instagram_monitor

Powerful, real-time OSINT suite for tracking every activity on Instagram - from story updates and bio changes to follower shifts, providing stunning dashboards and instant alerts to keep you in the loop.

🚀 Quick Install & Run

Python from PyPI (see also the video below)

pip install instagram_monitor
instagram_monitor --setup

Docker Compose

curl -fsSLO https://raw.githubusercontent.com/misiektoja/instagram_monitor/refs/heads/main/docker-compose.yml
docker compose run --rm instagram_monitor --setup
docker compose up

Docker run

docker pull misiektoja/instagram-monitor:latest
docker run --rm -it --init -v "$PWD:/data" -v instagram_monitor_session:/home/instagram/.config/instaloader -p 8000:8000 misiektoja/instagram-monitor --setup

Features

🔍 Real-time Tracking

• Profile Activity: Monitor new posts, reels and stories in real-time.
• Private Posts: Detects collab posts leaking from private accounts via public collaborators.
• Audience Insights: Track changes in followings and followers.
• Visual Changes: Detect updates to profile pictures and visibility (public/private).
• Bio Updates: Stay informed about changes to user bio.

📥 Media Download

• Anonymous Stories: Download story images and videos without leaving traces.
• High-Quality Media: Save post images, reel videos and profile pictures.
• Batch Support: Monitor and download media for multiple users simultaneously.

📱 Interactive Dashboards

• Guided Setup: Interactive wizard writes a ready-to-run config for PyPI, script and Docker workflows.
• Terminal Dashboard: Beautiful, live-updating CLI interface with real-time stats.
• Web Dashboard: Modern, local web UI with activity feeds and remote controls.
• Image Support: View profile pictures and media directly in your terminal (via imgcat).

🔔 Smart Notifications

• Multi-Channel: Instant alerts via Email and Webhooks (Discord etc.).
• Rich Alerts: Attached media (profile pics, stories, posts) directly in notifications.
• Error Reporting: Be notified if the monitoring process hits a snag.

🛡️ Privacy & Detection Avoidance

• Be Human Mode: Simulates random user actions to blend in.
• Jitter Mode: Adds human-like delays to HTTP requests.
• Hour-Range Checking: Limits activity to specific hours of the day.
• Account Flexibility: Works with or without a logged-in Instagram account.
• Browser Session Import: Reuse Firefox, Chrome, Brave or Chromium sessions with profile selection.
• Browser TLS Impersonation: Routes traffic through curl_cffi to mimic a real browser's TLS fingerprint and dodge fingerprint-based blocks.
• Proxy Support: Route Instagram and webhook traffic through your own proxy.
• Privacy Substitutions: Mask or rename identities across all output, logs and notifications.
• Block Awareness: Detects shadowbans and flagged sessions to avoid false alerts.

⚙️ Power Features

• CSV Logging: Log all activities and profile changes with timestamps.
• Flexible Config: Support for files, dotenv and environment variables.
• Follower Churn: Detailed tracking of exactly who followed or unfollowed.
• Batched Fetching: Throttle follower/following downloads into delayed batches.
• Remote Control: Manage tracking features via signals or the web UI.
• Docker Ready: Run via Docker Hub, Docker Compose or local image build with persisted config, dotenv and sessions.

Documentation

Full documentation is available at misiektoja.github.io/instagram_monitor:

• Installation - PyPI, Docker and manual install
• Quick Start - the setup wizard and first run
• Configuration - session login, time zone, SMTP and secrets
• View Modes - text, terminal and web dashboards
• Usage - Docker, notifications, proxy, CSV and more
• Anti-detection - avoid challenges and account suspension
• Troubleshooting - the --doctor self-check and logging levels

Quick Start

🧭 New here? Run the setup wizard

The fastest way to get going (since v3.5) is the interactive setup wizard. It asks a few plain questions (who to monitor, no-login or logged-in, which interface, optional alerts), then writes a ready-to-run config for you. For local installs it can also start monitoring immediately.

Use the command that matches how you run the tool:

# PyPI install
instagram_monitor --setup

# Manual Python script
python3 instagram_monitor.py --setup

# Docker Compose (skip curl if you cloned the repo)
curl -fsSLO https://raw.githubusercontent.com/misiektoja/instagram_monitor/refs/heads/main/docker-compose.yml
docker compose run --rm instagram_monitor --setup

# Docker image
docker run --rm -it --init -v "$PWD:/data" -v instagram_monitor_session:/home/instagram/.config/instaloader -p 8000:8000 misiektoja/instagram-monitor --setup

Running the tool with no arguments from an interactive terminal offers the same wizard. It auto-detects whether you installed via pip, downloaded the script or run under Docker and shows commands that match your setup.

Not sure which mode you want?

I want to...	Run this
Just try it, no login	instagram_monitor <target_insta_user>
Be guided through setup	Use the setup command for your install path above
Avoid the command line	instagram_monitor --web-dashboard then use the browser
See stories, reels and who followed/unfollowed	Log in first (browser session), then instagram_monitor -u <your_insta_user> <target_insta_user>

Manual commands

If you prefer to run it in a container, jump to 🐳 Docker Usage (Recommended).

• Track the target_insta_user in No-login mode (no session login):

instagram_monitor <target_insta_user>

Or if you installed manually:

python3 instagram_monitor.py <target_insta_user>

• Track the target_insta_user in Logged-in mode (with session login via your web browser):

# log in to the Instagram account (your_insta_user) in your web browser (Firefox, Chrome, Brave or Chromium)
instagram_monitor --import-browser-session --browser firefox
instagram_monitor -u <your_insta_user> <target_insta_user>

• You can also launch the Web Dashboard along with tracking:

instagram_monitor <target_insta_user> --web-dashboard

To get the list of all supported command-line arguments / flags:

instagram_monitor --help

Change Log

See RELEASE_NOTES.md for details.

Maintainers

• 👤 misiektoja (@misiektoja)
• 👤 tomballgithub (@tomballgithub)

License

Licensed under GPLv3. See LICENSE.