Raw Instagram Post Lookup and Video Transcripts

If you build on the Influship API, you can now pull raw Instagram posts and video transcripts. Four new endpoints shipped this week: single-post and batch lookup, plus single and batch video transcript extraction.

The endpoints

Call them at api.influship.com under the /v1/raw/instagram namespace:

• GET /v1/raw/instagram/post/{shortcode}: single post lookup. Returns the raw Instagram post payload (caption, media, owner, engagement counts, timestamp).
• POST /v1/raw/instagram/posts: batch lookup, up to 20 shortcodes per request. Returns an array of post payloads in the same order you sent them.
• GET /v1/raw/instagram/transcript/{shortcode}: video transcript for a single post. The response includes the transcript and the full post payload.
• POST /v1/raw/instagram/transcripts: batch transcripts, up to 10 video shortcodes per request. Each item in the response includes both the transcript and the post payload.

Full request and response schemas, error codes, and per-endpoint rate limits live in the API reference at docs.influship.com.

Transcript responses include the post payload

Both transcript endpoints return the transcript and the full post payload in one response. The post shape matches the post lookup endpoints, so anything you can read off a post lookup, you can also read off a transcript response:

{
  "data": {
    "shortcode": "CxxxxYYY",
    "transcript": "okay so I had to come back and show you this...",
    "full_text": "okay so I had to come back and show you this...",
    "language": "en",
    "word_count": 234,
    "duration_seconds": 38.2,
    "scraped_at": "2026-05-14T18:24:00Z",
    "post": {
      "id": "...",
      "shortcode": "CxxxxYYY",
      "caption": "...",
      "owner_username": "...",
      "post_type": "video",
      "is_video": true,
      "like_count": 1234,
      "comment_count": 56,
      "view_count": 9876,
      "taken_at": 1715712240,
      "video_url": "https://..."
    }
  }
}

One call covers the spoken content plus everything you'd pull from a post lookup: caption, owner, engagement counts, post type, timestamp, and media URLs. No follow-up request to grab the post after you have the transcript, and no second billing event on top of the 5 credits ($0.05) you already paid for the transcript.

Authenticating and making a call

Production traffic on the Influship API uses an API key. Generate one from the developer dashboard, send it in the X-API-Key header, and you can call any of the new endpoints:

curl https://api.influship.com/v1/raw/instagram/transcript/CxxxxYYY \
  -H "X-API-Key: $INFLUSHIP_API_KEY"

If you're building an agent or a per-request integration and you don't want a human to stop and sign up first, the x402 and MPP payment protocols also work on these endpoints. Your client pays per request over HTTP, no API key required.

When to use raw over creator search

Use the raw endpoints when you already have a shortcode and you want the source post or transcript. If you're still looking for the creator, run a natural language query through POST /v1/search first: describe the creator profile or content theme you're after, get back matches with profile summaries, then call the raw endpoints for the shortcodes you keep.

Some common cases:

• An agent or workflow surfaced a post and you want the data behind it without re-running discovery
• You're running your own analytics or scoring on top of post, caption, and transcript content
• You need spoken content for sentiment, topic classification, claim detection, or brand-safety review
• You're enriching a creator profile in your own database with recent posts and their captions
• You're building a content classification pipeline that needs both the post context and what the creator says on camera

Pricing and limits

Per-call pricing:

• GET /v1/raw/instagram/post/{shortcode}: 1 credit per post ($0.01)
• POST /v1/raw/instagram/posts: 1 credit per shortcode ($0.01), up to 20 shortcodes per request, charged for every shortcode you send
• GET /v1/raw/instagram/transcript/{shortcode}: 5 credits per transcript ($0.05)
• POST /v1/raw/instagram/transcripts: 5 credits per shortcode ($0.05), up to 10 shortcodes per request, charged for every shortcode you send

Per-plan rate limits sit next to each endpoint in the API reference. If you're scaling past the default plan limits, talk to us and we'll size a custom tier for your usage.

What's next

TikTok and YouTube versions of these endpoints are next, with the same single, batch, and transcript-with-post-payload shape. If your build needs one of them before they ship, let us know and we'll get you early access.

For everything else (auth, rate limits, error codes, response schemas, and a Postman collection), the API reference has the full picture. If you don't have an API key yet, you can generate one in the developer dashboard.