Instagram Posts API examples for SocQ

Collect public Instagram posts for one or more usernames, including captions, author data, media references, hashtags, mentions, and visible engagement metrics.

Try Instagram Posts API · Get an API key · Documentation · All SocQ examples

Use cases

• Single-post media extraction: Collect public posts from selected Instagram usernames into normalized records with media references and stable identifiers.
• Content research: Collect public captions, timestamps, hashtags, and visible engagement counters for posts reviewed by research or analytics teams.
• Archive workflows: Store public post metadata, media references, author context, and task IDs for review queues, reporting systems, or product records.
• Campaign QA: Review the public posts returned for creator or brand usernames before joining selected records with campaign data.

API behavior

• Submit one or more public usernames in the same request.
• results_limit sets the maximum number of post records requested.
• Post text, media fields, author fields, and public metrics can be absent when they are not publicly available.
• Engagement values are point-in-time observations; keep collected_at when comparing repeated collections.

All requests use the shared asynchronous flow:

submit -> task_id -> poll task -> read every cursor page -> save results

Quick start

cp .env.example .env
export SOCQ_API_KEY="your-api-key"

Run the complete Node.js workflow:

cd node
npm start

Run the complete Python workflow:

python3 -m pip install -r python/requirements.txt
python3 python/main.py

Both examples load payload.example.json, retry transient API responses, wait for task completion, read every cursor page, and save a paginated public-post dataset for content and engagement analysis to output/results.json.

Never expose SOCQ_API_KEY in browser code, mobile apps, public repositories, screenshots, fixtures, or logs.

Request

POST https://api.socq.ai/v1/instagram/posts
Authorization: Bearer <SOCQ_API_KEY>
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "usernames": [
    "example_creator"
  ],
  "results_limit": 10
}

The submit response contains data.task_id. Poll the task endpoint until data.status becomes succeeded or failed, then continue with data.results.next_cursor while data.results.has_more is true.

Complete workflow example

The Node.js and Python programs implement the production-shaped happy path:

1. Load and validate configuration.
2. Submit the endpoint-specific payload.
3. Retry rate-pressure and transient server responses with bounded backoff.
4. Poll the asynchronous task with a ten-minute application timeout.
5. Stop cleanly on a failed task and surface the public error message.
6. Read all cursor pages instead of silently returning only the first page.
7. Write a stable JSON artifact containing task metadata and normalized records.

Use the synthetic files in fixtures/ for tests and documentation. They do not contain customer, account, or production data.

Production notes

See docs/production-notes.md for validation, retry, timeout, pagination, deduplication, logging, and endpoint-specific guidance.

Responsible use and platform scope

• Use only publicly accessible Instagram profiles, posts, Reels, comments, and fields supported by the selected endpoint.
• Do not use the examples to access private accounts, restricted content, login-only surfaces, or authentication controls.
• SocQ is not an official API of the represented social platform and is not affiliated with or endorsed by that platform.
• Before production use, assess the laws, platform terms, privacy obligations, and retention requirements that apply to your organization and use case.
• Collect only the fields needed for a defined purpose, restrict access, set retention periods, and support correction or deletion workflows where required.
• Platform names and trademarks belong to their respective owners.

This section describes the public-data boundary; it is not legal advice or a guarantee that every use case is permitted in every jurisdiction.

Repository contents

Path	Purpose
curl/request.md	Copy-paste submit, poll, and pagination requests
node/index.mjs	Complete Node.js workflow
python/main.py	Complete Python workflow
payload.example.json	Safe endpoint-specific request body
fixtures/	Synthetic submit and task response shapes
docs/production-notes.md	Production integration guidance