Instagram Automation with Instabot
This guide demonstrates how to automate uploading photos to Instagram using the instabot library.
Modules Used:
instabot: A Python wrapper for the private Instagram API.- argparse: To handle command-line arguments.
shutil&os: To manage the session configuration folder.
Installation
pip install instabotThe Code
Save this as insta_poster.py.
from instabot import Bot
import argparse
import os
import shutil
import sys
def clean_session():
"""
Instabot saves session data in a 'config' folder.
Deleting this folder forces a fresh login, which resolves many common errors
related to stale cookies or session loops.
"""
if os.path.exists("config"):
try:
shutil.rmtree("config")
except Exception:
pass
def post_to_instagram(username, password, image_path, caption):
# Clean up old session data before starting
clean_session()
bot = Bot()
print(f"Logging in as {username}...")
try:
bot.login(username=username, password=password)
except Exception as e:
print(f"Login failed: {e}")
return
print(f"Uploading {image_path}...")
# upload_photo handles resizing and converting to jpg if necessary.
# Note: It often renames the original file to include .REMOVE_ME extension.
try:
bot.upload_photo(image_path, caption=caption)
print("Upload complete!")
except Exception as e:
print(f"Error uploading photo: {e}")
if __name__ == "__main__":
parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description="Instagram Auto Poster")
parser.add_argument("-u", "--username", required=True, help="Instagram Username")
parser.add_argument("-p", "--password", required=True, help="Instagram Password")
parser.add_argument("-i", "--image", required=True, help="Path to image file (JPG)")
parser.add_argument("-c", "--caption", default="", help="Post caption")
args = parser.parse_args()
if not os.path.exists(args.image):
print(f"Error: File '{args.image}' not found.")
sys.exit(1)
post_to_instagram(args.username, args.password, args.image, args.caption)Usage
python insta_poster.py -u your_username -p your_password -i photo.jpg -c "Hello Instagram! <a href='/?search=%23python' class='obsidian-tag'>#python</a>"Important: instabot modifies the input image file during the upload process (it might rename it). It is recommended to use a copy of your image if you want to preserve the original filename.