How to Run Your Instagram With Claude: The Free Instagram Agent Skill Setup Guide

By Clayton H · Published 7 November 2026 · Tools: Claude

The Instagram Agent Skill is a free, open-source pack of 13 Claude skills for running an Instagram account. Once installed, Claude can write Reel scripts, captions, carousels, Stories, comments, replies and DMs, score your profile out of 100, plan your week, and rank the Reels in your niche by how far each one beat its own account’s normal views. It never posts for you: Claude writes, you review, you post.

To set it up, paste the GitHub link into Claude with the line “Install this skill, then confirm /ig-reel works”, then spend ten minutes on your voice profile so everything sounds like you.

What is the Instagram Agent Skill?

The Instagram Agent Skill is an open-source skill pack for Claude, published on GitHub at github.com/Jakeschincariol/instagram-agent-skill under the MIT license. A skill is a folder of instructions (and sometimes small scripts) that Claude loads when a task calls for it, so instead of explaining your Instagram process in every chat, you type a command such as /ig-reel and Claude follows that skill’s method.

Three facts worth knowing before you install it:

• It is free, with no signup, no API key and nothing to connect to your Instagram account.
• It is an independent project. It is not made by Anthropic (the company behind Claude) or by Meta (the company behind Instagram).
• Nothing gets posted until you say yes. The skills write drafts; you publish them yourself.

What you need before you start

• Claude: either the Claude app (claude.ai or the desktop app) or Claude Code in your terminal. Skills are available on the Free, Pro, Max, Team and Enterprise plans.
• Code execution turned on: in the Claude app, go to Settings, then Capabilities, and switch on “Code execution and file creation”. Skills need it.
• Your Instagram account: to read your own comments and stats and to post what you approve.
• Three of your own Reels or captions: Claude uses them to learn how you sound.

How to install the Instagram Agent Skill in Claude

Option 1: paste the link into Claude Code (fastest)

Open a new session and paste this, exactly as the project’s own instructions give it:

https://github.com/Jakeschincariol/instagram-agent-skill
Install this skill, then confirm /ig-reel works.

Claude pulls the skill folders in and checks that the commands respond.

Option 2: install it yourself in Claude Code

As a plugin:

/plugin marketplace add Jakeschincariol/instagram-agent-skill
/plugin install instagram-agent

Or copy the folders manually:

git clone https://github.com/Jakeschincariol/instagram-agent-skill.git
cp -r instagram-agent-skill/skills/ig-* ~/.claude/skills/

Option 3: upload the skills in the Claude app

1. Download the project from GitHub (Code, then Download ZIP) and unzip it.
2. Inside the skills folder, zip each ig- folder on its own, for example ig-reel.zip. Each upload is one skill, and the folder name must match the skill name.
3. In Claude, go to Customize, then Skills, click the + button, choose Create skill, then Upload a skill.
4. Upload each ZIP and switch the skill on. Start with the ones you will use most: ig-reel, ig-viral, ig-caption and ig-human.

No skills access at all?

You can paste any single SKILL.md file at the top of a normal chat and Claude will follow it for that conversation. You lose the five small Python tools (the hook scorer, beat timer, caption checker and the two humanizer scripts), which matter most for /ig-reel and /ig-human, but the rest works.

How to set up your voice profile (voice.md)

Every skill in the pack reads one file, voice.md, which describes who you are, who you talk to, the words you use and the words you never say. Ten minutes here is the difference between scripts you can record and scripts you have to rewrite.

Copy the template from templates/voice.md to ~/.claude/instagram/voice.md and fill it in, or let Claude write it from your own content with this prompt:

Here are three of my own Reels: [paste transcripts or captions]. Write my voice.md from these: my tone, sentence length, the words I always use, the words I never use, and who I am talking to. Save it as my Instagram voice profile.

The 13 skills and what each one does

How to write a Reel script with Claude (/ig-reel)

Give /ig-reel a single idea, a target length and your audience. It writes three hooks, scores them, picks the strongest and turns it into a full script with on-screen text and a beat sheet that flags a hook running past three seconds or a beat long enough for viewers to leave.

/ig-reel My idea: most people write one long prompt for AI video instead of building the shot in layers. Target length 30 seconds. Audience: creators who want AI content that looks cinematic.

Then run /ig-caption on the same idea, or /ig-carousel if it works better as a swipe post.

How to handle Instagram comments and replies with Claude

/ig-reply takes the comments under your own post, sorts them by type and drafts a reply for each, including the DM your call to action promised. /ig-comment writes comments for other accounts’ posts that read like a person with an opinion, not a bot.

/ig-reply Here are the comments under my latest Reel: [paste comments]. My call to action was ‘comment GUIDE’. Sort them, draft the replies, and write the DM that delivers the guide link.

How to optimize your Instagram profile with Claude (/ig-profile)

Paste your name field, handle, bio, link and highlights. /ig-profile scores the profile out of 100 against a 12-part rubric and rewrites the parts that lose the most points first, so you fix what costs you follows before anything cosmetic.

/ig-profile Name: [your name]. Handle: @[handle]. Bio: [paste bio]. Link: [link]. Highlights: [list]. Niche: [your niche]. Goal: more profile visits turning into follows.

How to plan your Instagram week with Claude (/ig-plan)

Run /ig-plan once a week. It returns what to post each day, in which format, when, and the 10 accounts to engage with so your comments get seen by the right audience.

/ig-plan Plan next week. I can post 4 Reels and 2 carousels. My best days are Tuesday to Saturday. Main theme: Claude skills for creators.

How to find viral Reels in your niche with Claude (/ig-viral)

This is the skill that makes the pack worth installing. /ig-viral does not rank Reels by raw views, because raw views mostly reflect account size. It ranks them by the outlier multiple: a Reel’s views divided by that account’s own recent median. The project’s example: an account with two million followers getting 400,000 views had a quiet day, while an account with four thousand followers getting 400,000 views found something you can learn from.

How it works, in order:

1. Pick 6 to 12 accounts. Roughly four in your niche and slightly ahead of you, four in a neighboring niche with the same audience, and two to four much bigger accounts for format ideas only. Your own Saved collection is a good place to start. Keep most accounts within about 10x your own size.
2. Collect the Reels. Claude uses whatever browsing tool your session has, with you logged in and present, or you paste in the Reel links, hooks, views and each account’s usual views. This is reading at human speed, not scraping, and you never hand Claude your password.
3. Rank and break down. Anything above 3x the account’s median is a signal; below 1.5x is a normal day. Claude names the hook formula each winner used and explains why it worked.
4. Turn it into your own script. Take the strongest formula into /ig-reel. Copy the structure, never the video.

/ig-viral Here are 8 Reels from my niche with their hooks, views and each account’s typical views: [paste list]. Rank them by outlier multiple, break down why the top three worked, and name the hook formulas. Then use /ig-reel to turn the top formula into an original script on [your topic], in my voice. Same structure, my angle.

How to make AI captions sound human (/ig-human)

Run every caption and script through /ig-human before it goes out. It removes invisible characters that survive copy and paste, swaps em dashes and curly quotes for plain punctuation, replaces stock AI phrases from an editable list of 154, and flags patterns that need a human rewrite, such as “It’s not just X, it’s Y”. Ask it to show you what it changed so you stay in control of your voice.

/ig-human Humanize this caption and show me every change: [paste caption].

A simple weekly workflow

1. Once a month, run /ig-viral to refresh your swipe file. Hook formulas last a season, not a week.
2. At the start of each week, run /ig-plan.
3. For each Reel in the plan, run /ig-reel, then /ig-caption, then /ig-human.
4. After posting, run /ig-reply on your comments and /ig-dm for keyword deliveries.
5. Every few weeks, run /ig-audit on what you posted and /ig-profile on your bio.

Things worth knowing

• The skills write; you post. There is no auto-posting, which also means nothing goes live that you did not approve.
• The Python tools need an environment that can run code (Claude Code, or the Claude app with code execution on).
• Your voice.md does most of the work. If drafts sound generic, improve that file before blaming the skills.
• It is open source, so you can edit any skill, including the humanizer’s list of banned phrases, to fit how you write.

Frequently asked questions

Is the Instagram Agent Skill free?

Yes. It is open source under the MIT license, with no signup, no API key and no paid tier. You only need a Claude plan, and skills are available on Claude’s free plan as well as paid plans.

Does Claude post to Instagram automatically?

No. The skill pack does not connect to your Instagram account and never posts. Claude drafts your Reels, captions, replies and DMs, and you post them yourself.

Is the Instagram Agent Skill made by Anthropic or Instagram?

No. It is an independent open-source project hosted on GitHub. Claude is made by Anthropic and Instagram is owned by Meta; neither publishes this skill pack.

Do I need Claude Code to use it?

No. Claude Code is the quickest install, but you can upload each skill as a ZIP in the Claude app under Customize, then Skills, or paste a single SKILL.md into a chat. The small Python tools need code execution turned on.

Can Claude find viral Reels in my niche on its own?

Partly. /ig-viral can read Reels through a browsing tool in your Claude session while you are logged in, or you paste the Reels in. Either way it ranks them by outlier multiple, names the hook formula and turns the best one into an original script.

Will using it get my Instagram account banned?

The skill is built to avoid that risk: it never logs in for you, never asks for your password, and tells Claude to read a small number of Reels at human speed rather than scrape. Automated collection at volume breaks Instagram’s terms, so do not turn it into a scraper.

What is an outlier multiple?

A Reel’s views divided by the median views of that same account’s recent Reels. A 5x outlier did five times better than that account normally does, which makes its hook and structure worth studying, whatever the account’s size.

Sources

• Instagram Agent Skill on GitHub (README, skill files and voice.md template)
• Use skills in Claude (Claude Help Center)