Instagram

Instagram lets your agent work inside your Instagram professional account's inbox. Once connected, it can answer DMs with AI, send a link to anyone who comments on a post, follow up on story replies, and greet new contacts with tappable questions. Your team can step in on any conversation from Activity → Chat logs.

This page covers the automations. For connecting the account itself — which sign-in to use, prerequisites, and connection troubleshooting — see the Instagram connection guide.

How it works

• One account, one agent. You connect a single Instagram Business or Creator account to an agent from Channels → Instagram. Reconnecting replaces the existing connection.
• Automations run on triggers. Each automation listens for one kind of event — a DM, a comment, a story reply, a story mention — and sends a reply you configure or one your AI writes.
• Everything lands in Chat logs. DMs, comment-to-DM replies, and follow-ups are recorded as one conversation per person, with the contact's Instagram handle and profile picture.
• Go live per automation. Automations save as drafts and reach Instagram only when you click Go live. There is one exception: Respond to all DMs is switched on as soon as the account connects, so your agent starts answering DMs right away. Turn it off from its card on Channels → Instagram if you'd rather review the setup first.
• Contacts are created as people engage. Anyone who DMs you, taps a link button, or replies to a story becomes a contact in Activity → Contacts, with their Instagram handle. Commenters who never tap the button aren't added. Contacts export to CSV.

Before you start

• An Instagram professional account (Business or Creator). Personal accounts can't connect.
• Allow access to messages turned on in the Instagram app: Settings → Messages and story replies → Message controls → Connected tools.
• The account connected to your agent and showing Connected on Channels → Instagram.

The automations

Respond to all DMs

Replies to direct messages sent to your account.

• All DMs — your AI answers every message using the agent's training and the recent conversation history. This is the default.
• Only specific keywords — the automation replies only when a DM contains one of your keywords (whole-word, case-insensitive; separate keywords with commas). Turn on Also match by intent and your AI also matches messages that mean the same thing — "how much does it cost" matches a pricing intent even without the word.

Add-ons:

• Follow up to re-engage — a few hours after a keyword or intent reply, if the person hasn't written back, send a follow-up message. Not sent after AI replies.
• Ask for a follow before sending the link — if the person doesn't follow your account yet, send a follow request first. Once they follow and message you again, they get the link.
• Ask for email — your agent asks for an email address in the DM and saves it to the contact. Available on plans that include Instagram add-ons.

Comment-to-DM

Turns a comment on a post or reel into a DM with your link.

1. Choose the trigger: A specific post or reel (pick it from your recent media) or Any post or reel.
2. Add the keywords that should trigger the DM, or leave them empty to reply to every comment.
3. Write the opening DM — the message includes a button that sends your link once tapped, so the person gets the link in the same thread.
4. Optionally reply publicly under the comment too. Add a few variants — Agentkit rotates between them to avoid Instagram's duplicate-comment limit.

Add-ons:

• Ask for a follow before sending the link — same as above, for commenters.
• Follow up if they don't click the link — a couple of hours after the link DM, if they haven't tapped the link or written back, send a reminder. Link taps are tracked so the follow-up only goes to people who didn't click.

Generate leads with stories

Replies to people who react to or reply to your stories.

1. Trigger on Any story, or A specific story — pick one of your active stories (stories stay available for 24 hours after posting).
2. Filter on Any word or reaction, or list specific words or reactions.
3. Write the reply that carries your link.

Add-ons:

• React to the reply with ❤️ — right after your link reply is sent, your account reacts to their story reply.
• Ask for a follow before sending the link.
• Follow up to grow engagement — a delayed follow-up message if they haven't replied.

Story mentions

When someone mentions your account in their story, send a thank-you DM with your link.

Conversation starters

Up to four tappable questions shown when someone opens a new DM thread with your account — before they type anything. Each question has the reply your account sends when it's tapped, and can carry optional link buttons.

Starters are published to Instagram when you click Go live and verified by reading them back. If the questions in Agentkit differ from what's live, the card shows Update live. Instagram can take a little while to show changes.

Main Menu

The ≡ menu in the top-right corner of a DM thread. Contacts can open it any time. Each item either sends a reply or opens a link. Like conversation starters, the menu is published to Instagram when you go live.

Channel settings

Settings that apply to the whole account, above any individual automation:

• Opt-out keywords — STOP and UNSUBSCRIBE let a contact turn off automated messages. Matched exactly (case-insensitive) before any automation runs; the contact receives your opt-out confirmation. The opt-in keywords START and SUBSCRIBE turn messages back on. Click Save to apply changes to these messages.
• Fallback reply — sent when a DM matches no keyword or intent. Sent at most once per contact per 24 hours. When off, the message is recorded without a reply.
• Refresh permissions — from the connection's ⋯ menu, re-check the permissions Instagram granted without disconnecting.

Results

The Results from the last 30 days panel below the automation list shows, across all your automations, how many messages were sent, how many of those got a reply, and the reply rate.

Human takeover

You can step in on any Instagram conversation:

1. Go to Activity → Chat logs and open the conversation.
2. Click Pause AI. Automated replies and follow-ups stop for that conversation only.
3. Reply from the composer in Chat logs — the message is sent from your Instagram account — or from the Instagram app.
4. Click Resume AI when you're done.

Instagram lets businesses reply within 24 hours of the person's last message. The composer tells you when a conversation is outside that window.

Test the setup

1. From a different Instagram account, send a DM to the connected account, comment on a post with one of your keywords, or reply to a story.
2. Check the reply arrives on Instagram. For a comment, tap the button in the opening DM to receive the link.
3. Open Activity → Chat logs and confirm the conversation appears, and Activity → Contacts for the new contact.
4. Optionally Pause AI, reply by hand, then Resume AI.

Troubleshooting

Nothing happens when someone DMs or comments

• The automation must be live — check for the Go live button on its card.
• Allow access to messages must be on in the Instagram app (see Before you start).
• Keyword mode is whole-word: "price" doesn't match "prices". Add the variants you expect, or turn on intent matching.
• Comment-to-DM on a specific post only fires for that post. Check which post is selected.
• If the connection shows Reconnect required, reconnect from Channels → Instagram.

The link never arrives after a comment

The opening DM carries a button; the link is sent when the person taps it. If Ask for a follow is on, non-followers get a follow request first and receive the link when they tap the button again after following.

Conversation starters or the Main Menu don't show on Instagram

Instagram can take a while to propagate changes, and only shows starters to people opening a new thread. If the card says Update live or shows a sync error, click Go live (or Retry) to publish again.

A contact stopped getting messages

They may have typed an opt-out keyword. Opted-out contacts are shown in Contacts; they can opt back in with an opt-in keyword.

Follow-ups aren't sent

Follow-ups only go to people who haven't written back (or, for link follow-ups, haven't tapped the link). They're also skipped when AI is paused on the conversation and when the 24-hour messaging window has closed.