instagram media scraper

A simple Node.js code to get public information and media from every Instagram post or reel URL without API. Working 2025

ahmedrangel

JavaScript

Instagram Media Scraper Without API (Working January 2025)

This is simple Node.js (v20.12+) script to get public information and media (images, videos, carousel) from a specific instagram post or reel URL without API. Working in 2025.

Table of Content

How to get your Cookie, User-Agent and X-Ig-App-Id headers
Method 1: Magic Parameters
- Code example
- Output example
Method 2: GraphQL (No Cookie Needed) (Current Best Method)
- Code example
- Output example

How to get your Cookie, User-Agent and X-Ig-App-Id headers

Login to Instagram
Go to your profile page or any instagram page.
Right click and inspect or press F12 (Chrome).
1. Select Network tab.
2. Selec All filter.
3. Select timeline/ or yourusername/ or instagram/ or any of the graphql files. You can use the filter field to search for it. If it’s empty just refresh the page.
4. Select Headers bar.
5. Scroll down and look for Request Headers tab.
6. Look for ds_user_id and sessionid and copy its values from your Cookies.
7. Copy your User-Agent code.
  
  User-Agent is included in the code, but I recommend to get your own.
8. Copy your X-Ig-App-Id code.
```
- Your cookie will expire if you log out or switch accounts, you will need to get it again.
```

scraper

Don’t share your cookie code with anyone!

rename .env.example to .env
enter the credentials

# required! Use this one or get your User-Agent from your browser
USER_AGENT=Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/114.0.0.0 Safari/537.36
# only required for magic parameters! get your Cookie values from your browser
COOKIE=
# required!  get your X-Ig-App-Id from your browser
X_IG_APP_ID=

Method 1: Magic Parameters

- As this method uses cookies, it may lead to your account being restricted if it is detected as a bot. Use at your own risk.

Using “Magic Parameters” ?__a=1&__d=dis.

You can get information, image versions, video versions, carousel media with their respective image versions and/or video versions of each of them, and more.

Code example


// Load from ENV
process.loadEnvFile();

const _userAgent = process.env.USER_AGENT;
const _cookie = process.env.COOKIE;
const _xIgAppId = process.env.X_IG_APP_ID;

if (!_userAgent || !_cookie || !_xIgAppId) {
  console.error("Required headers not found in ENV");
  process.exit(1);
}

// Function to get instagram post ID from URL string
const getId = (url) => {
  const regex = /instagram.com\/(?:[A-Za-z0-9_.]+\/)?(p|reels|reel|stories)\/([A-Za-z0-9-_]+)/;
  const match = url.match(regex);
  return match && match[2] ? match[2] : null;
};

// Function to get instagram data from URL string
const getInstagramData = async (url) => {
  const igId = getId(url);
  if (!igId) return "Invalid URL";

  // Fetch data from instagram post
  const response = await fetch(`https://www.instagram.com/p/${igId}?__a=1&__d=dis`, {
    headers: {
      "Cookie": _cookie,
      "User-Agent": _userAgent,
      "X-IG-App-ID": _xIgAppId,
      "Sec-Fetch-Site": "same-origin"
    }
  });

  const json = await response.json();
  const items = json?.items[0];
  // You can return the entire items or create your own JSON object from them
  // return items;
  
  // Check if post is a carousel
  let carousel_media = [];
  items?.product_type === "carousel_container" ? (() => {
    for (const el of items?.carousel_media) {
      carousel_media.push({
        image_versions: el?.image_versions2?.candidates,
        video_versions: el?.video_versions
      })
    }
    return carousel_media;
  })() : carousel_media = undefined;
  
  // Return custom json object
  return {
    code: items?.code,
    created_at: items?.taken_at,
    username: items?.user?.username,
    full_name: items?.user?.full_name,
    profile_picture: items?.user?.profile_pic_url,
    is_verified: items?.user?.is_verified,
    is_paid_partnership: items?.is_paid_partnership,
    product_type: items?.product_type,
    caption: items?.caption?.text,
    like_count: items?.like_count,
    comment_count: items?.comment_count,
    view_count: items?.view_count ? items.view_count : items?.play_count,
    video_duration: items?.video_duration,
    location: items?.location,
    height: items?.original_height,
    width: items?.original_width,
    image_versions: items?.image_versions2?.candidates,
    video_versions: items?.video_versions,
    carousel_media
  };
};

(async() => {
  // Get data from instagram post or reel URL string
  const data = await getInstagramData("https://www.instagram.com/reel/CtjoC2BNsB2");
  console.log(data);
})();

Stringified JSON output example

{
  "code": "CtjoC2BNsB2",
  "created_at": 1686930107,
  "username": "fatfatpankocat",
  "full_name": "Panko A. Cat",
  "profile_picture": "https://instagram.fpac1-4.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t51.2885-19/428584192_1431449027454508_4927424727647346838_n.jpg?...",
  "is_verified": false,
  "is_paid_partnership": false,
  "product_type": "clips",
  "caption": "Processing speeds are at an all time low",
  "like_count": 72185,
  "comment_count": 129,
  "view_count": 371210,
  "video_duration": 5.166,
  "height": 1024,
  "width": 576,
  "image_versions": [
    {
      "width": 576,
      "height": 1024,
      "url": "https://instagram.fpac1-4.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t51.2885-15/354801788_1023848012117396_6220977847781610270_n.jpg?..."
    },
    ...
  ],
  "video_versions": [
    {
      "height": 1024,
      "id": "1363008590946442v",
      "type": 101,
      "url": "https://scontent.cdninstagram.com/o1/v/t16/f1/m82/F5462086DC54DD10E6E0AC3C9902A2A3_video_dashinit.mp4?...",
      "width": 576
    },
    ...
  ]
}

Method 2: GraphQL (No Cookie Needed)

Using graphql private API.

You can get information, thumbnail src, video url, carousel media sidecar (carousel media) and more.

Code example

// Load from ENV
process.loadEnvFile();

const _userAgent = process.env.USER_AGENT;
const _xIgAppId = process.env.X_IG_APP_ID;

if (!_userAgent || !_xIgAppId) {
  console.error("Required headers not found in ENV");
  process.exit(1);
}

// Function to get instagram post ID from URL string
const getId = (url) => {
  const regex = /instagram.com\/(?:[A-Za-z0-9_.]+\/)?(p|reels|reel|stories)\/([A-Za-z0-9-_]+)/;
  const match = url.match(regex);
  return match && match[2] ? match[2] : null;
};

// Function to get instagram data from URL string
const getInstagramGraphqlData = async (url) => {
  const igId = getId(url);
  if (!igId) return "Invalid URL";

  // Fetch graphql data from instagram post
  const graphql = new URL(`https://www.instagram.com/api/graphql`);
  graphql.searchParams.set("variables", JSON.stringify({ shortcode: igId }));
  graphql.searchParams.set("doc_id", "10015901848480474");
  graphql.searchParams.set("lsd", "AVqbxe3J_YA"); 

  const response = await fetch(graphql, {
    method: "POST",
    headers: {
      "User-Agent": _userAgent,
      "Content-Type": "application/x-www-form-urlencoded",
      "X-IG-App-ID": _xIgAppId,
      "X-FB-LSD": "AVqbxe3J_YA",
      "X-ASBD-ID": "129477",
      "Sec-Fetch-Site": "same-origin"
    }
  });

  const json = await response.json();
  const items = json?.data?.xdt_shortcode_media; 
  // You can return the entire items or create your own JSON object from them
  // return items;

  // Return custom json object
  return {
    __typename: items?.__typename,
    shortcode: items?.shortcode,
    dimensions: items?.dimensions,
    display_url: items?.display_url,
    display_resources: items?.display_resources,
    has_audio: items?.has_audio,
    video_url: items?.video_url,
    video_view_count: items?.video_view_count,
    video_play_count: items?.video_play_count,
    is_video: items?.is_video,
    caption: items?.edge_media_to_caption?.edges[0]?.node?.text,
    is_paid_partnership: items?.is_paid_partnership,
    location: items?.location,
    owner: items?.owner,
    product_type: items?.product_type,
    video_duration: items?.video_duration,
    thumbnail_src: items?.thumbnail_src,
    clips_music_attribution_info: items?.clips_music_attribution_info,
    sidecar: items?.edge_sidecar_to_children?.edges,
  }
};

(async() => {
  // Get data from instagram post or reel URL string
  const data = await getInstagramGraphqlData("https://www.instagram.com/reel/CtjoC2BNsB2");
  console.log(data);
})();

Stringified JSON output example

{
  "__typename": "GraphVideo",
  "shortcode": "CtjoC2BNsB2",
  "dimensions": {
    "height": 1137,
    "width": 640
  },
  "display_url": "https://instagram.fpac1-4.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t51.2885-15/354801788_1023848012117396_6220977847781610270_n.jpg?...",
  "display_resources": [
    {
      "src": "https://instagram.fpac1-4.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t51.2885-15/354801788_1023848012117396_6220977847781610270_n.jpg?...",
      "config_width": 640,
      "config_height": 1137
    },
    ...
  ],
  "has_audio": true,
  "video_url": "https://instagram.fpac1-2.fna.fbcdn.net/o1/v/t16/f1/m82/F5462086DC54DD10E6E0AC3C9902A2A3_video_dashinit.mp4?...",
  "video_view_count": 127096,
  "video_play_count": 371210,
  "is_video": true,
  "caption": "Processing speeds are at an all time low",
  "is_paid_partnership": false,
  "location": null,
  "owner": {
    "id": "39625136655",
    "is_verified": false,
    "profile_pic_url": "https://instagram.fpac1-4.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t51.2885-19/428584192_1431449027454508_4927424727647346838_n.jpg?...",
    "username": "fatfatpankocat",
    "blocked_by_viewer": false,
    "restricted_by_viewer": false,
    "followed_by_viewer": false,
    "full_name": "Panko A. Cat",
    "has_blocked_viewer": false,
    "is_embeds_disabled": false,
    "is_private": false,
    "is_unpublished": false,
    "requested_by_viewer": false,
    "pass_tiering_recommendation": true,
    "edge_owner_to_timeline_media": {
      "count": 1423
    },
    "edge_followed_by": {
      "count": 508145
    }
  },
  "product_type": "clips",
  "video_duration": 5.166,
  "thumbnail_src": "https://instagram.fpac1-4.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t51.2885-15/354801788_1023848012117396_6220977847781610270_n.jpg?...",
  "clips_music_attribution_info": {
    "artist_name": "0lukasaa",
    "song_name": "Original audio",
    "uses_original_audio": true,
    "should_mute_audio": false,
    "should_mute_audio_reason": "",
    "audio_id": "508221254754075"
  }
}