> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.lobstr.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Add Tasks

> Add Instagram profile URLs, post URLs, or usernames to scrape posts using the lobstr.io API

Add Instagram profiles or posts as tasks to your squid. The scraper will extract posts, captions, engagement metrics, and metadata from the provided profiles or individual posts.

You can provide a profile URL, a single post/reel URL, or just a username.

## Headers

<ParamField header="Authorization" type="string" required>
  Your API authentication token. Value: `Token YOUR_API_KEY`
</ParamField>

<ParamField header="Content-Type" type="string" required>
  Request body format. Value: `application/json`
</ParamField>

## Supported Input Formats

**Profile URL:**

`https://www.instagram.com/natgeo/`

`https://instagram.com/username`

**Single Post URL:**

`https://www.instagram.com/p/ABC123/`

**Reel URL:**

`https://www.instagram.com/reel/ABC123/`

**Username only:**

`natgeo`

`cristiano`

## Request Body

| Field     | Type   | Required | Description                                                            |
| --------- | ------ | -------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **squid** | string | Yes      | Hash of your squid configured with the Instagram Posts Scraper crawler |
| **tasks** | array  | Yes      | Array of task objects, each containing a `url` field                   |

<Tip>
  You can use just the username without the full URL - the scraper will resolve it automatically.
</Tip>

<Note>
  When scraping a profile, all public posts will be collected. For single posts, only that specific post data is returned.
</Note>

<Tip>
  You can add up to 1000 tasks in a single request for bulk operations.
</Tip>

<Note>
  Duplicate URLs are automatically detected and won't be added twice.
</Note>

## Code Examples

<CodeGroup>
  ```bash cURL theme={null}
  curl -X POST "https://api.lobstr.io/v1/tasks" \
    -H "Authorization: Token YOUR_API_KEY" \
    -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
    -d '{
      "squid": "YOUR_SQUID_HASH",
      "tasks": [
        {"url": "https://www.instagram.com/natgeo/"},
        {"url": "https://www.instagram.com/cristiano/"}
      ]
    }'
  ```

  ```python Python theme={null}
  import requests

  API_KEY = "YOUR_API_KEY"
  BASE_URL = "https://api.lobstr.io/v1"
  headers = {"Authorization": f"Token {API_KEY}"}

  squid_id = "YOUR_SQUID_HASH"

  # Add Instagram profiles to scrape posts from
  response = requests.post(f"{BASE_URL}/tasks",
      headers=headers,
      json={
          "squid": squid_id,
          "tasks": [
              {"url": "https://www.instagram.com/natgeo/"},
              {"url": "https://www.instagram.com/cristiano/"}
          ]
      }
  )

  data = response.json()
  print(f"Added {len(data['tasks'])} tasks")
  print(f"Duplicates skipped: {data['duplicated_count']}")
  ```
</CodeGroup>

## Response

```json 200 theme={null}
{
  "tasks": [
    {
      "id": "task_abc123def456",
      "status": "pending",
      "params": {
        "url": "https://www.instagram.com/natgeo/"
      }
    },
    {
      "id": "task_abc123def457",
      "status": "pending",
      "params": {
        "url": "https://www.instagram.com/cristiano/"
      }
    }
  ],
  "duplicated_count": 0
}
```