Instagram Comments

Superadmin only

The Instagram Comments channel is in beta and the card only appears under Triggers for users with the superadmin role. The feature is not yet open to all plans.

The Instagram Comments trigger lets the agent reply to comments on the business account’s posts — limited to the posts and keywords you choose. Unlike Instagram Direct, here the agent acts publicly, in the comments thread of each post.

Requirements

Same as Instagram Direct:

• Instagram Business or Creator account;
• linked Facebook Page;
• admin permission on the Facebook Page at the time of authorization.

If you’ve already connected Instagram for the Direct trigger on the same agent, the authorization is shared — no need to log in again.

Connecting

1. Open the agent in the admin panel.
2. Go to Triggers.
3. In the Instagram Comments card, click Connect Instagram.
4. Log in to the business account in the Meta popup and approve the permissions.
5. When the popup closes, the card shows Connected: @your_handle and reveals the config blocks.

Configuring filters

Configuration has three blocks. After any change, click Save.

1. Monitored posts

Decide where the agent will act:

• All account posts — replies to any comment on any post. Use with care: older posts with many comments can drive high volume and cost.
• Selected posts (recommended) — click + Add post and pick posts manually. The modal shows a grid of account posts with infinite scroll. Limit: 100 posts per trigger.

Collab posts don't show in the selector

If the + Add post selector is empty even though posts are visible on the profile, it’s almost always because of Collab posts. On Instagram, a Collab post belongs to whoever published it — not to the accounts invited as collaborators, even though it shows on everyone’s grid.

So if the account you connected is only a collaborator, those posts:

• don’t appear in the selector — the Instagram API only lists the account’s own media;
• don’t generate a comment webhook for it — the event goes to the post’s owner account;
• can’t be replied to by it — only the owner can reply via the API.

Fix: connect the account that published the posts (the owner). Alternative: publish the posts from the account that will reply — it creates the Collab and invites the others, so the posts become its own media.

When the connected account has no posts of its own, the selector shows the message “This account has no posts of its own” explaining this.

2. Keywords

Filter which comments the agent will reply to. Useful to skip generic “thanks” or “lol” comments.

• Keyword list: type and press Enter (or comma) to add. Limit: 50 keywords, 64 chars each.
• Mode:
  • Any — comment matches if it contains at least one keyword.
  • All — comment must contain all keywords.
  • None — comment matches if it contains none of them (list works as a blocklist).
• Match type:
  • Contains — simple substring.
  • Exact — comment must equal the term.
  • Regex — regular expression. SquadOS validates and rejects unsafe or slow regex.
• Case sensitive — off by default.

With no keywords at all, the agent replies to every comment that passes block 3 filters.

3. Advanced

• Ignore thread replies (default: on) — only top-level comments are answered, not replies inside another thread.
• Private reply via DM — when on, the agent replies via DM instead of a public comment. Fallback (public) reverts to public comment if the DM fails.

The agent never replies to its own comments — including the replies it posts itself. This is automatic and not configurable: it guarantees the agent won’t loop replying to itself.

How it works

• Instagram fires a webhook on every new comment in monitored posts.
• SquadOS applies the filters (keywords + exclusions).
• If the comment passes, the agent processes and replies.
• The reply lands publicly in the thread (or via DM if you enabled it).

Direct vs Comments

Aspect	Direct (DM)	Comments
Channel	Private DM	Public comment on the post
Visibility	Only the user sees it	Anyone who sees the post sees it
Filters	None — replies to everything	Per post + keywords + advanced
Exposure risk	Low	High: agent mistakes are public
Use for	1:1 support	Pre-sales, FAQ, post engagement

Use cases

• Product launch: filter words like price, buy, link on campaign posts.
• FAQ on a pinned post: the “common questions” post auto-replies to recurring terms.
• Qualified engagement: answer only specific questions, leave the rest for human follow-up.

Limits and notes

• Limit of 100 monitored posts per trigger.
• Limit of 50 keywords per trigger.
• Unsafe or slow regex is rejected (ReDoS protection).
• Because it’s a public channel, review the prompt and test before activating on high-engagement posts. A bad agent reply is visible to everyone.
• The token shared with Instagram Direct lasts 60 days and is renewed automatically.

Common issues

• The ”+ Add post” selector is empty: the connected account has no posts of its own. Usually the posts are Collab posts that belong to whoever published them — connect the owner account. See the note in the Monitored posts section.
• Agent doesn’t reply to any comment: make sure at least one post is selected and that the keywords aren’t too restrictive.
• Agent is over-replying: narrow keywords, switch mode to All, or move from All posts to Selected posts.
• Regex rejected: the validator blocks patterns that may hang (for example (a+)+). Simplify the expression.
• “Token expired”: reconnect Instagram from the card.