feat: add --post-url to fetch an arbitrary single post or reel

Lets an out-of-band link (shared by someone, not one of the tracked
profiles) be pulled in directly by URL, filed under its owner's account
like any other post. Bypasses profile planning, archive-db seeding, and
the --min-interval floor entirely, since it's a single request rather
than a recurring surface to budget against.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_011qAds5qr7nZRq5R4yAuxUk

scripts/gdl-sync.py

@@ -331,6 +331,12 @@ def build_config(rate: str, sleep_request: list[float],
                 "directory": [],
                 "posts": post_like(POST_STEM),
                 "reels": post_like(POST_STEM),
+                # Ad hoc single-post fetches (--post-url) go through gallery-dl's
+                # own post/reel extractor instead of a profile listing, so the
+                # owning account is never known ahead of time -- only mid-
+                # extraction, same reasoning as highlights below.
+                "post": {**post_like(POST_STEM), "directory": ["{username}"]},
+                "reel": {**post_like(POST_STEM), "directory": ["{username}"]},
                 "stories": item_like(ITEM_STEM),
                 "highlights": {
                     **item_like(ITEM_STEM),
@@ -363,9 +369,11 @@ def gdl_command(src: Source, staging: Path, config: Path, cookies: str,
         cmd += ["--download-archive", str(archive_db)]
     # Forced destination -- never `{username}` -- because a reels tab returns
     # collab reels owned by other accounts, which would otherwise be filed
-    # under the wrong profile. Highlights are the exception: their directory
+    # under the wrong profile. Highlights and ad hoc single-post fetches are
-    # embeds a title only known mid-extraction, so the config formats it.
+    # the exception: their directory is only known mid-extraction (a title, or
-    dest = staging if src.subcategory == "highlights" else staging / src.directory
+    # the post's owner), so the config formats it instead.
+    dest = (staging if src.subcategory in ("highlights", "post", "reel")
+            else staging / src.directory)
     cmd += ["--destination", str(dest)]
     cmd.append(src.url)
     return cmd
@@ -639,6 +647,54 @@ def publish(staging: Path, dest: str, dry_run: bool) -> int:
     return subprocess.run(cmd).returncode
 
 
+def run_post_urls(args) -> int:
+    """
+    Fetch one or more individual posts/reels by URL -- an ad hoc pull outside
+    the tracked profile list, e.g. a link shared from some other account. Each
+    is a single request, not a recurring surface, so there is no archive-db
+    seeding and no --min-interval floor to plan around.
+    """
+    config = build_config(args.rate, list(args.sleep_request),
+                          list(args.sleep), abort=0)
+    args.staging.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
+    config_path = args.staging.parent / f"{args.staging.name}.gdl-config.json"
+
+    sources = [Source("post", url, "", "post") for url in args.post_url]
+
+    print(f"post-url : {len(sources)} to fetch")
+    print(f"pacing   : {args.sleep_request[0]}-{args.sleep_request[1]}s between "
+          f"requests, rate cap {args.rate}")
+    print(f"staging  : {args.staging}")
+    print(f"publish  : {args.publish}")
+    print()
+
+    if not args.execute:
+        for src in sources:
+            print(f"  {src.url}")
+        print()
+        print("  " + " ".join(rsync_command(args.staging, args.publish, True)))
+        print("\ndry run; nothing fetched. pass --execute to run.")
+        return 0
+
+    config_path.write_text(json.dumps(config, indent=2))
+    failures = 0
+    for src in sources:
+        print(f"==> {src.url}")
+        cmd = gdl_command(src, args.staging, config_path, args.cookies,
+                          args.archive_db)
+        result = subprocess.run(cmd)
+        if result.returncode != 0:
+            failures += 1
+            print(f"    FAILED (exit {result.returncode})", file=sys.stderr)
+
+    print("\n==> publish")
+    if publish(args.staging, args.publish, dry_run=False) != 0:
+        failures += 1
+
+    print(f"\ndone; {failures} step(s) failed")
+    return 1 if failures else 0
+
+
 def main() -> int:
     # A sync runs for hours and is normally watched through a redirected log,
     # where Python's block buffering would withhold progress until it happened
@@ -649,10 +705,10 @@ def main() -> int:
 
     ap = argparse.ArgumentParser(description=__doc__,
                                  formatter_class=argparse.RawDescriptionHelpFormatter)
-    ap.add_argument("--index", required=True,
+    ap.add_argument("--index",
                     help="existing archive listing: a local root, or the "
                          "viewer's base URL (only a FILE LISTING is needed, "
-                         "never the contents)")
+                         "never the contents). Required unless --post-url")
     ap.add_argument("--publish", required=True,
                     help="rsync destination for fetched files; a local path or "
                          "user@host:/path")
@@ -665,6 +721,12 @@ def main() -> int:
     g.add_argument("--urls-file", type=Path,
                    help="file of Instagram profile URLs or usernames, one per "
                         "line; # comments and blank lines allowed")
+    g.add_argument("--post-url", action="append", default=[],
+                   help="fetch one post or reel by URL (e.g. "
+                        "https://www.instagram.com/p/SHORTCODE/), filed under "
+                        "its owner's account like any other post; repeatable. "
+                        "A one-off fetch outside the tracked profile list: no "
+                        "archive-db seeding, no --min-interval floor")
     ap.add_argument("--cookies", default="chrome:/home/matt/.config/google-chrome-devtools",
                     help="gallery-dl --cookies-from-browser value")
     ap.add_argument("--archive-db", type=Path, default=None,
@@ -709,6 +771,13 @@ def main() -> int:
         print("rsync not on PATH", file=sys.stderr)
         return 2
 
+    if args.post_url:
+        return run_post_urls(args)
+
+    if not args.index:
+        print("--index is required unless --post-url is given", file=sys.stderr)
+        return 2
+
     index = ArchiveIndex(args.index)
     names = index.profiles()
     if args.urls_file:

scripts/test_gdl_sync.py

@@ -209,6 +209,29 @@ class Publishing(unittest.TestCase):
         self.assertIn("--dry-run", cmd)
 
 
+class PostUrl(unittest.TestCase):
+    """--post-url: a one-off fetch outside the tracked profile list, whose
+    owning account is only known mid-extraction -- same reasoning as
+    highlights, so it must be exempted from the same forced-destination rule."""
+
+    def test_config_keys_a_username_directory(self):
+        config = gdl.build_config("1M", [6.0, 10.0], [3.0, 6.0])
+        for kind in ("post", "reel"):
+            self.assertEqual(
+                config["extractor"]["instagram"][kind]["directory"],
+                ["{username}"])
+
+    def test_destination_is_not_forced_like_posts_and_reels(self):
+        staging = Path("/stage")
+        for subcategory in ("post", "reel"):
+            src = gdl.Source(subcategory, "https://www.instagram.com/p/ABC/",
+                             "", subcategory)
+            cmd = gdl.gdl_command(src, staging, Path("/cfg.json"), "chrome:x",
+                                  None)
+            self.assertIn(str(staging), cmd)
+            self.assertNotIn(str(staging / subcategory), cmd)
+
+
 class UrlsFile(unittest.TestCase):
     def test_reads_every_form_a_person_might_paste(self):
         with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as d: