The full upstream README, mirrored here for reference. Install config, tool schemas, adoption signals, and an original overview live on the INSSIST listing page.
The MCP server that lets an AI agent work inside your own logged-in Instagram session, through the INSSIST Chrome extension.
Complete docs and install: https://inssist.com/instagram-mcp
Every other Instagram MCP wraps the Graph API: business accounts only, no Stories, no music, no DMs, only what Meta chooses to expose. INSSIST drives the browser you are already signed into, so Claude Code, Codex, Cursor or Claude Desktop can read profiles and DMs, publish and schedule posts, reels and stories with music, pull insights and audience reports, and download media, on a personal, creator or business account alike.
Nothing is proxied through a cloud and no Instagram credentials are ever held: the server hands each tool call to the extension over loopback, and the extension answers from the browser.
npx comes with it).Register the server with your agent. It downloads and starts the server by itself; there is nothing to run by hand.
Claude Code
Codex
Claude Desktop, including Cowork: download inssist-mcp.mcpb and double-click it. One step, runs on Claude's built-in Node.js, no terminal needed.
Cursor, Windsurf, Gemini CLI and any other client: add this to its MCP config (Cursor:
.cursor/mcp.json):
Pairing is automatic: the toggle is the consent. The extension dials the server, both sides
store a token for silent reconnects, and turning the toggle off disconnects and stops all
retries. Several Chrome profiles can connect to the same server; each shows up as an
instance in account_info.
Several agents at once are fine too. Each harness starts its own @inssist/mcp process; the
first one to bind the port becomes the hub, later ones join it as peers and relay through it,
so Claude Code in two terminals, Claude Desktop and Cursor all share the same browsers. When the
hub's harness closes, one of the peers takes the port over and the extension reconnects to it.
60 tools, grouped the way the extension's Tools & features panel groups them. PRO marks tools that need an INSSIST PRO subscription; everything else is free, with no rate limit beyond INSSIST's own pacing. A PRO tool called without a subscription answers with a short message and an upgrade link instead of failing, so the agent can relay it.
| Group | Tools |
|---|---|
| Account | account_info, account_switch |
| Profile | profile_update, note_set |
| Read data | ig_fetch_profile, ig_fetch_posts, ig_fetch_post, ig_fetch_stories, ig_fetch_saved, ig_search |
| Engagement | story_viewers, notifications_list, events_check, follow_requests_list, follower_remove, ig_block |
| Comments | comments_list, comment_add, comment_reply, comment_like, comment_delete |
| Direct messages | dm_list, dm_requests, dm_read, dm_send, dm_mark_seen, dm_accept, dm_remove |
| Publishing | draft_create, draft_schedule, draft_publish, draft_get, draft_update, draft_delete, draft_list, draft_reorder |
| Posting | ig_post_edit, ig_post_delete, location_search, music_search |
| Insights | insights_collect, insights_report |
| Audience | unfollowers_scan / _report / _export, antibot_scan / _report / _export, peers_scan / _report / _export |
| Downloads | downloads_start, downloads_status, downloads_cancel |
A few shapes worth knowing:
draft_* vs ig_post_*. Drafts live in INSSIST's own publishing queue (a draft can be a
post, reel, story or carousel; type says which). ig_post_edit / ig_post_delete act on
posts already live on Instagram.insights_collect → insights_report, unfollowers_scan → unfollowers_report,
antibot_scan → antibot_report, peers_scan → peers_report,
downloads_start → downloads_status.*_export writes the full list to a CSV via Chrome's downloads and returns the path, for
lists too large to stream into an agent's context.Assets for draft_create are local file paths (the server reads them) or http(s) URLs
(the extension downloads them). Up to 100 MB per file, 200 MB per call.instance (every tool but account_info): which connected browser profile to use.
Defaults to the active one.instant (tools that hit Instagram): INSSIST spaces agent calls a few seconds apart on
one per-account queue so a burst does not draw a rate block. instant: true skips the queue;
agents should use it only when you asked for an immediate action. A call that would wait
longer than ~50 s is refused at once with busy: true and a retryAfterMs.Before a browser connects, the server advertises a snapshot of the tool list bundled with the
package, so a harness can list tools with nothing running. Calls against it answer with the
connection steps. Once the extension connects, its live list replaces the snapshot and the
client gets a tools/list_changed notification.
Everything runs on your machine. The server binds 127.0.0.1, accepts connections only from
chrome-extension:// origins, and stores one file, ~/.inssist/mcp-pairings.json (mode
0600), holding its own id and one pairing token per browser profile. The extension sends
INSSIST its usual anonymous usage events, including the name of each tool an agent calls, never
the arguments or results. Instagram traffic is the browser's own. See the
privacy policy.
| Variable | Default | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
INSSIST_MCP_PORT | 48231 | Loopback port the extension dials (change it in the extension too) |
INSSIST_MCP_HOME | ~/.inssist | Directory holding mcp-pairings.json |
npx @inssist/mcp --version and --help are also available.
@inssist/mcp would have been joined, not refused). Find it with
lsof -nP -i :48231 (macOS/Linux), or set INSSIST_MCP_PORT to a free port here and in the
extension.chrome://extensions → Update, the
server with npx @inssist/mcp@latest (or clear the npx cache) and restart the harness.mcp-bridge-manifest.json is the tool snapshot, generated from the extension source and
committed here on each release. It is not hand-edited.
Report vulnerabilities to inssist@slashed.io (see SECURITY.md). Support and questions: the same address, or inssist.com/support. MIT.