About herascrape
herascrape is an MCP server for reading public Instagram profiles, content, engagement, and search results. It provides read-only, paginated access through tools generated from its live API.
Key features
- 01Read public profiles and audiences
- 02Retrieve posts, reels, stories, and highlights
- 03Inspect comments, replies, and likes
- 04Search users, hashtags, audio, and places
- 05Explore hashtag, location, and audio trends
Use cases
- 01Research an Instagram audience
- 02Track competitors or campaigns
- 03Vet influencers and analyze engagement
- 04Find trending hashtags, places, or audio
MCP support
The hosted server exposes Instagram data through MCP tools. A local stdio bridge can forward calls to the hosted server for clients that do not support remote MCP.
Configuration
Remote servers need no local install. Pick your client, then copy the config or install in one click.
https://herascrape.com/mcpclaude mcp add --transport http herascrape-herascrape https://herascrape.com/mcp{"mcpServers":{"herascrape-herascrape":{"type":"http","url":"https://herascrape.com/mcp"}}}Open in Cursor{"servers":{"herascrape-herascrape":{"type":"http","url":"https://herascrape.com/mcp"}}}Open in VS Code{"mcpServers":{"herascrape-herascrape":{"type":"http","url":"https://herascrape.com/mcp"}}}{"mcpServers":{"herascrape-herascrape":{"serverUrl":"https://herascrape.com/mcp"}}}Run commands in a terminal; paste JSON into the client’s MCP config and restart. Servers that need sign-in will prompt on first connect.
Tools
Details
From the project READMEherascrape-mcp
Instagram data for AI agents, over the Model Context Protocol. Point Claude, Cursor, ChatGPT, VS Code, or any MCP client at herascrape-mcp and it can read public Instagram profiles, content, engagement, and search results directly — no scraping code, no browser, no login.
Every endpoint is one tool, generated from the live API, so the tool list never drifts from what the server serves. It is read-only, cursor-paginated, and flat $0.0004 per successful call (only 2xx is billed). Powered by the herascrape Instagram API.
What agents can do with it
- Profiles & audiences — resolve a username or user id to a full profile; page a user's followers and following; pull the "about" / account details.
- Content — a user's posts, reels, tagged posts, live stories, highlights, and reposts; fetch any individual post or reel by id.
- Engagement — read a post's comments and their replies; see who liked a post or a comment.
- Discovery — hashtag top / recent / reels; a location's top & recent media; trending audio and the clips using a given audio track.
- Search — users, hashtags, audio, places, and a universal "top" search.
- Utilities — resolve a shortcode or URL to a media id, oEmbed a post, and check your live balance.
Agents reach for these when a task needs what's actually on Instagram right now — audience research, competitor and campaign tracking, influencer vetting, trend and hashtag analysis, enriching a profile or a post.
Install — one click
The button above opens a client picker and installs herascrape-mcp wherever you run agents. For clients with native one-click install:
Get an API key (or sign in to authorize in-browser) from your herascrape dashboard.
Install — manual
Remote (recommended) — connect by URL, authorize in the browser
Hosts that support remote MCP connect to the hosted server and authorize with a click (OAuth); no key to copy.
-
Claude Code:
claude mcp add herascrape --transport http https://herascrape.com/mcp -
Cursor / Claude Desktop / ChatGPT:
{ "mcpServers": { "herascrape": { "url": "https://herascrape.com/mcp" } } }
Local (stdio-only hosts) — npx, with an API key
For hosts that only run local (stdio) servers (Node ≥ 18). The bridge is a thin
stdio-to-HTTP proxy to the hosted server: it forwards your API key as
x-api-key and relays the live tool list and calls — it defines no tools of its
own. Get a key from your dashboard.
-
Claude Code:
claude mcp add herascrape --env HERASCRAPE_API_KEY=your_key -- npx -y herascrape-mcp -
Claude Desktop / Cursor (
claude_desktop_config.json/.cursor/mcp.json):{ "mcpServers": { "herascrape": { "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "herascrape-mcp"], "env": { "HERASCRAPE_API_KEY": "your_key" } } } }
Configuration
| Variable | Default | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
HERASCRAPE_API_KEY | — | Sent as x-api-key. Required for the local (stdio) bridge. |
HERASCRAPE_MCP_URL | https://herascrape.com/mcp | Override the server URL (e.g. staging). |
License
MIT
Comments
New to MCP?
From what the protocol is to installing your first server, these answers cover most first questions.
An open protocol that defines how AI applications connect to external tools and data in a uniform way. Clients talk to the model; MCP servers provide tools, resources and prompt templates. They exchange standard messages, so one server can be reused by many clients.