Instagram reel search API

Q: Which errors can it return?

invalid_params (do not retry), not_found (do not retry). Account and platform errors from the errors list can also happen. A failure always costs 0 credits.

Q: How do I get more than one page?

Send the same request with cursor set to the cursor you received, until has_more is false . Each page costs its own price. See pagination .

Q: Is there an SDK call for it?

The preview Python client has client.instagram.search_reels(...) and the TypeScript client client.instagram.searchReels() . Both return the same envelope as the HTTP API. The packages are not published yet; plain HTTP works today in any language.

Reels for a keyword or phrase from Instagram's public Popular search (the same source as search/popular.

GETapi.socialscrape.io/v1/instagram/search/reels

Cost: 1 credit
Cached repeats: 0 creditssend max_age_days, results kept 30 days
Failed requests: 0 credits
Status: Betashape may still gain fields

It is not Google-indexed), about 50 to 70 over 5 or 6 pages. date_posted is accepted for compatibility and not applied: Popular search has no date filter.

You send query.

Request

Send your key in the x-api-key header.

curl

curl -G "https://api.socialscrape.io/v1/instagram/search/reels" \
  -H "x-api-key: $SOCIALSCRAPE_API_KEY" \
  --data-urlencode 'query=sourdough'

Python

import os
import requests

params = {
    "query": "sourdough",
}
res = requests.get(
    "https://api.socialscrape.io/v1/instagram/search/reels",
    headers={"x-api-key": os.environ["SOCIALSCRAPE_API_KEY"]},
    params=params,
    timeout=60,
)
body = res.json()

if body["ok"]:
    print(body["data"])
else:
    print(body["error"]["code"], body["error"]["message"])

TypeScript

const url = new URL("https://api.socialscrape.io/v1/instagram/search/reels");
url.search = new URLSearchParams({
  query: "sourdough",
}).toString();
const res = await fetch(url, {
  headers: { "x-api-key": process.env.SOCIALSCRAPE_API_KEY! },
});
const body = await res.json();

if (body.ok) {
  console.log(body.data);
} else {
  console.error(body.error.code, body.error.message);
}

n8n

{
  "nodes": [
    {
      "name": "SocialScrape Instagram reel search",
      "type": "n8n-nodes-base.httpRequest",
      "typeVersion": 4.2,
      "position": [
        0,
        0
      ],
      "parameters": {
        "method": "GET",
        "url": "https://api.socialscrape.io/v1/instagram/search/reels",
        "sendQuery": true,
        "queryParameters": {
          "parameters": [
            {
              "name": "query",
              "value": "sourdough"
            }
          ]
        },
        "sendHeaders": true,
        "headerParameters": {
          "parameters": [
            {
              "name": "x-api-key",
              "value": "={{ $env.SOCIALSCRAPE_API_KEY }}"
            }
          ]
        }
      }
    }
  ],
  "connections": {}
}

Parameters

Name	Type	Required	Description
`query`	string	yes	Search terms. Also accepted as `keyword`, `q`.
`date_posted`	string		Accepted for compatibility; not applied (no date filter upstream).
`cursor`	string		Opaque cursor from the previous page; pass it back unchanged. Also accepted as `continuationToken`, `continuation_token`, `next_max_id`, `max_id`, `max_cursor`, `min_time`, `after`, `page_token`, `pageToken`, `paginationToken`, `next_page_id`, `page`.

Every request also accepts trim, raw and max_age_days.

Response

Sample from a recorded response, shortened. Values are public data, not yours.

Status 200Sample

{
  "ok": true,
  "credits_charged": 1,
  "credits_remaining": 4999,
  "cached": false,
  "cached_at": null,
  "request_id": "req_085507c98030a51c485c76c1",
  "data": {
    "object": "list",
    "items": [
      {
        "object": "post",
        "platform": "instagram",
        "id": "DWMQ8l6x9hu",
        "url": "https://www.instagram.com/reel/DWMQ8l6x9hu/",
        "type": "reel",
        "author": {
          "id": null,
          "handle": "thesourdoughnerd",
          "name": null,
          "url": "https://www.instagram.com/thesourdoughnerd/",
          "avatar_url": null,
          "verified": null
        },
        "title": null,
        "text": "Sourdough Bread Recipe for Beginners\nStep-by-Step Tutorial\n\nINGREDIENTS\n• 500g unbleached bread flour (4 cups)\n• 350g water (1½ cups)\n• 100g active sourdough...",
        "published_at": "2026-03-22T15:24:20Z",
        "duration_seconds": 179,
        "language": null,
        "hashtags": [],
        "mentions": [],
        "stats": {
          "views": null,
          "likes": null,
          "comments": null,
          "shares": null,
          "saves": null,
          "dislikes": null
        },
        "media": {
          "thumbnail_url": "https://scontent-ord5-2.cdninstagram.com/v/t51.71878-15/655937072_972380852120812_6676440451373029320_n.jpg?stp=dst-jpg_e35_s640x640_tt6&_nc_cat=110&ccb=7-5&...",
          "video_url": null,
          "audio_url": null,
          "image_urls": null,
          "width": null,
          "height": null
        },
        "song": null,
        "location": null,
        "is_pinned": null,
        "is_sponsored": null,
        "extra": null
      },
      {
        "object": "post",
        "platform": "instagram",
        "id": "DZYYrSZT9kN",
        "url": "https://www.instagram.com/reel/DZYYrSZT9kN/",
        "type": "reel",
        "author": {
          "id": null,
          "handle": "anujayanstar",
          "name": null,
          "url": "https://www.instagram.com/anujayanstar/",
          "avatar_url": null,
          "verified": null
        },
        "title": null,
        "text": "slicing a Toasted Sesame Sourdough Country Loaf \nFormula in Baker’s %:\n100% flour\n90% water\n30% levain\n2% salt\n14% toasted sesame seeds (white + black)\n#sour...",
        "published_at": "2026-06-09T21:56:57Z",
        "duration_seconds": 11,
        "language": null,
        "hashtags": [
          "sourdough",
          "bread",
          "baking"
        ],
        "mentions": [],
        "stats": {
          "views": null,
          "likes": null,
          "comments": null,
          "shares": null,
          "saves": null,
          "dislikes": null
        },
        "media": {
          "thumbnail_url": "https://scontent-ord5-1.cdninstagram.com/v/t51.82787-15/720065118_18467218159111336_7942046629612603074_n.jpg?stp=dst-jpg_e35_s640x640_tt6&_nc_cat=108&ccb=7-...",
          "video_url": null,
          "audio_url": null,
          "image_urls": null,
          "width": null,
          "height": null
        },
        "song": null,
        "location": null,
        "is_pinned": null,
        "is_sponsored": null,
        "extra": null
      }
    ],
    "cursor": "cAQHTOkOdJyu636zngOhyOqO1vnPCysWcOpv7X1N8SG2RRwgMdSjLgYkCZGrwF5RfIhte",
    "has_more": true,
    "parent": null
  },
  "cursor": "cAQHTOkOdJyu636zngOhyOqO1vnPCysWcOpv7X1N8SG2RRwgMdSjLgYkCZGrwF5RfIhte",
  "has_more": true
}

Fields

A page of results. Each entry in items is a Post. cursor and has_more page through the rest.

A field the platform does not give is null, never made up. Extra platform details are in extra.

Field	Type	Always
`object`	`"post"`
`platform`	Platform	yes
`id`	string	yes
`url`	string or null
`type`	`"video"` or `"short"` or `"reel"` or `"image"` or `"carousel"` or `"story"` or `"live"` or `"clip"` or `"text"` or `"link"` or `"tweet"` or `"pin"` or `"community_post"` or `"episode"` or `"unknown"`
`author`	Author or null
`title`	string or null
`text`	string or null
`published_at`	string (ISO 8601 date-time) or null
`duration_seconds`	number or null
`language`	string or null
`hashtags`	string[] or null
`mentions`	string[] or null
`stats`	Stats

Show the other 6 fields

Field	Type	Always	Notes
`media`	Media
`song`	SongRef or null
`location`	Place or null
`is_pinned`	boolean or null
`is_sponsored`	boolean or null
`extra`	object or null

Full field list in the reference for this endpoint and the data models. Errors are listed under Errors.

Questions

Which errors can it return?

invalid_params (do not retry), not_found (do not retry). Account and platform errors from the errors list can also happen. A failure always costs 0 credits.

How do I get more than one page?

Send the same request with cursor set to the cursor you received, until has_more is false. Each page costs its own price. See pagination.

Is there an SDK call for it?

The preview Python client has client.instagram.search_reels(...) and the TypeScript client client.instagram.searchReels(). Both return the same envelope as the HTTP API. The packages are not published yet; plain HTTP works today in any language.

Can an AI agent call it?

Yes. The MCP server reaches every built endpoint, with the same prices.

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