🚀 InstaScrape — Async Instagram Comment Scraper

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❓ Built with a steel heart, unasked for, yet unable to turn away from the world it watches.
❓ Assembled from iron and thought, never meant to be this cold, yet it endures.
❓ Created with a reluctant steel heart, seeing life it cannot touch.
— Author: kaifcodec

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Scrape all parent comments from any Instagram Reel with automated login, async speed, real-time progress, and clean exports — no manual cookie copying required.

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✨ Features

• ✅ Automated Login: cookie.json persistence with iat + expiry, no manual cookies needed.
• 🔄 Self-healing Auth: detects expired cookies mid-run, prompts relogin, resumes automatically.
• ⚡ Async Engine: powered by httpx.AsyncClient with requests-per-second throttling.
• 📊 Progress Tracking: accurate percent and ETA from Instagram’s comment count.
• 📁 Dual Exports: TXT and JSON files saved in timestamped folders.

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📦 Requirements

• Python 3.9+
• Docker + Docker Compose, optional
• Dependencies:

pip install -r requirements.txt

🛠️ Installation

git clone https://github.com/kaifcodec/InstaScrape
cd InstaScrape
pip install -r requirements.txt

▶️ Usage

python3 main.py

• Enter the Instagram Reel URL (e.g., https://www.instagram.com/reel/SHORTCODE/).
• Set Max requests per second (5-7 recommended). Adjust for stability.
• On first run, provide username/password and a 2FA code if prompted; cookie.json is created and reused until expiry.

🐳 Docker Usage

Run the scraper without installing Python dependencies on your host:

docker compose run --rm instascrape

The container runs as a non-root user and stores runtime files in ./data:

• ./data/cookie.json
• ./data/download_comments/txt/...
• ./data/download_comments/json/...

Rebuild after dependency changes:

docker compose build

If automated login cannot complete, the CLI can import an authenticated Instagram Cookie header from a logged-in browser request. The header must include sessionid, csrftoken, mid, and ds_user_id; it is then stored in ./data/cookie.json.

📁 Output

• TXT: download_comments/txt/reel_comments_YYYYMMDD_HHMMSS.txt
• JSON: download_comments/json/reel_comments_YYYYMMDD_HHMMSS.json Example JSON structure:

{
  "generated_at": 1700000000,
  "count": 123,
  "comments": [
    { "username": "user1", "text": "Nice!", "created_at": 1699999000 }
  ]
}

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🔧 How it Works

• Login: uses instagrapi for current Instagram login and 2FA support, with a cookie-header fallback when automated login is blocked.
• Cookie Lifecycle: cookie.json stores iat and expiry; validated on startup & during requests.
• Error Resilience: retries transient errors and refreshes cookies on 401/redirect-to-login.
• Progress Accuracy: uses Instagram’s comment count to calculate percent & ETA.
• Async Efficiency: httpx.AsyncClient with HTTP/2, keep-alive, and RPS limiter.

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💡 Tips

• Start with 5-7 RPS to minimize throttling; increase gradually.
• Filenames use local time; switch to UTC by replacing datetime.now() with datetime.utcnow() in main.py.
• If login fails with challenge_required, open Instagram in the official app or browser, approve the login challenge, then retry.

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⚠️ Disclaimer

Use responsibly. Comply with Instagram’s Terms of Service. Intended for personal or permitted use only.