Recipe-AI/tools/instaloader/README.md

Instaloader Helper

A small wrapper around Instaloader to download a single Instagram post/reel.

Reference project: instaloader/instaloader (MIT) — https://github.com/instaloader/instaloader

Setup

cd tools/instaloader
python -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
pip install -r requirements.txt

Login options

• Env vars: IG_USERNAME, IG_PASSWORD
• Or a session file: IG_SESSIONFILE together with --username. Create it via:

  instaloader --login YOUR_USERNAME
  # After successful login, pass the created session file path via IG_SESSIONFILE or --sessionfile
  

Usage

# In the virtualenv
python download_ig.py --url https://www.instagram.com/p/DPujDRJDNov/ --out ./downloads
# or provide username/password via env
IG_USERNAME=... IG_PASSWORD=... python download_ig.py --url https://www.instagram.com/p/.../ --out ./downloads
# or use a session file
IG_SESSIONFILE=/path/to/sessionfile python download_ig.py --url https://www.instagram.com/reel/.../ --username YOUR_USERNAME

• Prints the first downloaded .mp4 path on success.
• Exits with non-zero code if the post is image-only or access is restricted.