Instagram Replicate

Freeze one public Instagram video post or reel into a rerenderable local build that always emits both instagram-replica.mp4 and instagram-replica.gif, with the GIF kept under 24 MB.

Verified against public Instagram pages on April 12, 2026.

Call-Bluff First

Do not promise a browser-level or forever-stable clone of Instagram. Instagram can change layout, counters drift, login interstitials appear, and media URLs expire. The local renderer is intentionally deterministic rather than a replay of Instagram's private renderer.

What this skill does well:

• capture one public Instagram post into a frozen snapshot.json
• download the profile avatar, poster frame, and primary video locally
• rebuild the desktop logged-out post chrome in deterministic local HTML/CSS
• record that local page with Playwright
• export a stable MP4 and a companion GIF in the same directory

Decision Tree

1. If the user wants one public Instagram video post or reel rebuilt as local video assets, run scripts/render_instagram_replica.py.
2. If they only need caption text, counts, comments, or media URLs, use a text/media extraction workflow instead of this skill.
3. If they only need the raw media file, use a media downloader instead of this skill.
4. If they want a live browser capture of Instagram itself, stop and explain that this skill is for deterministic local replicas, not recordings of the real Instagram UI.
5. If they need carousels, profile grids, Stories, DMs, or authenticated states, explain that this version supports one public post page replica with one primary media item.

Default Save Path Rule

When the user does not give a destination, propose ./pieces/ first. If they agree or do not care, run with --save-root ./pieces or let the script default to the current working directory's pieces/ folder.

The generated build layout stays the same:

<save-root>/instagram-replicate-post-<shortcode>-<timestamp>/
  assets/
  snapshot.json
  instagram-replica.html
  capture.webm
  instagram-replica.mp4
  instagram-replica.gif

Quick Reference

Task	Command	Why
Render from a public Instagram post into the default designated save root	python3 scripts/render_instagram_replica.py 'https://www.instagram.com/p/...' --save-root ./pieces	Creates a rerenderable build folder under ./pieces/
Re-render the same frozen post later	python3 scripts/render_instagram_replica.py ./instagram-build/snapshot.json	Saves beside the snapshot and avoids count drift
Keep everything in one named build folder	python3 scripts/render_instagram_replica.py '<url>' --workdir ./instagram-build	Leaves snapshot, local assets, HTML, WebM, MP4, and GIF together
Inspect the extracted snapshot only	python3 scripts/fetch_instagram_snapshot.py '<url>' --output ./instagram-build/snapshot.json --asset-dir ./instagram-build/assets	Useful before layout tuning
Record a prepared HTML replica only	python3 scripts/record_instagram_replica.py ./instagram-build/instagram-replica.html ./instagram-build/capture.webm	Useful when tuning CSS without refetching
Run real pipeline checks against live Instagram URLs	python3 scripts/probe_instagram_replica.py 'https://www.instagram.com/p/...' --save-root ./tmp-tests --cleanup	Verifies MP4, GIF, durations, and GIF size cap

Scope

Positive triggers

• "replicate this Instagram post"
• "replicate this reel"
• "turn this Instagram video into mp4 and gif"
• "freeze this Instagram post into video"
• "make this post look like Instagram"
• "Instagram screenshot but playable"
• "preserve caption, counts, comment preview, playback, and a rerenderable build"

Negative triggers

• simple Instagram caption reading or extraction
• raw media download only
• live embed debugging
• profile grids, feeds, Stories, DMs
• carousel reconstruction
• claims that the output is an exact browser-level clone of Instagram

Working Rule

Treat the snapshot as the truth, not the live Instagram page. Fetch once, freeze the data, then iterate locally from snapshot.json.

Reading Guide

Need	Read
End-to-end workflow, save-root behavior, and artefact layout	references/workflow.md
Layout heuristics, sizing rules, and tuning knobs	references/layout.md
Failure modes, GIF sizing, drift, and unsupported cases	references/gotchas.md

Gotchas

1. Counts drift quickly. Re-render from snapshot.json when the user cares about likes or comments from a specific moment.
2. The GIF is a preview asset, not a second master video. The renderer will lower GIF resolution, frame rate, and palette depth as needed to stay under 24 MB.
3. This renderer rebuilds the desktop post chrome locally. It does not claim byte-for-byte or pixel-for-pixel parity with Instagram's own renderer.
4. Public Instagram media URLs can expire. Keep the downloaded local media inside the workdir if the output may need to be reproduced later.
5. Playwright's viewport recording is visual-only. The final MP4 muxes original media audio back in when the local video file has an audio stream. The GIF never carries audio.
6. Login popups, related-post grids, and some account metadata vary by region and time. This skill intentionally renders the clean post page shell instead of replaying every live interstitial.