Instagram Business API

The Instagram Business API is Meta's official interface that lets businesses with an Instagram Business or Creator account, linked to a Facebook Page, manage, automate and connect their Instagram direct messages at scale into external platforms such as SendSeven.

What is the Instagram Business API?

The Instagram Business API (officially part of the Meta Graph API) lets businesses receive and send their Instagram direct messages programmatically. It is the technical foundation for any professional Instagram customer communication that goes beyond the native Instagram app.

Requirements for using it:

  • An Instagram Business or Creator account (not a personal account)
  • A link to a Facebook Page via Meta Business Manager
  • Access through an authorised Meta partner or a direct app registration in the Meta Developer Portal

The API supports the following message types: text messages, images, videos, audio files, story replies and reactions to comments (as an outgoing DM). Limitation: unlike the WhatsApp Business API, Instagram has no proactive messaging outside a 7-day messaging window after the last user contact.

How the Instagram Business API works

As soon as a user sends the business a DM or reacts to a story, Meta sends a webhook notification to the connected system. The business can reply within the open messaging window (24 hours after the last user interaction, extendable to 7 days through certain message tags).

API functions that matter in practice:

  • Webhooks – real-time receipt of incoming DMs and story replies
  • Send API – outgoing messages (text, media, quick replies, buttons)
  • Handover Protocol – structured handover between automated bots and human team members

Integrating through a platform like SendSeven spares you the direct API connection: store the access credentials once, and all Instagram DMs appear automatically in the shared inbox alongside WhatsApp, email and other channels.

Using the Instagram Business API with SendSeven

SendSeven uses the official Instagram Business API to bundle direct messages, story replies and comment triggers in one shared inbox. The Instagram DM automation, keyword bots, business-hours rules and AI assistants, is built entirely on the API and requires no programming knowledge from the business.

To the Instagram channel page: Instagram for business with SendSeven.