hikerapi-mcp

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

Auto-generates MCP tools from the HikerAPI OpenAPI spec at startup, so every non-deprecated GET endpoint is exposed without hand-written wrappers. HikerAPI only exposes read (GET) endpoints — the server maps each one 1:1 to an MCP tool (GET /v2/user/by/username → get_v2_user_by_username).

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

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

Claude Desktop

Add to claude_desktop_config.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:

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

OpenAI Codex

Append to ~/.codex/config.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, so the list always matches the current API. Roughly 100+ tools across these groups (sizes as of this writing):

Group	Tools	Examples
User Profile	36	get_v2_user_by_username, get_v2_user_by_id, get_v1_user_medias
Post Details	20	get_v2_media_info_by_code, get_v2_media_comments, get_v2_media_likers
Search	13	get_v1_search_users, get_v1_search_hashtags
Hashtags	7	get_v2_hashtag_medias_top, get_v2_hashtag_medias_recent
Stories	7	get_v2_story_by_url, get_v1_story_by_id
Location	7	get_v1_location_medias_recent, get_v1_location_search
Audio, Share, Highlights, Comments	~10	get_v2_track_by_id, get_v1_share_by_url, …

Each tool name mirrors its endpoint (GET /v2/user/by/username → get_v2_user_by_username). Your assistant can call tools/list over MCP to get the full, up-to-date list with parameter schemas. Legacy and System groups are excluded by default.

Configuration

Variable	Description	Required
HIKERAPI_KEY	Your HikerAPI access key (sent as x-access-key header)	yes
HIKERAPI_URL	Base URL. Default: https://api.hikerapi.com (alias https://api.instagrapi.com)	no
HIKERAPI_SPEC_URL	OpenAPI spec URL. Default: ${HIKERAPI_URL}/openapi.json	no
HIKERAPI_TAGS	Whitelist: only include operations with these tags (comma-separated)	no
HIKERAPI_EXCLUDE_TAGS	Blacklist: additional tags to exclude (on top of default Legacy,System)	no
HIKERAPI_TIMEOUT_MS	Per-request timeout for API calls. Default: 30000	no
HIKERAPI_SPEC_TIMEOUT_MS	Timeout for the startup spec fetch. Default: 60000	no
HIKERAPI_MAX_RESPONSE_BYTES	Max bytes read from each API response. Default: 10485760 (10 MB)	no
HIKERAPI_MAX_SPEC_BYTES	Max 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.

Example — expose only the most common groups:

"env": {
  "HIKERAPI_KEY": "...",
  "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

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

git clone https://github.com/subzeroid/hikerapi-mcp.git
cd hikerapi-mcp
npm install
npm run build
HIKERAPI_KEY=your-key node dist/index.js

Run in watch mode:

HIKERAPI_KEY=your-key npm run dev

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

npm test

License

MIT