Utility

Four endpoints that support the rest. All four are free — none of them costs a billed Instagram request.

pk ⇄ shortcode

Converts a media pk to its shortcode and back. Pass exactly one of pk or code.

GET /resolve/media?code=B4XpqViUFUI

{ "pk": "2168384974851429640", "code": "B4XpqViUFUI" }

Free and instant: the shortcode is base64 of the pk over Instagram's alphabet, so this is arithmetic done locally with no network call. You rarely need it — /posts/{id} accepts either form directly — but it is useful for normalising ids before storing them.

curl -X GET "https://example.com/resolve/media"

{}

{}

What comes back

The { pk, code } pair shown above — the only response on the API we define ourselves, because it is computed rather than proxied.

oEmbed and share links

Two jobs in one endpoint, because Instagram serves both from the same place.

For a post or reel URL, you get the oEmbed block — title, author, thumbnail, embed HTML.

For a /s/ share link, you get what it points at: reel_id, author_id and can_view. That is how you turn a shared story or highlight link into something you can fetch:

GET /oembed?url=https://instagram.com/s/aGlnaGxpZ2h0OjE4MDI...
# -> { "reel_id": "highlight:18021...", "author_id": "25025320", ... }
GET /highlights/18021...

curl -X GET "https://example.com/oembed?url=string"

{}

{}

What comes back

{
  "author_id": "25025320",
  "author_name": "instagram",
  "reel_id": "highlight:18021...",
  "media_id": null,
  "can_view": true,
  "title": "A caption",
  "html": "<blockquote class=\"instagram-media\">…</blockquote>",
  "thumbnail_url": "https://scontent.cdninstagram.com/..."
}

A post URL populates title / html / thumbnail_url; a /s/ share link populates reel_id / author_id / can_view. The unused half is null.

Balance

Your account's remaining USD balance, read live from the ledger, so a top-up shows up immediately.

curl -X GET "https://example.com/system/balance"

{}

What comes back

{ "balance_usd": "12.4832", "currency": "USD" }

A string, not a number — money must not round-trip through binary floating point.

Health

Liveness. The only endpoint that needs no API key, so it is safe to use as an uptime probe.

curl -X GET "https://example.com/system/health"

{
  "property1": "string",
  "property2": "string"
}

What comes back

{ "status": "ok" }

Errors