← Instagram DM guides
🔌 Guide

The Instagram MCP server: connect AI agents to your DMs

Last reviewed:

Short answer

MCP (Model Context Protocol) is the open standard AI assistants use to call external tools. DMowl runs a hosted MCP server at https://dmowl.com/mcp that exposes your Instagram DMs, comment automations, contacts, campaigns and giveaways as tools. Any MCP client can connect with OAuth, so you only need the URL.

What an MCP server does

An AI model on its own can only write text. An MCP server gives it tools with clear inputs and outputs, for example “create an automation” or “list contacts in a folder”. The assistant decides which tool to call, the server does the work and returns the result.

Instagram’s own Graph API is built for developers, not for AI assistants. DMowl sits in between: it handles Meta’s login, webhooks, the 24-hour messaging window and rate limits, and offers the result as a small set of safe, well-described tools.

Tools in the DMowl MCP server

AreaTools
Accountget_account, get_stats, record_conversion
Contacts (CRM)list_contacts, get_contact, update_contact, list_folders, create_folder
Conversationssend_message, set_handling
Automationslist_automations, get_automation, create_automation, create_automation_from_prompt, list_templates, create_automation_from_template, update_automation, set_automation_status, run_automation_for_contact, delete_automation
Campaignslist_campaigns, create_campaign, send_campaign
Giveawayslist_giveaways, create_giveaway, draw_giveaway
AI agentget_agent, update_agent

Every tool carries MCP annotations: read-only tools are marked as such, and tools that message real people are marked destructive so clients ask before running them. The same tools are available as a REST API, documented at dmowl.com/docs/api.

Connect your client

ClientHow
ChatGPTDeveloper mode → Apps & Connectors → Create, URL https://dmowl.com/mcp, authentication OAuth
Claude.ai / DesktopSettings → Connectors → Add custom connector, URL https://dmowl.com/mcp, then Connect
Claude Codeclaude mcp add --transport http dmowl https://dmowl.com/mcp, then /mcp → Authenticate
CursorAdd a server with url https://dmowl.com/mcp in ~/.cursor/mcp.json, then Login
Your own agentStreamable HTTP transport, OAuth 2.1 with dynamic client registration, or an API key as bearer token

Building your own agent? /llms.txt and /llms-full.txt describe the whole product in plain Markdown, and /api/v1/openapi.json has the REST schema.

Security model

  • OAuth 2.1 with PKCE: the client never sees your password, and each connection can be revoked under Settings → API & MCP.
  • Only owners and admins of a DMowl account can connect an app. If their role changes, the connection stops working.
  • Access tokens expire after an hour and refresh tokens rotate on every use.
  • Instagram’s rules are enforced on the server, not left to the model: the 24-hour window, opt-outs and verified follows.

Questions? Answers.

Is there an official Instagram MCP server from Meta?

Meta offers the Instagram Graph API for developers. DMowl’s MCP server is built on that official API and adds the parts an AI assistant needs: safe tools, rules enforcement and a simple login.

Do I need to host anything?

No. The server runs at https://dmowl.com/mcp. You add the URL to your client and sign in.

Does the MCP server cost extra?

No. MCP and the REST API are included in every DMowl plan, including Free with a daily call limit.

Which transport does it use?

Streamable HTTP with JSON responses, stateless. It supports protocol versions 2024-11-05, 2025-03-26 and 2025-06-18.

Free tools for this

💬 AI DM script generator💸 Comment-to-DM ROI calculator

Try it on your own Instagram

Free for up to 100 active contacts. No credit card, set up in two minutes.

Start for free

More guides

Looking for how a DMowl feature works? DMowl documentation →