# Instagram analytics API

> Markdown version of https://postlake.dev/social-media-analytics-api/instagram . The canonical page for humans.
> PostLake is the social media API for AI agents: https://postlake.dev/llms.txt

Analytics on Instagram through the same call you use for every other network, with Instagram's real rules enforced before anything is sent.

Analytics for Instagram
    One call returns a post's numbers in the same shape as every other network, so your code reads impressions and likes without knowing which network it is looking at.
    curl https://api.postlake.dev/v1/posts/post_…/analytics \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $POSTLAKE_API_KEY"

    What Instagram actually reports
    This is the part usually left vague. Networks do not report the same things, and pretending they do produces charts that are quietly wrong.
    
      MetricOn Instagram
      ImpressionsReportedViewsReportedReachReportedLikes, comments, sharesReported where the network exposes themSaves and clicksReported where the network exposes them
    
    Where Instagram reports both, both are returned separately, because a view and an impression are different events.
    Instagram is one of only two networks that report unique reach, so a cross-platform reach total would be two real numbers and seven zeros. PostLake keeps the figure but never presents it as a total.

    Comparing Instagram against your other networks
    GET /v1/analytics?period=30d returns every connected account together, already normalised, so an agent can decide what to post next rather than only report what happened. Because the shapes match, comparing Instagram to the rest is arithmetic instead of a mapping exercise.
    Where a network is missing a metric it is a zero with a known reason, not a gap you have to investigate. That honesty is the difference between a dashboard you trust and one you quietly stop opening.

    Common questions
    
### Is there a Instagram analytics API?

Instagram exposes analytics to approved applications, and PostLake wraps it so you get the same response shape as every other network. One call, one format, no per-network parsing.

    
### Which metrics does Instagram return?

Primarily impressions, views, reach, plus engagement counts where the network exposes them.

    
### Why is a metric zero?

Because that network does not report it. PostLake never fills a missing metric with a related one. A zero means "not reported here", which is a different and more useful fact than a number that quietly came from somewhere else.

    
### Can an agent read these numbers?

Yes. Over MCP it is get_post_analytics for one post and get_analytics for everything, returned as a table an agent can act on rather than raw JSON it has to re-request.

## Related

- [Post to Instagram via API](https://postlake.dev/post-to/instagram.md)
- [Scheduling on Instagram](https://postlake.dev/social-media-scheduling-api/instagram.md)