instagrapi

🔥 The fastest and powerful Python library for Instagram Private API 2026 with HikerAPI SaaS

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User

View a list of a user’s medias, following and followers

Method Return Description
user_followers(user_id: str, amount: int = 0, order: str = None) Dict[int, UserShort] Get dict of followers users (amount=0 - fetch all followers). Use order="date_followed_latest" or order="date_followed_earliest" for mobile follower sorting
user_following(user_id: str, amount: int = 0) Dict[int, UserShort] Get dict of following users (amount=0 - fetch all)
search_followers(user_id: str, query: str) List[UserShort] Search by followers
search_following(user_id: str, query: str) List[UserShort] Search by following
user_info(user_id: str) User Get user info
user_info_by_username(username: str) User Get user info by username
user_about_v1(user_id: str) About Get “About this account” info
user_guides_v1(user_id: int) List[Guide] Get user’s guides
user_follow(user_id: str) bool Follow user
user_unfollow(user_id: str) bool Unfollow user
user_follow_requests(amount: int = 0) List[UserShort] Get pending incoming follow requests
user_follow_request_approve(user_id: str) bool Approve a pending incoming follow request
user_follow_request_decline(user_id: str) bool Decline a pending incoming follow request
user_follow_requests_approve(user_ids: List[str]) Dict[str, bool] Approve pending incoming follow requests
user_follow_requests_decline(user_ids: List[str]) Dict[str, bool] Decline pending incoming follow requests
user_id_from_username(username: str) int Get user_id by username
username_from_user_id(user_id: str) str Get username by user_id
user_remove_follower(user_id: str) bool Remove your follower
mute_posts_from_follow(user_id: str) bool Mute posts from following user
unmute_posts_from_follow(user_id: str) bool Unmute posts from following user
mute_stories_from_follow(user_id: str) bool Mute stories from following user
enable_posts_notifications(user_id: str) bool Enable post notifications of user
disable_posts_notifications(user_id: str) bool Disable post notifications of user
enable_videos_notifications(user_id: str) bool Enable videos notifications of user
disable_videos_notifications(user_id: str) bool Disable videos notifications of user
enable_reels_notifications(user_id: str) bool Enable reels notifications of user
disable_reels_notifications(user_id: str) bool Disable reels notifications of user
enable_stories_notifications(user_id: str) bool Enable stories notifications of user
disable_stories_notifications(user_id: str) bool Disable stories notifications of user
close_friend_add(user_id: str) bool Add to Close Friends List
close_friend_remove(user_id: str) bool Remove from Close Friends List
chaining(user_id: str) dict Suggested users for a profile (discover/chaining/) — same surface as the app’s “Suggested for you” carousel
fetch_suggestion_details(user_id: str, chained_ids: str) dict Expanded social-context fields for chained suggestion ids (discover/fetch_suggestion_details/)
discover_recommended_accounts_for_category_v1(user_id: str) dict Business-category-similar accounts: extracts category_id from the target’s stream payload, then calls discover/recommended_accounts_for_category/
user_related_profiles_gql(user_id: str) List[UserShort] Related profiles via public GraphQL edge_chaining (legacy query_hash, gated by IG — prefer chaining for reliability)

Lookup helpers:

Method Return Description
user_short_gql(user_id: str, use_cache: bool = True) UserShort Short user info with current GraphQL/web-profile fallback chain
username_from_user_id_gql(user_id: str) str Resolve username from user id using the same fallback chain

Streamed profile fetch (raw payloads, app-side surface):

Method Return Description
user_stream_by_id_v1(user_id: str) dict Streamed profile envelope by pk (users/{user_id}/info_stream/)
user_stream_by_username_v1(username: str) dict Streamed profile envelope by username (users/{username}/usernameinfo_stream/)
user_stream_by_id_flat(user_id: str) dict Same as _v1 but stream_rows[*].user partials merged into a single dict
user_stream_by_username_flat(username: str) dict Same as _v1 but stream_rows[*].user partials merged into a single dict
user_web_profile_info_v1(username: str) dict users/web_profile_info/?username=... via the private host (logged-in session, bypasses public-side rate limiting)
feed_user_stream_item(item_id: str, is_pull_to_refresh: bool = False) dict Raw streamed feed payload for a user/profile grid item

Low level methods:

Method Return Description
user_followers_gql_chunk(user_id: str, max_amount: int = 0, end_cursor: str = None) Tuple[List[UserShort], str] Get user’s followers information by Public Graphql API and end_cursor
user_followers_gql(user_id: str, amount: int = 0) List[UserShort] Get user’s followers information by Public Graphql API
user_followers_v1_chunk(user_id: str, max_amount: int = 0, max_id: str = “”, order: str = None) Tuple[List[UserShort], str] Get user’s followers information by Private Mobile API and max_id (cursor). Supports date_followed_latest and date_followed_earliest
user_followers_v1(user_id: str, amount: int = 0, order: str = None) List[UserShort] Get user’s followers information by Private Mobile API. Supports date_followed_latest and date_followed_earliest
user_followers_private_gql_chunk(user_id: str, max_amount: int = 0, max_id: str = None, rank_token: str = None, order: str = None) Tuple[List[UserShort], str] Get user’s followers through the private mobile GraphQL FollowersList surface and max_id cursor
user_followers_private_gql(user_id: str, amount: int = 0, rank_token: str = None, order: str = None) List[UserShort] Get user’s followers through the private mobile GraphQL FollowersList surface
user_following_v1(user_id: str, amount: int = 0) List[UserShort] Get user’s following users information by Private Mobile API
user_follow_requests_chunk(max_amount: int = 0, max_id: str = “”) Tuple[List[UserShort], str] Get pending incoming follow requests by Private Mobile API and max_id
user_following_gql(user_id: str, amount: int = 0) List[UserShort] Get user’s following information by Public Graphql API
search_followers_v1(user_id: str, query: str) List[UserShort] Search by followers by Private Mobile API
search_following_v1(user_id: str, query: str) List[UserShort] Search by following by Private Mobile API
user_info_v2_gql(user_id: str) User Profile lookup through current doc_id GraphQL
user_info_by_username_v2_gql(username: str) User Resolve username through doc_id search, then fetch profile
private_graphql_followers_list(user_id: str, rank_token: str, …, order: str = None) dict Raw private mobile GraphQL followers list. Supports date_followed_latest and date_followed_earliest
private_graphql_following_list(user_id: str, rank_token: str, …, order: str = None) dict Raw private mobile GraphQL following list. Supports mobile order when accepted by Instagram
private_graphql_clips_profile(target_user_id: str, …) dict Raw private mobile GraphQL profile Reels stream
private_graphql_inbox_tray_for_user(user_id: str, …) dict Raw private mobile GraphQL inbox tray query

The batch follow request helpers call the single-user approve/decline endpoints for each user_id; they do not implement an auto-approval policy.

Example:

>>> cl.user_followers(cl.user_id).keys()
dict_keys([5563084402, 43848984510, 1498977320, ...])

>>> cl.user_following(cl.user_id)
{
  8530498223: UserShort(
    pk=8530498223,
    username="something",
    full_name="Example description",
    profile_pic_url=HttpUrl(
      'https://instagram.frix7-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t5...9217617140_n.jpg',
      scheme='https',
      host='instagram.frix7-1.fna.fbcdn.net',
      ...
    ),
  ),
  49114585: UserShort(
    pk=49114585,
    username='gx1000',
    full_name='GX1000',
    profile_pic_url=HttpUrl(
      'https://scontent-hel3-1.cdninstagram.com/v/t51.2885-19/10388...jpg',
      scheme='https',
      host='scontent-hel3-1.cdninstagram.com',
      ...
    )
  ),
  ...
}

>>> cl.user_info_by_username('example').dict()
{'pk': 1903424587,
 'username': 'example',
 'full_name': 'Example Example',
 'is_private': False,
 'profile_pic_url': HttpUrl('https://scontent-hel3-1.cdninstagram.com/v/t51.2885-19/s150x150/123884060_803537687159702_2508263208740189974_n.jpg?...', scheme='https', host='scontent-hel3-1.cdninstagram.com', tld='com', host_type='domain', ...'),
 'is_verified': False,
 'media_count': 102,
 'follower_count': 576,
 'following_count': 538,
 'biography': 'Engineer: Python, JavaScript, Erlang',
 'external_url': HttpUrl('https://example.org/', scheme='https', host='example.org', tld='com', host_type='domain', path='/'),
 'is_business': False}

Sorted followers:

latest_followers = cl.user_followers(cl.user_id, amount=50, order="date_followed_latest")
earliest_followers = cl.user_followers_v1(cl.user_id, amount=50, order="date_followed_earliest")

Raw private GraphQL helpers expose the same mobile order variable for callers that need the FollowersList/FollowingList payload directly:

payload = cl.private_graphql_followers_list(cl.user_id, cl.rank_token, order="date_followed_latest")

Use user_followers_private_gql() when you want the current mobile GraphQL followers list parsed into UserShort objects:

followers = cl.user_followers_private_gql(cl.user_id, amount=50, order="date_followed_latest")

Example: We go around the list of our followers and unfollow from them:

from instagrapi import Client
cl = Client()
cl.login(USERNAME, PASSWORD)

followers = cl.user_followers(cl.user_id)
for user_id in followers.keys():
    cl.user_unfollow(user_id)

Tip: