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.

Runs: The moment it happens
Apps: Instagram
AI: Not needed
Access: instagram_business_manage_messages, instagram_business_manage_comments

Send this to your assistant

Create a ClickRuntime automation: when someone comments 'GUIDE' on any of my Instagram posts, send them a DM with https://example.com/guide, and only once per person.

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

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First time? Adding ClickRuntime to your assistant takes about two minutes.

Why use it

Why teams use this automation

A creator posts a reel about her budgeting spreadsheet and writes in the caption, "Comment GUIDE and I'll send it over." The post takes off, and 600 people comment the keyword. Sending the link by hand to each of them is impossible, so most wait for a day or more, many give up, and the creator loses the email sign-ups the reel was meant to bring in.

The moment someone comments, ClickRuntime receives the comment, checks whether it contains your keyword, such as GUIDE or LINK, and sends that person a private reply by direct message with your link. It remembers who has already received one so a person who comments three times gets only one message.

It is popular with creators, coaches and shops who give away guides, discount codes or product links through comments.

What you get out of it

Every commenter gets the link
When hundreds comment at once, nobody can reply manually fast enough. Instant delivery means everyone who asked receives the guide, including those who comment at 3 a.m. Nobody who asked is left waiting, and you do not lose a day copying and pasting links.
More sign-ups from each viral post
Reach is perishable. If the link arrives while the viewer is still interested, more of them join your list or visit your store than if it arrives the next day.
Comments boost the post itself
A call to action that invites keywords generates comments, which tell Instagram people care about the post. Automated delivery lets you ask for comments without being buried by the follow-up work.
No one is sent the link twice
Remembering who got a message avoids repeat DMs to people who comment several times. That keeps your account from looking spammy and reduces the chance of a block or report.
Lead capture works while you sleep
The offer is open around the clock, in whichever time zone your audience lives. You wake up to a list of new subscribers instead of an inbox full of requests to answer.

How it works

What happens, step by step

When someone comments on your Instagram post, Instagram tells ClickRuntime straight away.
The automation checks whether the comment contains your keyword, such as "guide".
If it does, it sends that person a direct message with your link.
It remembers who has already had the link, so each person gets it only once.

Before it runs live

Connect Instagram
Paste your automation's link into the other app's webhook settings

What you get

RunsThe moment it happens

DM your link to anyone who comments a keywordjust nowSucceeded

Instagram · Direct messageHere's the guide you asked for: https://example.com/guide

Build your own

Need it to work differently?

This template is a starting point. Copy the prompt and change it, or describe a different automation from scratch, with your own conditions, more apps or an AI step. 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.

Changes you can ask for

Act only on the items that match your own rules, and skip the rest
Add an AI step, for example to summarize, sort or draft a reply
Add another app, for example also send it to Slack
Combine it with other Instagram steps into one automation

Under the hood

The code that runs this automation

This is the Python script that runs each time the automation starts. Your AI assistant writes it for you when you send the prompt, and you allow each step in your assistant. To change how the automation works, describe the change to your assistant and it updates the script for you. For every function it can use, see the script reference.

keyword_comment_auto_dm.pyexample

from clickruntime import on_event, credentials, http, state

IG = "https://graph.instagram.com/v21.0"
KEYWORD = "guide"
MESSAGE = "Here's the guide you asked for: https://example.com/guide"

@on_event
def handle(event):
    sent = 0
    for entry in event.json.get("entry", []):
        for change in entry.get("changes", []):
            c = change["value"]
            if change["field"] != "comments" or KEYWORD not in c.get("text", "").lower():
                continue
            user = c["from"]["id"]
            if state.get(f"dm:{user}"):
                continue
            http.post(f"{IG}/{entry['id']}/messages", params={"access_token": credentials.connection("instagram", "work")},
                      json={"recipient": {"comment_id": c["id"]}, "message": {"text": MESSAGE}}).raise_for_status()
            state.set(f"dm:{user}", True)
            sent += 1
    return {"sent": sent}

FAQ

Common questions

Does the keyword match have to be exact?

Matching ignores capital letters, so guide and GUIDE both work. It looks for your keyword inside the comment, so a comment like "guide please" also counts. If you want to avoid false matches on common words, pick a distinctive keyword.

Why does Instagram call it a private reply?

Instagram lets a business send one private message to a person who commented on its post, within seven days of the comment. That is the mechanism used here, so it works only for people who commented first, and only once per comment.

Can I use different keywords for different posts?

Yes. You can set several keywords, each with its own message and link, such as LINK for a store page and GUIDE for a download. You can also limit a keyword to a specific post if you reuse it across campaigns.

What permissions does it need?

instagram_business_manage_messages, instagram_business_manage_comments. Nothing else in your accounts is used.

Does it need AI?

No. It runs without AI, so it doesn't use your plan's AI allowance.

How many runs does it use?

One run for each event the app sends.

Can I change how it works?

Yes. Describe the change to your AI assistant, for example a different schedule, channel or filter. It updates the automation, tests it and tells you what changed.

The moment it happens