How to scrape Instagram Highlights with Java

A profile's story highlights: id, title, cover. This tutorial gets it with a short Java program and the Instagram Highlights API. Each successful call costs 1 credit; errors and not-found answers are free.

1. Get an API key

Sign in to get a key and 100 free credits, no card. Then put the key in an environment variable so it stays out of your code:

export SCRAPEIO_API_KEY="your_key_here"

2. Set up Java

Java 11 or newer; HttpClient is built in

3. Write the code

Save this as Scrape.java.

import java.net.URI;
import java.net.URLEncoder;
import java.net.http.HttpClient;
import java.net.http.HttpRequest;
import java.net.http.HttpResponse;
import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;

public class Scrape {
    static String enc(String s) {
        return URLEncoder.encode(s, StandardCharsets.UTF_8);
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
        String query = "handle=" + enc("nike");
        HttpRequest req = HttpRequest.newBuilder()
            .uri(URI.create("https://scrapeio.com/v1/instagram/user/highlights?" + query))
            .header("x-api-key", System.getenv("SCRAPEIO_API_KEY"))
            .build();
        HttpResponse<String> res = HttpClient.newHttpClient().send(req, HttpResponse.BodyHandlers.ofString());
        if (res.statusCode() != 200) throw new RuntimeException("HTTP " + res.statusCode());
        System.out.println(res.body());
    }
}

4. Run it

java Scrape.java

The response has the same envelope on every endpoint: success, cached, credits_used, credits_remaining and data. Shared fields such as handle, followers, plays, likes and created_at have the same names on every platform.

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
`handle`	string	Instagram username.
`user_id`	string	Instagram user id. Send this or handle.

Errors and what you pay

Status	Meaning	Charged
`200`	Success	Yes, unless cached
`400`	A parameter is missing or wrong	No
`401`	The key is missing or invalid	No
`402`	Not enough credits	No
`403`	The account or post is private	No
`404`	Not found on the platform	No
`429`	More than 300 requests a minute	No
`502`	Every source is down; retry shortly	No

Same endpoint in other languages

Python · Node.js · JavaScript · TypeScript · Go · Rust · C# · PHP · Ruby · Kotlin · Swift · R

Prefer no code?

Connect the MCP server to Claude Code, Cursor or Codex and ask in plain English. The agent uses the instagram_highlights tool for you.

100 free credits, no card. Credits never expire.

Get API key