Instagram

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What this connector does#

Customers send a direct message to your Instagram professional account. Make Agent Fast answers with the same grounded agent as your website embed, through Meta's official Instagram API with Instagram Login.

It can also answer comments on your posts and reels, publicly or with a private DM (see Comments and saved replies). Replies to your stories are answered too (see Stories). Out of scope: scraping, and liking posts or comments. Instagram's official API has no way to like content, so the agent never does.

Each Instagram account is its own channel row, so billing, inbox threads and message routing stay separate. One agent can hold up to five Instagram accounts.

Before you start#

You need:

1. An Instagram professional account (Business or Creator). Personal accounts cannot connect; switch in Instagram under Settings → Account type and tools.
2. The account's Instagram username and password, or an Instagram app already signed in to it in this browser.
3. The Operate or Scale plan to add a new channel.

You do not need a Facebook account, a Facebook Page, a Meta business portfolio or a Meta developer app.

Connect your account#

1. Open the Instagram card#

In the dashboard, open your agent and go to Channels → Instagram.

2. Sign in and allow access#

Select Connect with Instagram. Instagram opens its own sign-in page. Sign in to the professional account you want the agent to answer for, check that the window names that account, and select Allow. Leave Access and manage messages on; the agent cannot read or answer DMs without it. Access and manage comments is used only if you later turn on comment replies.

Instagram sends you back to the Instagram card, which now shows the account as connected. To connect another account, select Connect with Instagram again and sign in to that account.

3. Send a test message#

From a different Instagram account, send a new DM to the connected account. Confirm that:

1. The message appears in your Instagram inbox.
2. The Instagram card shows a new event and Conversations has a new thread.
3. The verification step on the card passes.

4. Turn on AI replies#

After the test passes, switch on AI replies on the card. From then on the agent answers new DMs. Text and supported voice notes are answered in text. Your own messages, images and other unsupported attachments are ignored. When you reply yourself from the Conversations inbox, the agent pauses for that conversation.

Comments and saved replies#

Turn on Reply to comments in the Instagram card's Comments section. New top-level comments on your posts and reels are then answered in this order:

1. Your saved replies. Write a reply for one post, or for All posts, and choose the keywords that pick it (for example price, how much). Leave the keywords empty to answer every comment on that post. Each saved reply can post a public reply under the comment, send a private DM, or both. {name} becomes the commenter's @handle. A post's own replies win over All posts replies, and keyword replies win over catch-alls. Saved replies use no AI and no credits.
2. The AI, if you allow it. Under When no saved reply fits, choose Stay quiet, AI replies (one or two short sentences, posted publicly), or AI sends a DM (the answer goes to the commenter's DMs, with your optional public line under the comment). The post's caption is given to the agent as context. AI replies use credits like a DM answer.

The agent never answers its own comments, replies inside a comment thread, comments that only tag friends or contain only emoji, or questions it has no approved answer for. Comment conversations appear in Conversations, read-only; answer them on Instagram. Instagram allows one private DM per comment, within 7 days of it.

Stories#

Stories reach the agent as DMs:

• A typed reply to your story is answered by the AI like any DM. When the story is a photo, the agent sees it, so "how much is this?" gets an answer about what the story shows. Video stories are answered from the text alone.
• A mention in someone's story and an emoji-only reaction to your story carry no question, so the AI never answers them. In the Instagram card's Stories section, write a short reply for each, or leave it empty to stay quiet. These replies use no AI and no credits, and a person gets at most one reaction reply a day.

All three appear in Conversations. Instagram does not tell apps when someone likes a story, and no app can like stories or comment on them.

Availability#

Connect with Instagram appears on the card once Meta has approved Make Agent Fast's Instagram messaging access. Until then the card may not offer it, and Instagram delivers messages only from accounts Meta lets the app test with. If your card does not show the button yet, use the advanced method below or check back later.

Disconnect or reconnect#

Make Agent Fast renews the sign-in automatically. If replies stop and the card shows a connection error, for example after a password change, select Reconnect with Instagram and sign in again. To disconnect, remove the connection on the card. You can also remove Make Agent Fast in Instagram under Settings → Apps and websites; the agent then stops replying on that account at once.

Advanced: your own Meta app#

Developers who run their own Meta app can still connect with a Facebook Page access token instead. This needs an Instagram professional account linked to a Facebook Page, a Meta developer app with instagram_basic, instagram_manage_messages, pages_manage_metadata, pages_messaging and pages_show_list, and Meta's webhook setup.

Paste the Page access token and the app's App secret into the card's advanced form, then use the Webhook URL and Verify token it shows for the Instagram webhook (messages field). Subscribe the Page itself with the Page token:

POST /me/subscribed_apps?subscribed_fields=messages

Your own app answers the public only after it passes Meta App Review with Advanced Access.

Troubleshooting#

Never share your Instagram password with anyone, including support; the connection uses Instagram's own sign-in.