Social platforms

Search Instagram Reels · Instagram API

GET/instagram/search/reels

$min $0.003

Returns Instagram Reels that match a keyword with captions, owners, play counts and video URLs. Paginate with `cursor`.

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Request

curl https://api.unifapi.com/instagram/search/reels?query= \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $UNIFAPI_KEY"

Parameters

queryqueryrequired: Keyword to search Reels for.
cursorquery: Opaque pagination cursor from a previous response's `pagination.next_cursor`. Omit for the first page.

Overview

This operation is part of the Instagram API in the social platforms category. It uses the same Bearer token, request tracing, error model, and billing envelope as every UnifAPI endpoint, so agents can switch between platforms without custom per-vendor glue code.

Use it when a workflow needs Instagram public data alongside other social networks, but should still keep one API key, one account balance, and one predictable JSON contract.

Common agent workflows

Search Instagram for public mentions, creators, posts, or topics matching a user query.
Feed ranked Instagram results into research, monitoring, and enrichment workflows.
Give an AI agent a stable Instagram data source without building a per-platform integration.
Normalize Instagram responses into the same UnifAPI envelope used across the catalog.

Response shape

Unified envelope, platform-native fields

List-style responses return `data` as an array of top-level records plus optional `pagination` for continuation tokens or cursors.
The operation has a 3 credits ($0.003) minimum charge, so `billing.records_charged` can be higher than the visible records returned.
If the workspace balance cannot cover every result, the response can be truncated and `billing.truncated_due_to_balance` tells the caller why.

Response status codes

200400401402404429500502503

Billing

This operation charges 1 credit per billable record, with a 3 credits ($0.003) operation minimum. Public responses include billing metadata with credits charged, records charged, and remaining workspace balance. Incorrect Credit deductions caused by platform failures can be restored as billing corrections.

Errors and retries

Authentication, validation, rate-limit, not-found, and provider errors use the unified UnifAPI error format. Agents should log `request_id`, retry only retryable failures, and treat invalid API keys, disabled keys, and expired keys as the same public `unauthorized` error type.

Response fields

Fields on each record in data

A successful Search Instagram Reels call returns data as an array; each record carries these fields (12 of 30 shown — the docs list the full schema).

idstring | null: Media id.
shortcodestring | null: Shortcode used in the media URL. Null for stories.
urlstring | null: Public URL: `/reel/` for Reels, `/p/` otherwise. Null for stories.
kindstring | null: `post`, `reel` or `story`. One of: post, reel, story.
media_typestring | null: `image`, `video` or `carousel`. Null when unknown. One of: image, video, carousel.
captionstring | null: Caption text.
alt_textstring | null: Alt text Instagram generated or the owner wrote. Null when none or not reported.
created_atnumber | null: When it was posted. Unix seconds.
ownerobject | null: The account that posted it. Null when unknown.
like_countnumber | null: Likes. Null when hidden or not reported.
comment_countnumber | null: Comments.
play_countnumber | null: Plays, for videos. Counts Instagram plays only, not plays of a cross-posted copy on other apps.

Run it

Agents & Skills built on Instagram

You rarely call Search Instagram Reels by hand. These prebuilt agents and skills already read Instagram data inside Claude or Codex — start from one of them, or call this endpoint yourself.