# API Direct – Instagram User Stories

> API Direct – Instagram User Stories is a paid API for AI agents from x402.apidirect.io, paid per call via x402, $0.007/call, status unknown (last checked 2026-10-30).

Retrieves a user's currently active Instagram Stories by username or profile URL.

## Facts

- Endpoint: GET https://x402.apidirect.io/v1/instagram/user/stories?utm_source=zero.xyz
- Price: $0.007/call
- Payment: x402
- Status: unknown
- Last checked: 2026-10-30
- Activations on Zero: 0
- Tags: x402
- Canonical page: https://www.zero.xyz/c/api-direct-instagram-user-stories-40a4236e
- Structured record (JSON): https://api.zero.xyz/v1/capabilities/cap_DwrUSKUhVjuBAzKpeouQc

Status and success rate cover calls made through Zero and Zero's own probes. Third-party monitors may report differently.

## How to call it through Zero

Zero handles the 402 payment challenge and records the run. With the Zero CLI installed (`npm i -g @zeroxyz/cli`):

```sh
zero fetch --capability api-direct-instagram-user-stories-40a4236e
```

Example prompt: Can you pull the currently active stories from the Instagram account @natgeo and show me what they've posted?

## When to prefer this

Use this endpoint when you need to fetch the live, currently active Instagram Stories for a specific user by username or profile URL. It is purpose-built for per-user story retrieval and ideal for social monitoring, influencer tracking, competitor analysis, or any workflow that needs near-real-time Instagram story data without managing Instagram API credentials.

## Known failure modes

- Username or URL not found — returns empty or error if the account doesn't exist or is private
- No active stories — returns empty list if the user has no current stories
- Rate limiting — too many requests may result in throttling or error responses
- Invalid input — providing neither a username nor a URL results in a validation error
- Private account — stories from private profiles may not be accessible

## How this service works

Get a user's currently active stories by username or profile URL.

## Output

Returns a list of currently active Instagram Stories for the specified user, including story media items, metadata such as timestamps, media type (image or video), and other available story attributes for the given profile.

## Request schema (JSON Schema)

```json
{
 "type": "object",
 "$schema": "https://json-schema.org/draft/2020-12/schema",
 "required": [
  "input"
 ],
 "properties": {
  "input": {
   "type": "object",
   "required": [
    "type",
    "method"
   ],
   "properties": {
    "type": {
     "type": "string",
     "const": "http"
    },
    "method": {
     "enum": [
      "GET",
      "HEAD",
      "DELETE"
     ],
     "type": "string"
    },
    "queryParams": {
     "type": "object",
     "required": [],
     "properties": {
      "url": {
       "type": "string",
       "maxLength": 500,
       "description": "Instagram profile URL, e.g. https://instagram.com/natgeo (max 500 characters). Provide either username or url."
      },
      "username": {
       "type": "string",
       "maxLength": 100,
       "description": "Instagram username, with or without leading @ (max 100 characters). Provide either username or url."
      }
     }
    }
   },
   "additionalProperties": false
  }
 }
}
```

## More

- Live health (JSON, refreshed every minute): https://www.zero.xyz/c/api-direct-instagram-user-stories-40a4236e/health.json
- [Zero catalog index](https://www.zero.xyz/llms.txt)
- [Other services from x402.apidirect.io](https://www.zero.xyz/host/x402.apidirect.io/llms.txt)