Elyx0/instagram-inbox-api

📬 Node.js web API for accessing Instagram private messages to couple with a frontend

Instagram Inbox Reading Web API

A web api for reading instagram private inbox leveraging micro.

Output sample

1) Request a token and get feeds and last message

Method	Endpoint	Query Parameters
POST	/register	{"user":"[username]","pass":"[accountPass]"}

Request

Eg: From your frontend or else.

fetch('http://localhost:3000/register', {
  method: 'post',
  headers: {
    'Accept': 'application/json, text/plain, */*',
    'Content-Type': 'application/json'
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({user:'TheUser',pass:'ThePassword'})
}).then(res=>res.json())
  .then(res => console.log(res));

Response

{
  "data": {
    "token": "3140d49ed8e7e216784b4effwefwf2326c610b00223a5d8fd315e",
    "feeds": [
      {
        "accounts": [
          {
            "username": "y4g4m1",
            "picture": "http://scontent-yyz1-1.cdninstagram.com/t51.2885-19/11248742_933430356713730_1934006097_a.jpg",
            "fullName": "Yohan McDonald",
            "id": 559838015,
            "isPrivate": false,
            "hasAnonymousProfilePicture": false,
            "isBusiness": false
          }
        ],
        "items": [
          {
            "id": "27590990389933559206179341506445312",
            "type": "text",
            "text": "potato",
            "accountId": 51027825,
            "created": 1495710586089
          }
        ],
        "id": "340282366841710300949128130393065336903"
      },
      {
        "accounts": [
          {
            "username": "axelleokok",
            "picture": "http://scontent-yyz1-1.cdninstagram.com/t51.2885-19/s150x150/13259602_580319558808270_355488729_a.jpg",
            "fullName": "Axelle Air",
            "id": 43672695,
            "isPrivate": false,
            "hasAnonymousProfilePicture": false,
            "isBusiness": false,
            "profilePicId": "1256028245353702101_43672695"
          }
        ],
        "items": [
          {
            "id": "27521541584252433622799407499968512",
            "type": "text",
            "text": "Why not",
            "accountId": 43672695,
            "created": 1491945758789
          }
        ],
        "id": "340282366841710300949128141477819325231"
      },
    ],
    "user": {
      "id": "51027825",
      "name": "elyx0"
    }
  }
}

2) Use the token, username and get feeds

Method	Endpoint	Query Parameters
POST	/read/:id	{"user":"[user.nameFromPreviousCall]","token":"[tokenFromPreviousCall]"}

You will need the feed id of the conversation you want to retrieve for ex data.feeds[0].id (340282366841710300949128130393065336903) in my example

Request

Eg: From your frontend or else.

fetch('http://localhost:3000/read/340282366841710300949128130393065336903', {
  method: 'post',
  headers: {
    'Accept': 'application/json, text/plain, */*',
    'Content-Type': 'application/json'
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({user:'TheUser',token:'theTokenFromStep1'})
}).then(res=>res.json())
  .then(res => console.log(res));

Response

{
  "data": [
    {
      "id": "27590990389933559206179341506445312",
      "type": "text",
      "text": "potato",
      "accountId": 51027825,
      "created": 1495710586089
    },
    {
      "id": "27590986342924623648393706191454208",
      "type": "media",
      "media": [
        {
          "width": 1080,
          "height": 1920,
          "url": "https://scontent-yyz1-1.cdninstagram.com/t51.2885-15/e15/fr/p1080x1080/18723392_158530731350650_2257534157666123776_n.jpg?ig_cache_key=Mjc1OTA5ODYzNDI5MjQ2MjM2NDgzOTM3MDYxOTE0NTQyMDg%3D.2"
        }
      ],
      "accountId": 559838015,
      "created": 1495710366700
    },
    {
      "id": "27590986175440915712521837108789248",
      "type": "text",
      "text": "Hello",
      "accountId": 559838015,
      "created": 1495710357621
    }
  ]
}

Logging out

Method	Endpoint	Query Parameters
POST	/logout	{"user":"[user.nameFromInitialCall]","token":"[tokenFromInitialCall]"}

Request

Eg: From your frontend or else.

fetch('http://localhost:3000/logout', {
  method: 'post',
  headers: {
    'Accept': 'application/json, text/plain, */*',
    'Content-Type': 'application/json'
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({user:'TheUser',token:'theTokenFromStep1'})
}).then(res=>res.json())
  .then(res => console.log(res));

Response

{
  "data": {
    "success": true
  }
}

Errors

API error will reply with a code 200, a name and a message or 500 if something went really bad.

{
  "error": {
    "name": "AuthenticationError",
    "message": "The password you entered is incorrect. Please try again."
  }
}

Install

• Note: requires a node version >= 6 and an npm version >= 3.

Clone the repo via git:

git clone https://github.com/elyx0/instagram-inbox-api.git your-project-name

And then install dependencies.

$ cd your-project-name && npm install

Then run in dev mode

$ npm run dev

You can then head to http://localhost:3000/ and should see the success response ✅.

Security

Since there is no Oauth / Authorize with instagram for the Inbox endpoint You will need to provide the user and pass of the account

WE DO NOT STORE THE PASSWORD

Instead the password is hashed using sha256 and the key of you choice (one way encryption) and used as the filename of your cookie that is used for authentication to instagram

❗️You will need to create a .env file containing the following❗️

SECRET=yourSecretThatWillEncryptTheCredentials
PORT=3000 //Optional if using Docker

💡 Or even better as an env using Docker Secret

You can run the AVA and ESLint tests using: npm test

⚠️ If your frontend is in https and not the server hosting this, you might get a Mixed Content error. You need to setup a SSL Nginx Proxy