Do I need a Instagram developer account?

No. There is no Instagram app, OAuth flow or app review. One InsightSocial API key works for this endpoint and every other platform, and your first 10 calls priced at 100 credits or less are free.

How do I get every result, not just the first page?

This endpoint pages. Each response carries pagination.next_cursor and pagination.has_more. Send next_cursor back unchanged as the cursor parameter and stop when has_more is false. Every page is a separate call and is charged as one.

What happens if the account is private or nothing is found?

You get an error or an empty result, and it costs 0 credits. The API reads public Instagram data only, so private accounts and deleted content come back as not found rather than as partial data.

Can I call the Instagram Profile Reels API from Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor?

Yes. Add the hosted MCP server at https://api.insightsocial.app/mcp to your AI app and sign in. The assistant finds this endpoint by name, shows its price and calls it with your credits.

GET /v1/instagram/profile/reels

Instagram Profile Reels API

Returns a user's reels with view, like and comment counts and a thumbnail; share counts are not included here. Collab reels list every co-author under ext.coauthors.

Get a free API key Full API reference

10–140 credits, metered · cursor pagination · failed calls free · 10 free calls to start

curl "https://api.insightsocial.app/v1/instagram/profile/reels?handle=mrbeast" \
-H "x-api-key: $INSIGHTSOCIAL_API_KEY"

200 OKJSON

{
"success": true,
"platform": "instagram",
"endpoint": "/v1/instagram/profile/reels",
"schema_version": "2",
"data": {
"items": [
{
"post": {
"id": "<string>",
"url": "<string | null>",
"kind": "<string | null>",
"content": {
"text": "<string | null>",
"media_urls": "<array | null>",
"thumbnail_url": "<string | null>",
"duration_seconds": "<number | null>"
},
"author": {
"id": "<string | null>",
"username": "<string | null>",
"display_name": "<string | null>",
"avatar_url": "<string | null>",
"verified": "<boolean | null>"
},
"engagement": {
"views": "<integer | null>",
"likes": "<integer | null>",
"comments": "<integer | null>",
"shares": "<integer | null>",
"saves": "<integer | null>"
},
"flags": {
"nsfw": "<boolean | null>",
"spoiler": "<boolean | null>",
"pinned": "<boolean | null>",
"deleted": "<boolean>",
"likes_hidden": "<boolean | null>",
"comments_hidden": "<boolean | null>",
"shares_hidden": "<boolean | null>",
"views_hidden": "<boolean | null>",
"saves_hidden": "<boolean | null>"
},
"published_at": "<string | null>",
"language": "<string | null>",
"ext": "<object | null>"
}
}
]
},
"pagination": {
"next_cursor": "<string | null>",
"has_more": "<boolean>"
},
"unavailable": [],
"credits_used": "<integer>"
}

When to use it

Use it for reels only rather than the whole post feed; use profile/reels/full when you also need per-reel share counts.

Parameters

Query parameters for GET /v1/instagram/profile/reels. Send your key in the x-api-key header.

Name	Required	Description
user_id	One of user_id, handle	Instagram user id. Use this for faster response times.
handle	One of handle, user_id	Instagram username without the @ symbol.
since	No	Only reels published on or after this date: YYYY-MM-DD (midnight UTC) or an ISO 8601 timestamp. Older reels are left off the page, and the page that reaches one ends the walk: next_cursor is not returned and pagination.stopped_at is since. Pinned reels sit out of date order and never end the walk. The page still costs what a page costs, so a daily poll pays for the pages it walks and no more.
stop_at_id	No	The id (post.id) or URL (post.url) of the newest reel you already hold. The page stops just before it: that reel and everything after it are left off, next_cursor is not returned, and pagination.stopped_at is known_id. A pinned reel never counts as the stop point. If it is not on this page the page is returned in full with its cursor, so keep walking. pagination.stopped_at is end when the list ran out first and null while there is more to walk.
trim	No	Set to true to request the lighter record: a smaller, faster page that keeps the engagement, the author, the caption, the timestamp and the reel URL. What it drops is post.content.media_urls (the video file), post.content.duration_seconds, post.ext.coauthors and post.flags.pinned. The cover image is returned as post.content.thumbnail_url either way. Leave it unset when you need the video URL or the duration.
exclude_pinned	No	Set to true to leave out the posts the owner pinned to the top of the profile. A row whose pin state is unknown, which is every row with trim=true, is kept.
recent_days	No	Keep only posts published in the last N days (1 to 3650). Older posts are removed from the page, pinned ones included, and once a page reaches posts older than the window next_cursor is not returned, so a walk back to a date window stops on its own. The page still costs what a page costs.
include	No	stats returns the full stat line on every reel: engagement.shares, engagement.saves and post.ext.repost_count beside views, likes, comments, the remix counter, post.ext.music_id for original sounds and licensed music alike, and post.ext.audio_cluster_id, Instagram's audio cluster for the reel. It is served by a second source, so a cursor from a request without it cannot continue a walk with it; start from page 1. Both tokens can be combined (include=audio,stats).
cursor	No	The pagination.next_cursor from the previous page, sent back unchanged. Omit it for the first page.

Response fields

The same unified schema every platform returns, so code written for Instagram works on the other eight. A field the platform did not provide is null and listed in unavailable.

Field	Type	Notes
id	string	An identifier, always a string. Never parse it as a number: several platforms use ids above 2^53.
url	string \| null
kind	string \| null	The format of the post. Format words only, never a platform name. short = short-form vertical video (a reel, a TikTok, a YouTube Short).
content.text	string \| null
content.media_urls	array \| null
content.thumbnail_url	string \| null
content.duration_seconds	number \| null
author.id	string \| null
author.username	string \| null
author.display_name	string \| null
author.avatar_url	string \| null
author.verified	boolean \| null
engagement.views	integer \| null	A count. null when the platform does not expose it; 0 only when it is really zero.
engagement.likes	integer \| null	A count. null when the platform does not expose it; 0 only when it is really zero.
engagement.comments	integer \| null	A count. null when the platform does not expose it; 0 only when it is really zero.
engagement.shares	integer \| null	A count. null when the platform does not expose it; 0 only when it is really zero.
engagement.saves	integer \| null	A count. null when the platform does not expose it; 0 only when it is really zero.
flags.nsfw	boolean \| null
flags.spoiler	boolean \| null
flags.pinned	boolean \| null
flags.deleted	boolean
flags.likes_hidden	boolean \| null
flags.comments_hidden	boolean \| null
flags.shares_hidden	boolean \| null
flags.views_hidden	boolean \| null
flags.saves_hidden	boolean \| null
published_at	string \| null	ISO-8601 timestamp in UTC, ending in Z.
language	string \| null	The content's language as the platform states it, e.g. en, pt-BR. Detected languages come later (§7.1).
ext	object \| null	Platform-specific fields, snake_case.

Every field, error and example is in the Instagram Profile Reels API reference.

How much does the Instagram Profile Reels API cost?

Metered: 10–140 credits a call. The ceiling is reserved when the call starts and you are charged what it actually read.

Failed calls are free
A call that errors or finds nothing costs 0 credits.
Know the price first
Add dry_run=1 and the response quotes the call without making it. Nothing is charged.
One balance
API calls and Chrome extension exports share the same credits, on the free plan too.

See plans and credit packs How credits work