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Public Transport

instagrapi uses two network surfaces:

  • private mobile API requests, used for authenticated mobile flows;
  • public web requests, used by helpers such as public profile and public media lookups.

The default public web transport is requests. It has the smallest dependency footprint and keeps the existing transport-level retry behavior.

The public transport option is exposed as PublicTransport = Literal["requests", "curl"].

For public web endpoints that are sensitive to browser TLS fingerprints, you can install the optional curl transport:

pip install "instagrapi[curl]"

The curl extra requires curl-adapter>=1.2.3 for compatibility with urllib3 2.8. If an existing environment has an older adapter, upgrade it with pip install --upgrade "curl-adapter>=1.2.3".

Then opt in explicitly:

from instagrapi import Client

cl = Client(public_transport="curl", public_transport_impersonate="chrome136")

public_transport configures the public web session. Private mobile API requests use private HTTP/2 transport by default.

User-Agent configuration

Public web requests and the private Android API use separate profiles. The existing defaults are retained: the requests public session uses its Safari UA, the curl public session uses the UA selected by public_transport_impersonate, and non-LSD doc_id GraphQL uses the existing iOS UA. Some public helpers reuse authentication cookies; public does not always mean anonymous.

public_user_agent configures the ordinary public session, legacy query_hash/query_id requests, and the preparation GET and POST of include_lsd=True GraphQL. public_graphql_user_agent configures non-LSD doc_id requests, including high-level profile and comment helpers. Set it to None to make that path follow public_user_agent:

from instagrapi import Client

cl = Client(public_transport="curl", public_graphql_user_agent=None)

For an existing client, cl.set_public_user_agent(web_ua) applies the supplied string to the web session and makes non-LSD GraphQL follow it. Use cl.set_public_user_agent(web_ua, graphql_ua) or the constructor's public_user_agent and public_graphql_user_agent arguments for independent strings. For public_doc_id_graphql_request, a headers={"User-Agent": ...} override takes precedence for its POST, is case-insensitive and does not change the session header. LSD preparation GET requests continue using the web profile, and their POST can be explicitly overridden. Legacy public_request and public_graphql_request retain their existing session-header update behavior.

Both settings, including a shared public_graphql_user_agent=None, survive get_settings()/set_settings() and dump_settings()/load_settings() round trips. Saved UA fields take precedence over constructor values. Older settings without UA fields use the selected transport's default, except that an explicit constructor public_user_agent remains in effect. Selecting a public transport through set_retry_config(...) retains its existing behavior of resetting the web UA to that transport's default; apply a custom UA with set_public_user_agent(...) afterward. An independent GraphQL UA remains unchanged, while a shared one follows the new web UA.

These controls do not change the private Android UA, TLS/browser impersonation, dependencies or retry policy. Changing a UA alone does not reproduce a different transport fingerprint, and arbitrary caller-supplied UA strings are not guaranteed to be accepted by Instagram. This configuration correction does not establish a cause of account restrictions or replace the legacy default strings.

Live Comparison

This is a point-in-time live comparison from May 15, 2026. Instagram public web behavior changes frequently, so treat these numbers as a practical signal, not a guarantee.

Method:

  • branch: curl public transport PR branch;
  • environment: fresh remote Linux clone with instagrapi[curl] installed;
  • Python: 3.12;
  • rounds: 4;
  • public request retry loop: disabled with public_request_retries_count = 1;
  • curl impersonation: chrome136;
  • identical inputs for both transports.
Public web helper requests curl
user_info_by_username_gql("instagram") 0/4 ok, p50 12.05s 3/4 ok, p50 1.42s
user_info_by_username_gql("1fexd") 0/4 ok, p50 12.05s 2/4 ok, p50 0.20s
media_pk_from_url("https://www.instagram.com/p/C_BM2yAN4Rm/") 4/4 ok, p50 0.00s 4/4 ok, p50 0.00s
media_info_gql("3441088131388376166") 0/4 ok, p50 2.49s 0/4 ok, p50 2.45s
Total 4/16 ok, p50 7.28s 9/16 ok, p50 0.23s

Observed failures:

  • requests repeatedly hit 429 on users/web_profile_info;
  • curl avoided those 429 responses in early rounds, then hit 401 on the same public endpoint;
  • both transports hit 404 on the tested public media info path.

On September 24, 2026, media_info_gql with public_transport="curl" returned a current public carousel post using a saved session. The default requests transport returned HTML for that GraphQL call. This single-post check is separate from the historical May comparison above; public document IDs and access behavior can change.

Recommendation

Use the default requests transport unless you specifically need public web endpoints that are being rate limited or blocked by TLS fingerprint checks.

Use public_transport="curl" when:

  • public profile web lookups return repeated 429 responses with the default transport;
  • you can install the optional native dependencies pulled by instagrapi[curl];
  • you understand that public web access is still opportunistic and can return 401, 403, 404, or 429.

Prefer authenticated private API helpers for production workflows when an equivalent private/mobile path exists.