HikerAPI

io.github.subzeroidv1.1.2Updated Oct 6, 2026

Instagram data via HikerAPI: profiles, posts, reels, stories, comments, hashtags, locations.

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Overview

AI-generated overview

Lets an assistant query Instagram data through HikerAPI: profiles, posts, reels, stories, comments, hashtags and locations.

What it does
Generates MCP tools at startup from the HikerAPI OpenAPI spec, mapping each read-only GET endpoint to one tool, such as get_v2_user_by_username or get_v2_hashtag_medias_recent. The default core set exposes roughly 44 curated tools, one per task, with hand-written descriptions covering usage, pagination and billing. Setting HIKERAPI_TOOLS=all exposes every non-deprecated endpoint (100+). Responses are returned as raw JSON text, and non-2xx replies surface as tool errors.
When to use it
Useful when an assistant needs Instagram profile, post, reel, story, comment, hashtag or location data for research, monitoring or content analysis. Worth adding if you already have HikerAPI access and want the assistant to call those endpoints directly instead of you writing API code.
Requirements
Runs locally over stdio, typically via npx hikerapi-mcp, so Node.js is needed. Requires a HikerAPI access key in the HIKERAPI_KEY environment variable, sent as the x-access-key header. Network access to api.hikerapi.com is needed, plus a startup fetch of the OpenAPI spec. Optional variables control base URL, tool set, tag filters, timeouts and response size limits.
Before you install
HIKERAPI_KEY is a billable credential: requests consume your HikerAPI quota or credits, and the free tier is limited. If HIKERAPI_URL points anywhere other than the default hosts, the key is sent to that host and the server warns on startup. All tools are read-only, but the data returned concerns third-party Instagram accounts, so handle it according to applicable rules.

Installation

In SourceWeft

  1. Open HikerAPI in the dashboard and add it to a workspace.
  2. Enable the server for the chats that should use its tools.

Desktop only via STDIO. STDIO servers start a local process, so they need the SourceWeft desktop host.

Other MCP clients

Follow the launch instructions in the repository.

README

hikerapi-mcp

[npm version] [npm downloads] [License: MIT]

MCP server for HikerAPI — Instagram data API. Available on npm: hikerapi-mcp.

Generates MCP tools from the HikerAPI OpenAPI spec at startup. HikerAPI only exposes read (GET) endpoints — each tool maps 1:1 to one of them (GET /v2/user/by/username → get_v2_user_by_username). By default you get a core set of ~45 tools, one per task, each with a description that tells the assistant when to use it; HIKERAPI_TOOLS=all exposes every non-deprecated endpoint (100+).

Get 100 Free API Requests

Sign up with this link and get 100 free HikerAPI requests — no credit card required. Enough to wire up the MCP server, try a few prompts in Claude/Cursor/Codex, and evaluate the data quality before committing.

Get your free 100 requests here

Quick start

  1. Get an API key at hikerapi.com/tokens.
  2. Add the server to your AI assistant.
  3. Ask your assistant something like:
    • "Get the Instagram profile for @nasa."
    • "Find the top 5 recent posts under the hashtag #photography."
    • "Show stories for the user with id 25025320."

Claude Code

bash
claude mcp add hikerapi -e HIKERAPI_KEY=your-api-key -- npx -y hikerapi-mcp

Claude Desktop

Add to claude_desktop_config.json:

json
{  "mcpServers": {    "hikerapi": {      "command": "npx",      "args": ["-y", "hikerapi-mcp"],      "env": {        "HIKERAPI_KEY": "your-api-key"      }    }  }}

Cursor / Windsurf

Same shape as Claude Desktop — put the block under mcpServers in the app's MCP config file.

Zed

Add to ~/.config/zed/settings.json:

json
{  "context_servers": {    "hikerapi": {      "command": "npx",      "args": ["-y", "hikerapi-mcp"],      "env": {        "HIKERAPI_KEY": "your-api-key"      }    }  }}

OpenAI Codex

Append to ~/.codex/config.toml:

toml
[mcp_servers.hikerapi]command = "npx"args = ["-y", "hikerapi-mcp"]
[mcp_servers.hikerapi.env]HIKERAPI_KEY = "your-api-key"

Tools

Tools are generated at startup from the live HikerAPI OpenAPI spec.

HikerAPI has 100+ GET endpoints, and most of them are version variants of the same call (v1 / v2 / gql / g2). Handing all of them to an assistant makes it pick the wrong one, so the default core set keeps one endpoint per task:

GroupToolsExamples
Profiles16get_v2_user_by_username, get_gql_user_medias, get_g2_user_followers
Posts, comments, likers8get_v2_media_info_by_url, get_v2_media_comments, get_v2_media_likers
Search7get_v2_fbsearch_accounts, get_v2_fbsearch_reels, get_v1_search_hashtags
Hashtags4get_v2_hashtag_medias_top, get_v2_hashtag_medias_recent
Locations3get_g2_location_by_id, get_v1_location_medias_recent_chunk
Stories, highlights, links5get_v2_story_by_url, get_v2_highlight_by_id, get_v1_share_by_url
Audio1get_v2_track_by_id

Core tools carry hand-written descriptions (what the tool does, when to prefer a sibling, pagination, billing) and every tool is annotated read-only. The list lives in src/curated.ts.

Set HIKERAPI_TOOLS=all to expose every non-deprecated endpoint instead — same tool names as before, so existing prompts keep working. Tool names mirror their endpoint (GET /v2/user/by/username → get_v2_user_by_username); call tools/list over MCP for the current list with parameter schemas. Legacy and System groups are excluded in both modes.

Configuration

VariableDescriptionRequired
HIKERAPI_KEYYour HikerAPI access key (sent as x-access-key header)yes
HIKERAPI_URLBase URL. Default: https://api.hikerapi.com (alias https://api.instagrapi.com)no
HIKERAPI_SPEC_URLOpenAPI spec URL. Default: ${HIKERAPI_URL}/openapi.jsonno
HIKERAPI_TOOLScore (default): curated set, one tool per task. all: every non-deprecated endpointno
HIKERAPI_TAGSWhitelist: only include operations with these tags (comma-separated)no
HIKERAPI_EXCLUDE_TAGSBlacklist: additional tags to exclude (on top of default Legacy,System)no
HIKERAPI_TIMEOUT_MSPer-request timeout for API calls. Default: 30000no
HIKERAPI_SPEC_TIMEOUT_MSTimeout for the startup spec fetch. Default: 60000no
HIKERAPI_SPEC_RETRY_DELAY_MSBase delay between the 3 startup spec fetch attempts. Default: 2000no
HIKERAPI_MAX_RESPONSE_BYTESMax bytes read from each API response. Default: 10485760 (10 MB)no
HIKERAPI_MAX_SPEC_BYTESMax bytes read from the OpenAPI spec. Default: 8388608 (8 MB)no

Legacy and System tags are excluded by default. Deprecated operations are also skipped.

If HIKERAPI_URL points to a host other than api.hikerapi.com or api.instagrapi.com, the server prints a warning on startup — your key will be sent there, so only use it for a self-hosted or proxied HikerAPI.

Requests are sent with User-Agent: hikerapi-mcp/<version>.

Example — expose every endpoint of the most common groups:

json
"env": {  "HIKERAPI_KEY": "...",  "HIKERAPI_TOOLS": "all",  "HIKERAPI_TAGS": "User Profile,Post Details,Search,Hashtags,Stories"}

How it works

AI Assistant ←stdio→ hikerapi-mcp ──https──> api.hikerapi.com                          │                          └─ fetches /openapi.json once on startup,                             builds one MCP tool per GET endpoint                             (core set by default)

Tool arguments map to the endpoint's query and path parameters. The response body is returned as-is (JSON text). Non-2xx responses are surfaced as tool errors with the HTTP status and body.

Development

bash
git clone https://github.com/subzeroid/hikerapi-mcp.gitcd hikerapi-mcpnpm installnpm run buildHIKERAPI_KEY=your-key node dist/index.js

Run in watch mode:

bash
HIKERAPI_KEY=your-key npm run dev

Run tests (unit + stdio smoke tests against a local mock server, no network/API key required):

bash
npm test

License

MIT

Source: README.md at commit 0ca4b6a

Tools

0
Tool metadata has not been indexed yet.

Version history

1
  1. v1.1.2LatestOct 6, 2026