Instagram Marketing Skills for Claude Code and Codex

Part of the linkedin-skills family (400+ stars). Same voice engine and approve-before-publish flow, now for Instagram. Also available for X · YouTube · TikTok · Threads · Facebook.

9 skills that turn Claude Code and Codex into your Instagram content team. They write captions and Reels hooks in your voice, size hashtags, plan carousels and a full week of content, read your niche from real data, and optimize your profile. Every draft gets the AI tells stripped and waits for your approval before anything publishes. You supply the image or video; the skills write the words. No coding required.

Once installed, just ask Claude Code or Codex things like:

• "Write a caption for this Reel about [topic]"
• "Plan a week of Instagram posts for my [niche]"
• "What's working in my niche right now?" (reads real data via Apify)
• "Rewrite this caption so it doesn't sound like AI"

The right skill activates automatically. Then you review and approve.

Install

Pick whichever way you use Claude Code or Codex:

Codex CLI

codex plugin marketplace add sergebulaev/instagram-skills
codex plugin add instagram-skills@instagram-skills

To test a local clone before publishing changes:

git clone https://github.com/sergebulaev/instagram-skills.git
cd instagram-skills
codex plugin marketplace add .
codex plugin add instagram-skills@instagram-skills

claude.ai (web)

1. Open https://claude.ai/code
2. Go to Skills in the sidebar
3. Click Add from GitHub
4. Paste: sergebulaev/instagram-skills
5. Done. The skills activate automatically when you ask about Instagram.

Claude Desktop (Mac / Windows)

1. Open Claude Desktop
2. Open Settings (gear icon)
3. Go to Skills
4. Click Add from GitHub
5. Paste: sergebulaev/instagram-skills
6. Done. Start a new conversation and ask Claude to write a caption.

Claude Code (CLI / VS Code / JetBrains)

/plugin marketplace add sergebulaev/instagram-skills
/plugin install instagram-skills@instagram-skills

Or clone the repo and open it as your working directory:

git clone https://github.com/sergebulaev/instagram-skills.git
cd instagram-skills

OpenClaw

1. Open your OpenClaw working directory
2. Clone the skills into it:

   git clone https://github.com/sergebulaev/instagram-skills.git
   

3. In OpenClaw settings, add this to your system prompt:

   You have Instagram marketing skills in ./instagram-skills/.
   For any Instagram task, read the relevant skills/*/SKILL.md first.
   Use lib/url_parser.py for URL parsing and lib/publora_client.py for publishing.
   

4. Done. Ask OpenClaw to write a Instagram post.

Hermes Agent

Hermes Agent (Nous Research) follows the agentskills.io open standard and loads skills/*/SKILL.md directly. Clone the bundle into your Hermes skills folder:

git clone https://github.com/sergebulaev/instagram-skills.git ~/.hermes/skills/instagram-skills

Coming from OpenClaw? hermes claw migrate imports these skills automatically. Then call /<skill-name> from any of your Hermes chat surfaces.

Any agent (skills CLI)

One command that works across Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, and any other agent that reads SKILL.md files:

npx skills add sergebulaev/instagram-skills

What you can do

Once installed, just ask Claude Code or Codex for help with Instagram. The right skill activates automatically.

Write a caption:

"Write me an Instagram caption about how I cut my editing time from 6 hours to 47 minutes. Hook in the first line."

Plan a carousel:

"Turn my notes into a 10-slide carousel on portfolio mistakes for junior designers."

Reverse-engineer a viral Reel:

"What hook does this Reel use? https://www.instagram.com/reel/C9_aBcDeF/ (I'll paste the first 3 seconds)"

Size your hashtags:

"Give me 5 hashtags for this post, sized so my 2k account can actually rank."

Check a draft before posting:

"Audit this caption for AI tells and the first-125-char hook: [paste your text]"

Plan your week:

"Plan a week of Instagram content. I'm launching a design course for junior designers."

Every skill shows you a draft first and waits for your OK. Nothing gets posted without your approval.

The 9 skills

Skill	What it does
Caption Writer	Drafts a caption with the hook in the first 125 chars, a skimmable body, and one CTA, using a 2026 hook formula picked by goal: saves, shares, comments, or follows
Carousel Planner	Plans a carousel slide by slide (up to 10): a hook slide that opens a loop, value slides front-loaded, and a payoff slide that earns the save and the follow
Hook Extractor	Reverse-engineers the hook from any viral Reel or carousel. Maps it to one of the 10 Instagram formulas and returns a blank template you can fill
Hashtag Strategist	Builds a sized 3-5 hashtag set (niche / mid / broad) you can actually rank in, matched to the post. The 2026 reality, not the 30-tag wall
Humanizer	Strips em dashes, AI vocabulary ("leverage", "delve", "elevate"), rule-of-three lists, and emoji storms. Bundles a --mode audit pre-publish check
Content Planner	Creates a weekly plan with a Reels / carousel / story mix, per-day hooks, posting times, a saves-and-shares goal, and a goal-mix balance check
Repurposer	Turns a LinkedIn post, blog, YouTube script, or X thread into a native Instagram carousel or caption: re-hooked before the 125-char fold, off-platform artifacts stripped, never a copy-paste
Profile Optimizer	Audits and rewrites the profile end-to-end: photo, searchable NAME field, bio (150 chars), goal-matched link, category label, highlights (covers, order, naming), the first-9 grid, and up to 3 pinned posts, with a scorecard and before/after rewrites
Audience Insights	Reads your niche and profile from real data via Apify: scans a hashtag for the posts traveling now (likes, comments, owner, format) and pulls follower/post/bio stats for any handle, yours or a competitor's. Instagram hides likers and commenters, so this is niche discovery plus profile stats, not an engager list

Media is required on every Instagram post

Instagram does not allow text-only posts. The skills write the caption, hook, hashtags, and slide or shot plan. You supply the image or video. When you connect Publora and point a skill at your media files, it runs the publish flow for you:

1. create a draft (no scheduled time)   -> postGroupId
2. upload each file to S3                (2-10 images for a carousel, in order)
3. schedule the post                     (status=scheduled + time)

That exact order matters: scheduling before the upload finishes races Instagram's scheduler against the media. The bundle's lib/publora_client.publish_media_post(...) does all three steps in one call.

Optional: auto-post with Publora

By default, the skills draft the caption for you to post in the Instagram app with your own media. If you want Claude Code or Codex to upload your media and schedule the post directly, connect Publora. It takes about 2 minutes.

What is Publora?

Publora is a publishing API that handles the Instagram media flow (draft, upload, schedule) in one call, and can cross-post the same content to other networks.

Setup (2 minutes)

Step 1. Sign up at https://app.publora.com/signup (free)

Step 2. Connect Instagram: click Channels in the left sidebar, then Add Channel, pick Instagram, authorize. You need a Business or Creator account (personal accounts are not supported).

Step 3. Find your Platform ID: go to Channels, click your Instagram account. The ID looks like instagram-11223344. Copy the whole thing including instagram-.

Step 4. Get your API key: click Settings (gear icon, bottom-left), then API, then Create Key. Copy the sk_... string.

Step 5. Create a file called .env in the instagram-skills folder:

PUBLORA_API_KEY=sk_paste_your_key_here
INSTAGRAM_PLATFORM_ID=instagram-paste_your_id_here

If you cloned the repo, copy the template instead:

cp .env.example .env

Then open .env and replace the placeholders with your real values.

Step 6. Install two small Python packages:

pip install requests python-dotenv

Step 7. Test it. Ask Claude Code or Codex:

"Schedule a test Instagram post via Publora 24 hours from now with this image: [path]. Caption: 'testing the API connection, will cancel in dashboard'."

If Publora returns a postGroupId, you're set. Cancel the post in the Publora dashboard before the scheduled time. If you get HTTP 401, your API key is wrong. If you get an Invalid platform ID format error, your INSTAGRAM_PLATFORM_ID is wrong. See Troubleshooting.

Note on media: Instagram rejects text-only posts. If you do not point a skill at an image or video, it returns the caption as a copy-paste block plus a reminder to attach your media in the app.

Voice rules

Every skill follows these rules automatically:

1. No em dashes. Biggest AI tell in 2026.
2. Capitalize names. Always. Lowercase a brand reads as careless.
3. No AI vocabulary: "leverage", "fundamentally", "streamline", "harness", "delve", "elevate", "dive in".
4. Specific numbers beat adjectives. "47 minutes" beats "fast".
5. The hook lives in the first 125 chars (everything after is behind the "more" fold).
6. Hashtags are sizing, not volume: 3-5 sized tags, not 30. 0-3 emoji.

Troubleshooting

Problem	Fix
Skills don't activate when I ask about Instagram	Make sure you installed via the Skills panel, /plugin install, or codex plugin add. Try a new conversation.
"PUBLORA_API_KEY not set"	Your .env file is missing or in the wrong folder. It should be in the instagram-skills/ root.
"401 Invalid API key" from Publora	Your API key is wrong or revoked. Go to Publora Settings > API > Create a new key.
"Invalid platform ID format"	Your INSTAGRAM_PLATFORM_ID is wrong. Go to Publora Channels and copy the full instagram-... string.
My post failed with "media required"	Instagram does not allow text-only posts. Point the skill at an image or video file.
My carousel was rejected	A carousel is 2-10 items, all images or all video. You cannot mix images and a video in one carousel.
Personal account won't connect	Instagram's API needs a Business or Creator account. Switch in the Instagram app settings, then reconnect.
pip install fails	Use a virtual environment: python -m venv venv && source venv/bin/activate && pip install requests python-dotenv

Cross-cutting references

• references/hook-formulas.md - the 10 Instagram hook formulas with skeletons and goal tags
• references/algorithm-heuristics.md - 2026 Instagram ranking signals, timing, and limits
• references/hashtag-strategy.md - the 2026 sized-hashtag model (3-5, not 30)
• references/media-workflow.md - the draft, upload, schedule media flow
• references/voice-rules.md - the canonical voice rules every skill inherits

---

Runtime compatibility

instagram-skills/
  skills/             SKILL.md frontmatter; native to Claude Code and Codex, others read as markdown
  .codex-marketplace/ generated nested Codex package (run scripts/sync_codex_marketplace.py)
  lib/                pure Python, works in any agent runtime
  references/         pure markdown, works anywhere
  scripts/            pure Python CLI, works anywhere

Runtime	Auto-discovers skills?	Setup
Claude Code (CLI, Desktop, Web, IDE)	Yes	Install via plugin or clone. Skills activate on matching prompts.
Codex CLI	Yes	codex plugin marketplace add sergebulaev/instagram-skills and codex plugin add instagram-skills@instagram-skills.
Anthropic Managed Agents (/v1/agents)	Yes	Pass skill files in the agent context.
Cursor / Cline / Aider	Manual	Read SKILL.md files as prompt context; import lib/ as Python.
LangChain / AutoGen	No	Use lib/ as a package; feed references/ as prompt context.

Generic Python agent quickstart

import sys; sys.path.insert(0, "path/to/instagram-skills")
from lib import parse_instagram_url, PubloraClient, publish

parsed = parse_instagram_url("https://www.instagram.com/reel/C9_aBcDeF/")
print(parsed["url_type"], parsed["shortcode"])  # reel C9_aBcDeF

# Write side (Publora) - the full Instagram media flow in one call
client = PubloraClient()  # reads PUBLORA_API_KEY from env
client.publish_media_post(
    content="the 3-step setup is below, steal it\n\n#niche #mid #broad",
    platforms=["instagram-11223344"],
    media=["slide1.jpg", "slide2.jpg", "slide3.jpg"],  # local paths, in order
    scheduled_time="2026-07-01T15:00:00.000Z",
)

# Or use the high-level wrapper that handles manual / Publora / diy routing
publish("carousel", draft_text="...", target_url="https://www.instagram.com/",
        media=["slide1.jpg", "slide2.jpg"], platforms=["instagram-11223344"])

URL handling

lib/url_parser.py parses Instagram post, Reel, and profile URLs:

URL fragment	Parsed
instagram.com/p/SHORTCODE/	{shortcode, url_type: "post"}
instagram.com/reel/SHORTCODE/	{shortcode, url_type: "reel"}
instagram.com/USERNAME/	{username, url_type: "profile"}
instagram.com/stories/USER/ID/	{username, shortcode, url_type: "story"}

python lib/url_parser.py "https://www.instagram.com/p/C8xYz12abcd/"

Why the publish flow is three steps

Instagram requires media, and uploading media to a pre-signed S3 URL is asynchronous. If you create a post with a scheduled time set up front, the scheduler can fire before the upload finishes, producing a failed or media-less post. So the flow is always: create a draft, upload the media, then set the schedule. publish_media_post enforces that order and cleans up the draft if any step fails.

Why there is no read layer by default

Instagram has no cheap, documented post-read actor wired into this bundle, so ig-hook-extractor asks the user to paste the caption (and slide or Reel hook). If you add an Apify Instagram actor later, gate it behind APIFY_TOKEN and keep the paste fallback.

References

• Publora API docs - endpoint reference for the publishing layer
• Instagram Graph API content publishing - the platform API the publish layer builds on

License

MIT. Powered by Publora.

Related open-source skill bundles

Part of a family of AI social-media marketing skill bundles for Claude Code and Codex:

• linkedin-skills - LinkedIn
• x-skills - X (Twitter)
• instagram-skills - Instagram (this repo)
• youtube-skills - YouTube
• threads-skills - Threads
• tiktok-skills - TikTok
• facebook-skills - Facebook Pages

Also: Anthropic Skills repo, the awesome-claude-skills directory.