't this one post go through?"
06
We track the API changes. You ship features
Start posting to Instagram via API See pricing

Free plan includes the Instagram API. No credit card.

Benefits

Why Postproxy for Instagram?

Skip Instagram Graph API complexity

No need to handle Instagram Graph API, OAuth flows, or resumable uploads. Postproxy handles it all.

Handle rate limits automatically

Instagram rate limits are managed automatically with intelligent retry logic.

Support all formats

Publish feed posts, Reels, and Stories through one unified API.

Feed postsReelsStories

Publish and engage

Automatic retries and clear status for every post — plus comment moderation and DMs through the same API, with webhooks for inbound engagement.

How Postproxy publishes to Instagram

01 Instagram's publishing model
Instagram's Graph API uses a two-step container-based publishing flow: you first create a media container with your image or video, wait for it to process, then publish the container to the user's feed. For carousels, each item needs its own container, then a parent container wraps them all. Postproxy collapses this into a single API call — send your media URLs, text, and platform parameters, and the container orchestration happens behind the scenes.
02 Reels, Stories, and feed posts in one request
Instagram treats Reels, Stories, and feed posts as different publishing flows with different endpoint requirements and media constraints. Reels require video under 15 minutes, Stories expire after 24 hours and don't support text-only posts, and feed posts allow carousels of up to 10 items. With Postproxy you set a format parameter — post, reel, or story — and the API handles the routing and validation for each format automatically.
03 Common gotchas Postproxy handles for you
Instagram's API is notoriously strict about media formats. Images must be JPEG, and videos need specific codec and aspect ratio requirements that differ by format. The API also rate-limits container creation separately from publishing, and container processing is asynchronous — you need to poll for completion before publishing. Postproxy validates media constraints before uploading, manages the async polling loop, and retries on transient failures so your integration doesn't need to handle these edge cases.
04 Collaborators, covers, and first comments
Instagram-specific features like tagging collaborators on Reels, setting custom cover images, and posting a first comment immediately after publishing all require separate API calls or additional parameters in the container creation step. Postproxy exposes these as simple fields in the platform-specific parameters object — set collaborators, cover_url, or first_comment and they're applied as part of the same publish request.
05 Comments and direct messages
Beyond publishing, Postproxy lets you manage engagement on Instagram through the Comments and Direct Messages APIs. List, reply to, hide, and delete comments on your posts — and send and receive Instagram DMs, including private replies to commenters that bypass the 24-hour messaging window. Guide the conversation with tappable quick-reply chips or buttons on a DM, where every tap returns the payload you chose so you can route it without parsing free text. Set up ice breakers — the up-to-four suggested questions Instagram shows when a user opens a new thread — and attribute conversations to campaigns with ig.me link referrals: when someone enters a DM via an ig.me/m/<username>?ref=... link, the referral is stored on the chat and a webhook fires. Inbound comments and messages arrive via webhooks so your integration can react in real time.

Still wondering if Postproxy is the right fit?

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Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about Instagram integration

01 Can I add collaborators to Instagram posts?

Yes! You can add up to 3 collaborators for Reels and regular posts using the collaborators parameter in the platforms object. Provide an array of collaborator usernames.

02 How does cover_url work for Reels?

The cover_url parameter allows you to set a custom cover image for your Reel. If both cover_url and thumb_offset are provided, cover_url takes precedence. The cover image should be a URL to a publicly accessible image.

03 Can I publish Instagram Stories?

Yes! Set the format parameter to "story" in the platforms object. Stories require media (image or video) and do not support text content in the post body.

04 What formats are supported for Instagram?

Instagram supports three formats: "post" (feed post, default), "reel" (Instagram Reel), and "story" (Instagram Story). Each format has different media constraints and parameter options.

05 Can I add a first comment after posting?

Yes! Use the first_comment parameter to add a comment immediately after your post is published. This is useful for adding links, hashtags, or additional context that doesn't fit in the caption.

06 Does Postproxy support Instagram comments and DMs?

Yes. Postproxy supports listing, replying to, hiding, and deleting comments on Instagram posts, as well as sending and receiving direct messages — including private replies to commenters, ice breakers (the suggested questions shown when a user opens a new thread), and ig.me link referrals for campaign attribution. See the Comments API and Direct Messages API for details.

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