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ClickRuntime

Automate Instagram

Run the routine side of an Instagram business account: publishing photos and reels from a queue, catching every comment, sending a DM when someone comments a keyword, and tracking reach and follower growth. Tell your AI assistant what the account needs, confirm the steps it lays out, and the work runs on its own after that.

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Try asking

Create a ClickRuntime automation: every 15 minutes, check my Instagram posts for new comments and post them to #social in Slack. Mark the ones that are questions.

Paste it into your assistant. It tells you what it will send or change before it runs live.

Ideas

What you can automate in Instagram

Posts that publish while you're busy, comments and DMs answered or flagged, tags you'd otherwise miss, and weekly numbers on what performed. These are ready-made starting points. Anything else you can describe works too.
Every 15 minutesAI

Send new Instagram comments to Slack

New comments reach your Slack channel within 15 minutes, with questions marked so they get answered first.

See how it works
Hourly

Know when someone tags your account

You get the link whenever a post tags your business account.

See how it works
Every 15 minutes

Share each new Instagram post in Slack

Your team sees every post you publish without opening Instagram.

See how it works
Weekly

Get a weekly Instagram performance email

Every Monday you see last week's reach, follower change and best three posts.

See how it works
Every 10 minutesAI

Reply to Instagram comments in your voice

Every new comment gets a short, friendly reply within about 10 minutes, and none is answered twice.

See how it works
The moment it happens

DM your link to anyone who comments a keyword

People who comment your keyword get your link in their DMs once, without you sending it by hand.

See how it works
The moment it happensAI

Answer common Instagram DMs and pass on the rest

Questions about prices, shipping and opening hours get an answer straight away, and anything else goes to Slack.

See how it works
On a schedule

Get yesterday's Instagram numbers each morning

Each morning you see yesterday's reach, profile views and new followers.

See how it works
On a schedule

Publish queued Instagram posts on weekdays

One post from your queue goes out every weekday evening, and you get its link.

See how it works
The moment it happens

Post to Instagram by sending a link

Send an image URL and caption from any tool and it's live on Instagram.

See how it works
Every 15 minutesAI

Hide abusive comments and flag negative ones

Abuse disappears from your posts within 15 minutes, and genuine complaints reach Slack for a reply.

See how it works
Weekly

Get the top posts for your hashtags each week

Every Monday you see what's performing in your niche, with links.

See how it works
Monthly

Back up your Instagram posts each month

On the 1st you get a CSV of every post with caption, date, likes and link.

See how it works Your own logic

Any other automation you can describe in words

Your own rules, schedule and AI steps with Instagram, plus any other app. Describe it and your assistant builds it.

See how to build your own

Build your own

Build any Instagram automation you can describe

The ideas above are ready-made starting points, not a fixed list. Describe what Instagram should do in your own words, with your conditions, other apps or an AI step, and your assistant writes it, tests it and runs it on ClickRuntime.

  • Your own rules

    Conditions, thresholds, filters and exceptions, written the way you'd explain them to a colleague.

  • Any number of apps

    One automation can read from one app and update several others. Over 248 apps are ready, and anything with an API works too.

  • AI where it helps

    Summaries, classification, extraction and drafts use ClickRuntime's built-in AI, with no extra key.

  • On a schedule or on each event

    Runs as often as every 5 minutes, or the moment an app sends an event, and keeps track of what it already handled.

For example, ask your assistant

Every hour, read new comments on my Instagram posts and use AI to reply to questions about price or shipping from my FAQ.

Every day at noon, publish the next photo and caption from my Instagram Queue sheet in Google Sheets and mark the row Posted.

Every Monday, add last week's Instagram post reach and likes to my Social sheet in Google Sheets and post the best post in #marketing on Slack.

Beyond chat

Have Instagram work when you're not in the chat

Connecting Instagram to ChatGPT or Claude lets you ask about it while you chat. ClickRuntime handles the part that should happen on its own: checks on a schedule and actions on each new event, set up from the same chat and running after you close it.

Setup

Connect Instagram

Instagram connects through a Meta app of your own, using Instagram Login on a Business or Creator account, or through Facebook Login or a System User token when the account is linked to a Page.

Instagram

Social

  1. In your Meta app, add the Instagram product.
  2. Set the redirect to https://clickruntime.com/oauth/callback and request instagram_business_basic and instagram_business_content_publish, plus the comment and message scopes if you need them.
  3. Add your Instagram account as a tester on the app.
  4. Enter the app's client ID and secret under Connections in the ClickRuntime dashboard. If you use a System User token with instagram_basic, instagram_content_publish and pages_read_engagement instead, save it as a secret on Connections & secrets.

Good to know

Instagram limits that affect automations

  • Instagram allows 100 posts published through the API per account in 24 hours. Queues stay far below that, but a bulk import would hit it.
  • Photos and videos must be at a public URL when they're published, so files on your computer need uploading somewhere first.
  • DM replies only work within 24 hours of the person's last message, and a private reply to a comment within 7 days of it.
  • Tagged media and hashtag searches need the Facebook Login version of the connection, and hashtag searches are limited to 30 different hashtags per 7 days.
  • Accounts whose Page is under Page Publishing Authorization must finish that check before anything can publish.

FAQ

Questions about automating Instagram

Does it work with a personal Instagram account?
No. Publishing, comments, DMs and insights through the API need an Instagram Business or Creator account. Switching is free in the Instagram app settings.
Can it send a DM when someone comments a keyword?
Yes. When someone comments a word like GUIDE, it sends them one private reply with your link and remembers them so they don't get it twice. The reply has to go out within 7 days of the comment.
Can it hide comments?
Yes, with `instagram_business_manage_comments`. The moderation automation hides abusive comments and sends negative but fair ones to Slack for you to answer.
Do I need AI?
Not for publishing, tag alerts, insight emails or backups. Comment replies, DM answers and sorting comments use the AI that every ClickRuntime plan includes, so no AI key is needed.
Why does my monthly export have permalinks instead of image links?
Instagram's direct media links expire after a while. Permalinks keep pointing at the post, so the export stays usable.
Is this a Instagram connector for ChatGPT or Claude?
Not for chatting with Instagram data. A chat connector lets your assistant read and change Instagram while you're in the conversation. ClickRuntime is for the work that should happen without you: you set up an automation from the chat once, and it keeps running on a schedule or on each Instagram event.

Related pages

Keep exploring

Tell your assistant what Instagram should do

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