> **For coding agents and LLMs:** This is one page from the Social Fetch docs (markdown export). The sections below mirror the orientation block in [`/llms.txt`](https://www.socialfetch.dev/llms.txt); use [`/llms.json`](https://www.socialfetch.dev/llms.json) when you need a structured operation inventory. The catalog covers documented operations with on-site reference pages.

## This page

- **On-site (HTML):** [https://www.socialfetch.dev/docs/api/v1/instagram/profiles/handle/get](https://www.socialfetch.dev/docs/api/v1/instagram/profiles/handle/get)
- **Markdown (.mdx) URL:** [https://www.socialfetch.dev/docs/api/v1/instagram/profiles/handle/get.mdx](https://www.socialfetch.dev/docs/api/v1/instagram/profiles/handle/get.mdx)

## API base URL and authentication

- **API origin (from OpenAPI `servers`):** `https://api.socialfetch.dev`
- **Authentication:** send `x-api-key: sfk_...` on `/v1/**` routes unless the operation is explicitly anonymous (check OpenAPI `security`, the [API reference hub](https://www.socialfetch.dev/docs/api.mdx), [`/llms.txt`](https://www.socialfetch.dev/llms.txt), or [`/llms.json`](https://www.socialfetch.dev/llms.json) for each route).
- **OpenAPI JSON:** [https://www.socialfetch.dev/openapi.json](https://www.socialfetch.dev/openapi.json)

## Recommended docs entrypoints (this site)

- [Documentation overview](https://www.socialfetch.dev/docs.mdx) — top-level orientation (markdown).
- [Quickstart](https://www.socialfetch.dev/docs/quickstart.mdx) — authenticate with `x-api-key`, validate auth with `whoami`, and understand the JSON envelope.
- [SDK](https://www.socialfetch.dev/docs/sdk.mdx) — official TypeScript SDK guide, including `SocialFetchClient`, `Result`, and `unwrap()`.
- [SDK reference](https://www.socialfetch.dev/docs/sdk-reference.mdx) — exhaustive SDK method inventory and route mapping for agents, tooling, and power users.
- [Choose the right endpoint](https://www.socialfetch.dev/docs/choose-endpoint.mdx) — task-oriented route selection for smoke tests, profiles, list endpoints, and single-item lookups.
- [Capability matrix](https://www.socialfetch.dev/docs/capability-matrix.mdx) — fast comparison of identifiers, pagination, outcomes, media download, and SDK coverage.
- [`/llms.json`](https://www.socialfetch.dev/llms.json) — structured machine-readable operation inventory with parameter names, pagination, outcomes, credits, and SDK mapping.
- [API reference hub](https://www.socialfetch.dev/docs/api.mdx) — human-friendly index of operations with links into generated pages.
- [Errors](https://www.socialfetch.dev/docs/errors.mdx) — shared error envelope and HTTP status guidance.
- [Credits](https://www.socialfetch.dev/docs/credits.mdx) — metering, `402`, and planning batch jobs.
- Outcome semantics such as `found`, `not_found`, and `private` are documented in [Errors](https://www.socialfetch.dev/docs/errors.mdx) and on operation pages when present in the OpenAPI contract.

## Markdown docs convention

- Every docs page has a markdown twin: append **`.mdx`** to the docs pathname (for example `/docs/quickstart` → `/docs/quickstart.mdx`).
- Agents that send `Accept: text/markdown` on `/docs/**` HTML URLs may receive markdown directly (same URL, `Vary: Accept`).

---
# Get Instagram profile (https://www.socialfetch.dev/docs/api/v1/instagram/profiles/handle/get)

## Summary

Looks up an Instagram profile by handle. Outcomes such as found, private, or not found are indicated in `data.lookupStatus`.

**Tags:** `Instagram`

## HTTP

- **Method:** GET
- **Path:** `/v1/instagram/profiles/{handle}`
- **Base URL:** `https://api.socialfetch.dev`

## Capability summary

- **SDK mapping:** `client.instagram.getProfile({ handle })`
- **Accepted identifiers:** `handle` (path)
- **Pagination:** none
- **Business outcome field:** `data.lookupStatus` with values `found`, `private`, `not_found`

## Authentication

- **`x-api-key`**: API key (`sfk_...`)

## Parameters

### `handle` (path)

- **Required:** yes
- **Constraints:** type `string`; minLength: 1; maxLength: 64
- **Description:** Instagram handle to look up, with or without a leading @.

## Responses (status codes)

- **200**: Lookup result. Check `data.lookupStatus` for `found`, `private`, or `not_found`.
- **400**: Invalid handle or bad request
- **401**: Missing or invalid API key
- **402**: Insufficient credits
- **500**: Unexpected or billing error
- **502**: Lookup could not be completed from the response (unexpected or invalid data).
- **503**: Service temporarily unavailable; safe to retry with backoff.

## Response body (200)

Lookup result. Check `data.lookupStatus` for `found`, `private`, or `not_found`.

### Field outline

- **data** (required) — type `object`. Endpoint-specific response payload.
  - **lookupStatus** (required) — type `string`; enum: found, private, not_found. Whether the profile was found, private, or not found.
  - **profile** (required) — type `object`; nullable. Profile details when available.
    - **platform** (required) — type `string`; enum: instagram. Social platform for this profile.
    - **handle** (required) — type `string`. Instagram username without the leading @.
    - **displayName** (required) — type `string`; nullable. Public display name on the Instagram profile.
    - **bio** (required) — type `string`; nullable. Profile biography text.
    - **avatarUrl** (required) — type `string`; nullable. Best available square avatar image URL.
    - **avatarUrlHd** (optional) — type `string`; nullable. Higher-resolution avatar URL when available.
    - **verified** (required) — type `boolean`. Whether Instagram marks the profile as verified.
    - **profileUrl** (required) — type `string`; minLength: 1. Canonical public Instagram profile URL.
    - **privateAccount** (required) — type `boolean`. Whether the account is private.
    - **platformUserId** (optional) — type `string`. Instagram numeric user id as a string.
    - **businessAccount** (optional) — type `boolean`. Whether the account is a business account.
    - **professionalAccount** (optional) — type `boolean`. Whether the account is a professional/creator account.
    - **categoryName** (optional) — type `string`; nullable. Category label when Instagram provides one.
    - **externalUrl** (optional) — type `string`; nullable. Primary external link from the profile.
    - **highlightReelCount** (optional) — type `integer`; minimum: 0. Number of story highlights on the profile.
    - **bioLinks** (optional) — type `array`. Structured bio links when available.
      - _items:_
        - **title** (required) — type `string`; nullable. Link title shown on the profile.
        - **url** (required) — type `string`; minLength: 1. Destination URL.
  - **metrics** (required) — type `object`; nullable. Profile metrics when available.
    - **followers** (required) — type `integer`; minimum: 0. Follower count reported by Instagram.
    - **following** (required) — type `integer`; minimum: 0. Following count reported by Instagram.
    - **posts** (required) — type `integer`; minimum: 0. Total public posts count on the profile grid.
  - **recentPosts** (required) — type `array`. Recent grid posts from the profile when available.
    - _items:_
      - **id** (required) — type `string`. Instagram media id for this post (vendor-defined).
      - **shortcode** (required) — type `string`. Public shortcode for the post URL.
      - **mediaType** (required) — type `string`; enum: video, image, sidecar, unknown. Normalized media type.
      - **caption** (required) — type `string`; nullable. Post caption when available.
      - **takenAt** (required) — type `integer`. When the media was taken or posted (Unix epoch seconds).
      - **commentCount** (optional) — type `integer`; minimum: 0. Comment count when available.
      - **likeCount** (optional) — type `integer`; minimum: 0. Like count when available.
      - **videoViewCount** (optional) — type `integer`; minimum: 0. Video view count for video posts when available.
      - **displayUrl** (optional) — type `string`. Primary display image URL.
      - **thumbnailUrl** (optional) — type `string`. Thumbnail image URL.
      - **videoUrl** (optional) — type `string`. Direct video URL when available.
      - **dimensions** (optional) — type `object`. Width and height when available.
        - **width** (required) — type `integer`; minimum: 0. Media width in pixels.
        - **height** (required) — type `integer`; minimum: 0. Media height in pixels.
  - **relatedProfiles** (required) — type `array`. Suggested related accounts when available.
    - _items:_
      - **platformUserId** (required) — type `string`. Instagram user id for the account.
      - **handle** (required) — type `string`. Instagram username.
      - **displayName** (required) — type `string`; nullable. Display name.
      - **avatarUrl** (required) — type `string`; nullable. Profile picture URL.
      - **verified** (required) — type `boolean`. Whether the account is verified.
      - **privateAccount** (required) — type `boolean`. Whether the account is private.
- **meta** (required) — type `object`. Metadata describing the request and billing outcome.
  - **requestId** (required) — type `string`; minLength: 1. Unique request identifier for tracing this API call.
  - **creditsCharged** (required) — type `integer`; minimum: 0. Credits charged for this request.
  - **version** (required) — type `string`; enum: v1. Public API version that served the response.

### Example JSON (found)

```json
{
  "data": {
    "lookupStatus": "found",
    "profile": {
      "platform": "instagram",
      "handle": "adrianhorning",
      "displayName": "Adrian Horning",
      "bio": "Scraping the web",
      "avatarUrl": "https://example.com/avatar.jpg",
      "avatarUrlHd": "https://example.com/avatar-hd.jpg",
      "verified": true,
      "profileUrl": "https://www.instagram.com/adrianhorning/",
      "privateAccount": false,
      "platformUserId": "2700692569",
      "businessAccount": true,
      "professionalAccount": true,
      "categoryName": "Entrepreneur",
      "externalUrl": "https://scrapecreators.com/",
      "highlightReelCount": 0,
      "bioLinks": [
        {
          "title": "Social Media APIs",
          "url": "https://scrapecreators.com"
        }
      ]
    },
    "metrics": {
      "followers": 25116,
      "following": 101,
      "posts": 71
    },
    "recentPosts": [
      {
        "id": "3540614075954356349",
        "shortcode": "DEiyb48AeB9",
        "mediaType": "video",
        "caption": null,
        "takenAt": 1736294201,
        "commentCount": 12,
        "likeCount": 126,
        "videoViewCount": 1318,
        "displayUrl": "https://example.com/post.jpg",
        "thumbnailUrl": "https://example.com/thumb.jpg",
        "videoUrl": "https://example.com/video.mp4",
        "dimensions": {
          "width": 1080,
          "height": 1920
        }
      }
    ],
    "relatedProfiles": [
      {
        "platformUserId": "66873381803",
        "handle": "itsallykrinsky",
        "displayName": "ally",
        "avatarUrl": "https://example.com/related.jpg",
        "verified": false,
        "privateAccount": false
      }
    ]
  },
  "meta": {
    "requestId": "req_01example",
    "creditsCharged": 1,
    "version": "v1"
  }
}
```

### Example JSON (private)

```json
{
  "data": {
    "lookupStatus": "private",
    "profile": {
      "platform": "instagram",
      "handle": "lukem121",
      "displayName": "Luke Askew",
      "bio": "",
      "avatarUrl": "https://example.com/priv.jpg",
      "verified": false,
      "profileUrl": "https://www.instagram.com/lukem121/",
      "privateAccount": true,
      "platformUserId": "18768689"
    },
    "metrics": {
      "followers": 107,
      "following": 187,
      "posts": 13
    },
    "recentPosts": [],
    "relatedProfiles": []
  },
  "meta": {
    "requestId": "req_01example",
    "creditsCharged": 1,
    "version": "v1"
  }
}
```

### Example JSON (not_found)

```json
{
  "data": {
    "lookupStatus": "not_found",
    "profile": null,
    "metrics": null,
    "recentPosts": [],
    "relatedProfiles": []
  },
  "meta": {
    "requestId": "req_01example",
    "creditsCharged": 1,
    "version": "v1"
  }
}
```

### Machine-readable error codes

When an error JSON body is returned, it may include one of these `error.code` values (derived from the OpenAPI schemas for this operation; additional codes may exist at runtime):

- `bad_request`

## Error handling & retries

Interpret HTTP status codes using the descriptions below. Do not assume a JSON body unless the OpenAPI schema defines one for that status.

- **400**: Invalid handle or bad request **Retry:** Fix the request; retrying the same invalid payload will not help.
- **401**: Missing or invalid API key **Retry:** Fix the API key first; retrying without changes will not help.
- **402**: Insufficient credits **Retry:** Do not retry without resolving billing/credits (retrying the same request will not help).
- **500**: Unexpected or billing error
- **502**: Lookup could not be completed from the response (unexpected or invalid data). **Retry:** May be transient; a few retries with backoff are reasonable.
- **503**: Service temporarily unavailable; safe to retry with backoff. **Retry:** Usually safe to retry with exponential backoff and jitter.

### Suggested client defaults

- Send the API key using the `x-api-key` header on every request.
- On `503` (and sometimes `502`), retry with backoff; cap retries and surface a clear error to the user.
- On `402`, surface an actionable billing message rather than blind retries.

## Examples

### TypeScript SDK

```typescript
import { SocialFetchClient } from "@socialfetch/sdk";

const client = new SocialFetchClient({
  apiKey: process.env.SOCIALFETCH_API_KEY!,
});

const result = await client.instagram.getProfile({
  handle: "charlidamelio",
});

if (!result.ok) {
  console.error(result.error);
} else {
  console.log(result.value.data);
}
```

### Node.js

```javascript
const response = await fetch(
  "https://api.socialfetch.dev/v1/instagram/profiles/charlidamelio",
  {
    headers: {
      "x-api-key": "YOUR_API_KEY",
    }
  }
);

const data = await response.json();
console.log(data);
```

### cURL

```bash
curl "https://api.socialfetch.dev/v1/instagram/profiles/charlidamelio" \
  -H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY"
```

### Python

```python
import requests

response = requests.get(
    "https://api.socialfetch.dev/v1/instagram/profiles/charlidamelio",
    headers={"x-api-key": "YOUR_API_KEY"},
)
data = response.json()
print(data)
```