Install the free Instagram Agent Skill in Claude Code, fill in your voice file, and use six skills to find, script and caption what to post. You post it.
Swipe or tap Next · checked on 2026-10-31
Not technical? Start here. Install Claude Code (the first step under “Install the skills” below), open a terminal, and start it. Then paste the prompt and it walks you through the rest one step at a time: the install, your voice file, a free test and the six skills. It checks with you before anything that costs money, reaches a real person or deletes something, and it never posts for you.
Start Claude in your home folder
cd ~
claudeThe setup prompt (copy all of it) · lines 1-1 of 22. Copy all copies the whole prompt; read it in full on the page.
Hi Claude. Please be my patient setup helper. I run a business, I'm not technical, and I've never used a terminal much. Go one step at a time, tell me exactly what to type or click, and wait for me to say done before the next step.This is the manual way: every step and every command. Claude follows it too. The skills are plain text files that teach Claude a job, plus five small Python scripts that run on your own computer. Nothing connects to your Instagram account, and nothing posts.
/ig-profile sits off to the side: run it once, fix your profile, and run it again when you change what you sell. /ig-reel and the weekly planner read the swipe file, so once /ig-viral has run, the rest of the pack works from what's actually working in your niche instead of from defaults.
/ig-reel./plugin menu instead of copying folders.~/.claude/instagram/swipe.md.It doesn't post, like, follow, comment or DM for you. Instagram's Terms of Use say you can't access or collect information “in an automated way without our express permission,” or engage with the service in unauthorized ways, “for example, automated ways.” Bots posting for you is how accounts get restricted. So every skill ends with a copy-ready block, and you post it.
Skip this if claude --version already prints a version. Claude Code needs a paid Claude plan (Pro, Max, Team or Enterprise); the free plan doesn't include it. The first time you run claude, it opens your browser to log in.
Install (Mac, Linux, WSL)
curl -fsSL https://claude.ai/install.sh | bash
# open a NEW terminal window, then:
claude --versiongit downloads the skills from GitHub; Python runs the five scripts. Each command should print a version number. On a Mac, if it asks to install the command line developer tools, say yes and run the command again.
Check both
git --version
python3 --versionThis puts the repo in your home folder and copies the 13 ig- skill folders to ~/.claude/skills, where Claude Code looks for your personal skills in every project.
Clone and copy
cd ~
git clone https://github.com/Jakeschincariol/instagram-agent-skill.git
mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills
cp -r instagram-agent-skill/skills/ig-* ~/.claude/skills/
ls ~/.claude/skillsStart Claude, type /ig and the 13 skills should show in the list. If Claude was already open when you copied them, close it and start it again.
Start it
claudeInside Claude Code, add the repo as a marketplace (a list of plugins), then install the plugin and pick a scope (“Install for you” puts it in every project). Plugin skills show up with the plugin's name in front, like /instagram-agent:ig-reel instead of /ig-reel. The rest of this guide uses the copied folders, because the first test runs a script straight from ~/.claude/skills.
Plugin install (type these inside Claude Code)
/plugin marketplace add Jakeschincariol/instagram-agent-skill
/plugin install instagram-agent@instagram-agent-skillEvery skill reads one file to sound like you: who you are, who you talk to, how you talk on camera, what you'd never say, and the real numbers you're OK putting your name on. The repo says it's about ten minutes, and it matters more on Instagram than anywhere, because you have to say the words out loud. If the proof section is empty, drafts come back with {{your number}} in them instead of a made-up one, which is exactly what you want.
The last line opens it in TextEdit on a Mac. On anything else, open the file in any text editor.
Copy and open
mkdir -p ~/.claude/instagram
cp ~/instagram-agent-skill/templates/voice.md ~/.claude/instagram/voice.md
open -e ~/.claude/instagram/voice.mdThe template's sections: who I am, what I sound like, my positions (three to five things you believe that some of your audience doesn't), off limits, proof I can use, and the ask. The repo's tip: give Claude three of your own reels or captions and let it write the file from those. Read every line it writes.
Prompt: draft my voice file
Write my ~/.claude/instagram/voice.md from the template that's already there, using these three captions or reel scripts of mine:
1. <paste>
2. <paste>
3. <paste>
What I do: <one sentence>. Who I'm talking to: <be specific, like homeowners in my area with a leak>. Leave Proof I can use empty unless I give you a real number. Show me the whole file before you save it.This runs the hook scorer straight from your terminal, no Claude at all, so it doesn't touch your plan's usage. Paste it in a terminal (not inside Claude). The three lines are Example (made up) hooks for a roofer.
Score three hooks
printf '%s\n' \
"Hey guys, today I want to talk about roof leaks" \
"The one question I'd ask before any roofer gets on your roof" \
"Three things your roofer should check before they quote you" \
| python3 ~/.claude/skills/ig-reel/hookscore.py -Good: a ranked list with a score and a STRONG, OK or WEAK label on each, the weakest property under each one, and the greeting near the bottom with a dealbreaker note (“Greeting. Nobody came to the feed to be greeted.”). Now swap in three of your own and run it again.
Read the scores the way the repo says to. Its maker tested it on 74 real hooks: it's good at catching weak ones and close to a coin flip at telling which of two decent hooks will do better. So use it to kill the bad ones before you film, then let your own retention graph pick the winners.
One hook at a time
python3 ~/.claude/skills/ig-reel/hookscore.py --hook "<your hook>"Start claude, then use these in this order the first time. Each one hands you text to read and post yourself. Swap the parts in angle brackets for your own.
It ranks reels by how far each one beat its own account's median, not by raw views, because a small account doing ten times its normal found something you can copy, and a huge account's big number might be a slow day.
It wants 6 to 12 accounts within about 10x your size: about 4 in your trade, 4 with the same customers in a different trade, and 2 to 4 bigger ones for format only. You read Instagram in your own browser and paste what it asks for (followers, the account's typical views, the reel's views, the first line). It never logs in and never scrapes.
Run it monthly, not daily. It saves the result to ~/.claude/instagram/swipe.md.
Prompt: what's working
/ig-viral My niche is <your trade and area>. My account has about <your follower count> followers. Accounts I already watch: <handles>. Propose the rest and wait for my OK. Then tell me exactly what to copy from each profile into a table, and I'll paste it. Don't log in or open Instagram for me.It writes three hooks off three different formulas from its 26, scores them with hookscore.py, writes the script on the winner, times it with beats.py, and flags a hook that runs past three seconds or a beat that sits too long. If the best hook scores under 50, it tells you you don't have the hook yet. Give it the one true thing that happened, and the number if you have one.
Prompt: a reel
/ig-reel <your idea, plus the one real thing that happened and the real number if there is one>. Target 30 seconds. Use my swipe file if it's there.It shows you the first 125 characters the way the feed shows them before “... more”, checks that there's one ask, flags more than five hashtags, and checks that the words people would search for are in the caption. Give it two or three phrases a customer would actually type.
Prompt: the caption
/ig-caption Here's my reel script: <paste>. The phrases I want to be found for: <two or three, like a customer would type them>. My ask: comment <one word>.It scores 12 parts of your profile (name field, bio, link, highlights, the three pinned posts, the grid and more) and rewrites them in the order that loses you the most points. Expect a low first score; the skill says most profiles land in the 30s and 40s. You change each field in the app yourself.
Prompt: profile
/ig-profile Here's my profile. Name field: <...>. Handle: <...>. Bio: <...>. Link goes to: <...>. Highlights: <names>. Pinned: <what's pinned>. My last nine posts are about: <one line each>.You paste the post and it gives you two comments of different types (add a fact, ask the real question, a short story of when you did it, and so on), one to three sentences, never a pitch. Pick one, change what you want, and post it from your own account.
Prompt: comment
/ig-comment Post from @<account>: <paste the caption, or what the reel says>. Give me two options and tell me which you'd post.It sorts your comments into keyword, lead, substance, question, support and noise, then drafts replies in that order. A question a lot of people have gets flagged as worth a whole reel instead of a reply. It never mass-messages anybody, and neither should you.
Prompt: replies
/ig-reply Here are the comments on my latest reel, with names: <paste>. Sort them, draft the replies, and flag any question worth its own reel. I'll post the replies myself.The other seven are in the same pack: /ig-carousel, /ig-story, /ig-plan (the week), the humanizer (it strips the stuff that makes writing sound like AI), /ig-dm, /ig-repurpose (one long video into a week of short ones) and /ig-audit (a look back at what you already posted).
I run something like this for our own company: it finds the videos that beat their creator's usual, and a lot of what we film starts there, because I'd rather copy what already worked than guess.
The README says you can open any one SKILL.md on GitHub, copy all of it, and paste it at the top of a Claude chat, and it works as a mode. You lose the five Python scripts (the hook scorer, the beat sheet timer, the caption checker, the humanizer and the swipe ranker), which are most of the point of the reel writer and the humanizer, but the rest still works. That's the cheapest way to try it, on any Claude plan.
After pasting a SKILL.md, add this
Use the instructions above as your job for this chat. I don't have the Python scripts it mentions, so do those checks by reading instead, and tell me where that's less reliable. Never make up a number or a result for me.Checked 2026-10-31 on claude.com/pricing and the repo. Prices change: check before you buy.
The free Claude plan doesn't include Claude Code, so the full setup starts at Pro. The five scripts run on your computer and cost nothing to run.
/ig-reel doesn't show up when you type /igRun ls ~/.claude/skills: you should see the ig- folders. If they're there and Claude was open when you copied them, run /reload-skills or close Claude and start it again. Claude Code's docs say a new top-level skills folder that didn't exist when the session started needs that reload.
/ig-reel isn't therePlugin skills carry the plugin's name: type /instagram-agent:ig-reel. If /plugin install can't find it, run the /plugin marketplace add line first.
git: command not found or python3: command not foundOn a Mac, accept the prompt to install the command line developer tools and run it again. On Linux or WSL, install git and python3 with your system's package manager.
The voice file is empty or in the wrong place. It has to be at ~/.claude/instagram/voice.md. Paste three of your real captions and have Claude rewrite it.
{{your number}} in itThat's on purpose: it won't invent a number. Put in your real one, or cut the line. Never let anything make one up for you.
Expected. The repo's own test says the scorer catches bad hooks but can't pick winners between decent ones. Your face, the edit, the sound and who Instagram shows it to decide that. Check your retention graph.
/ig-viral wants you to paste a lotThat's the design. It reads at the pace you do, in your own browser, because collecting from Instagram automatically breaks its terms. Start with six accounts, not twelve.
It won't, and I wouldn't add anything that does. Post from the Instagram app yourself.
Run cd ~/instagram-agent-skill && git pull, then the cp -r line again. That overwrites the copied skill folders, so if you edited a file in them (like the list of banned words), save your edits first. For the plugin, open /plugin, go to Marketplaces and choose Update marketplace.
Plugin: /plugin uninstall inside Claude Code. Copied folders: ask Claude to list and remove only the ig- folders in ~/.claude/skills, and check the list before you say yes, because a delete doesn't come back. Your voice file and swipe file live in ~/.claude/instagram if you want to keep them.
What each page backs up is listed at the end of the full guide.
Claude finds what's already working, scores your hook before you waste a take, and writes the caption and the replies, and the one thing it won't touch is the post button, which is exactly how I'd want it.
Want help setting this up? Receipts Group builds these systems.
Open the full guide as a page (every file in full, plus the table of contents).