# Instagram Post Comments

Retrieve the public top-level comments of an Instagram post or reel by shortcode, with pagination support (pass next_max_id as max_id for the next page). Returns comment text, timestamps, like counts, and author info (username, profile picture, verified flag). Note: Instagram does not expose reply threads on the public surface, so only top-level comments are returned. A completed lookup costs one credit, including a definitive not-found result, because every lookup uses costly dedicated Instagram proxies.

- **Documentation:** [https://scrappa.co/docs/instagram-api/instagram_post_comments](https://scrappa.co/docs/instagram-api/instagram_post_comments)
- **API group:** Instagram API
- **Endpoint:** `GET https://scrappa.co/api/instagram/post/comments`

## Authentication

Send your Scrappa API key in the `X-API-KEY` request header. Paid endpoints also support accountless x402 payments when called without an API key.

## Parameters

| Parameter | Type | Required | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `shortcode` | string | Yes | Instagram post/reel shortcode (from the /p/ or /reel/ URL, e.g. BrGHMHIF8Kz) |
| `max_id` | string | No | Pagination cursor from previous response (next_max_id) |

## Example request

```bash
#!/bin/bash

curl -X GET \
    -H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY_HERE" \
    "https://scrappa.co/api/instagram/post/comments?shortcode=BrGHMHIF8Kz"
```

## Example response

```json
{
    "success": true,
    "found": true,
    "shortcode": "BrGHMHIF8Kz",
    "comments": [
        {
            "id": "17987345123456789",
            "text": "Love this!",
            "taken_at": "2018-09-06T17:20:48+00:00",
            "taken_at_timestamp": 1536254448,
            "like_count": 120,
            "author": {
                "id": "12897316531",
                "username": "commentername",
                "profile_pic_url": "https://...",
                "is_verified": false
            }
        }
    ],
    "comments_count": 25,
    "more_available": true,
    "next_max_id": "QVFBUGx..."
}
```

## Errors

| Status | Error | Description |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 422 | Validation Error | The shortcode parameter is missing or invalid. |
| 422 | Invalid Pagination Cursor | The max_id cursor was rejected by Instagram. Cursors expire and are tied to the shortcode they were issued for — start again from the first page. The request does not consume credits. |
| 503 | Instagram Upstream Unavailable | Instagram rejected or failed all bounded attempts through approved proxies. Retry the request later. The request is retryable and does not consume credits. |

## More Scrappa resources

- [API documentation](https://scrappa.co/docs)
- [Full LLM-readable API reference](https://scrappa.co/llms-full.txt)
- [OpenAPI specification](https://scrappa.co/docs/api.json)
- [Pricing](https://scrappa.co/pricing)