#!/usr/bin/env python3 """ Fetch Instagram profiles into the archive layout using gallery-dl. The CLI replacement for the JDownloader2 workflow. See docs/gallery-dl.md for the measurements behind every choice here — especially the safety model, which is the reason this script exists in this shape rather than a simpler one. The fetch host needs no copy of the archive. It stages locally and rsyncs afterwards; what it already holds is learned from a *file listing* alone (`--index`), which the viewer's own API serves. Usage: ./scripts/gdl-sync.py --index https://instaarchive.ergosteur.com \\ --staging /var/tmp/gdl --publish user@host:/path/to/archives \\ --urls-file artms_account_links.txt --dry-run # ...then swap --dry-run for --execute. --index also accepts a local path, # and --profile / --all work instead of --urls-file. Always --dry-run first: it prints the plan, and the publish step it reports is the one that would touch the archive. Run it from the host whose public IP matches the browser the cookie came from; using the cookie from elsewhere is what session-hijack detection looks for. """ from __future__ import annotations import argparse import json import os import re import shutil import subprocess import sys from dataclasses import dataclass, field from pathlib import Path # -------------------------------------------------------------------------- # Archive layout # -------------------------------------------------------------------------- # Mirrors src/lib/archive-grouping.ts. Instagram usernames cannot contain # spaces, which is what makes the username separable from a highlight title. RE_HIGHLIGHT = re.compile(r"^story highlights - ([^ ]+) - (.+)$") RE_STORIES = re.compile(r"^story - ([^ ]+)$") RE_REELS = re.compile(r"^([^ ]+) - reels$") DATE_FMT = "{date:Olocal/%Y-%m-%d}" """Local-time date. JD2 stamped US Eastern, NOT UTC (0/212 mismatches vs 19 for UTC). `Olocal` is DST-aware per timestamp. The trailing separator must be omitted or it lands in the strftime format and sanitises to an underscore.""" POST_STEM = DATE_FMT + "_{username} - {post_shortcode}" ITEM_STEM = DATE_FMT + "_{username} - {shortcode}" @dataclass class Source: """One gallery-dl invocation: a URL fetched into a specific directory.""" kind: str # posts | reels | stories | highlights url: str directory: str # relative to the archives root subcategory: str # gallery-dl config key title: str | None = None # highlight title, when known @dataclass class Profile: user: str existing: dict[str, str] = field(default_factory=dict) # kind -> dirname def sources(self, include_stories: bool) -> list[Source]: u = self.user base = f"https://www.instagram.com/{u}" out = [ Source("posts", f"{base}/posts/", u, "posts"), Source("reels", f"{base}/reels/", f"{u} - reels", "reels"), ] if include_stories: # Stories expire after 24h, so these can only ever be captured # live. There is no backfill and no re-fetch. out.append(Source( "stories", f"https://www.instagram.com/stories/{u}/", f"story - {u}", "stories")) # Highlight directories embed the title, which gallery-dl only # learns mid-extraction -- so this one source fans out into many # directories and is handled with a directory format string. out.append(Source( "highlights", f"{base}/highlights", "", "highlights")) return out def scan_archives(root: Path) -> dict[str, Profile]: """Group existing directories into profiles, as the server does.""" profiles: dict[str, Profile] = {} def get(user: str) -> Profile: return profiles.setdefault(user, Profile(user)) for entry in sorted(os.listdir(root)): if not (root / entry).is_dir() or entry.startswith("."): continue if m := RE_HIGHLIGHT.match(entry): get(m.group(1)).existing.setdefault("highlights", entry) elif m := RE_STORIES.match(entry): get(m.group(1)).existing["stories"] = entry elif m := RE_REELS.match(entry): get(m.group(1)).existing["reels"] = entry else: get(entry).existing["posts"] = entry return profiles RE_PROFILE_URL = re.compile( r"^(?:https?://)?(?:www\.)?instagram\.com/(?P[^/?#\s]+)/?", re.I) # Path segments that are Instagram features, not profiles. A line like # ".../p/ABC123/" names a post, and treating "p" as a username would silently # sync nothing under a nonsense directory. RESERVED_SEGMENTS = { "p", "reel", "reels", "stories", "explore", "accounts", "direct", "tv", "s", "invites", "challenge", "about", "developer", } def read_urls_file(path: Path) -> list[str]: """ Read profile URLs (or bare usernames) from a file, one per line. Written for hand-maintained lists: blank lines are skipped, `#` starts a comment, and either a full URL or a bare username works. Order is kept and duplicates dropped, so a list can be appended to without care. """ users: list[str] = [] seen: set[str] = set() for lineno, raw in enumerate(path.read_text().splitlines(), 1): line = raw.split("#", 1)[0].strip() if not line: continue m = RE_PROFILE_URL.match(line) user = m.group("user") if m else line.strip("/") if not user or "/" in user or " " in user: print(f"{path}:{lineno}: cannot read a username from {raw.strip()!r}", file=sys.stderr) continue if user.lower() in RESERVED_SEGMENTS: print(f"{path}:{lineno}: {user!r} is an Instagram path, not a " f"profile — skipping", file=sys.stderr) continue if user in seen: continue seen.add(user) users.append(user) return users class ArchiveIndex: """ What the archive already holds, as filenames only. Deliberately never reads file *contents*, so the fetch host does not need a copy of the archive — it can stage locally and rsync afterwards. Backed either by a local directory or by the viewer's own API, which already serves exactly this listing and is the cheaper option when the archive lives on network storage (a full walk there took ~52s). """ def __init__(self, source: str): self.remote = source.startswith(("http://", "https://")) self.source = source.rstrip("/") if self.remote else None self.root = None if self.remote else Path(source) if self.root and not self.root.is_dir(): raise SystemExit(f"archive index not found: {source}") self._cache: dict[str, list[str]] = {} def _get(self, path: str): from urllib.request import urlopen with urlopen(f"{self.source}{path}", timeout=60) as resp: return json.load(resp) def profiles(self) -> set[str]: if self.remote: return {a["name"] for a in self._get("/api/archives")} return set(scan_archives(self.root)) def listing(self, user: str) -> list[str]: """Every filename belonging to a profile, across all its sidecars.""" if user in self._cache: return self._cache[user] names: list[str] = [] if self.remote: try: data = self._get(f"/api/archives/{user}/files") except Exception: data = [] files = data if isinstance(data, list) else data.get("files", []) names = [f["path"] for f in files] else: prof = scan_archives(self.root).get(user) for dirname in (prof.existing.values() if prof else ()): d = self.root / dirname if d.is_dir(): names += [f"{dirname}/{n}" for n in os.listdir(d)] self._cache[user] = names return names # -------------------------------------------------------------------------- # gallery-dl configuration # -------------------------------------------------------------------------- def build_config(rate: str, sleep_request: list[float], sleep: list[float]) -> dict: """ The config is generated rather than checked in so the safety-critical options cannot drift out of sync with the docs. `api: rest` is the single most important line in this file. The graphql backend issues one request PER POST for every video and carousel, which is the pattern that got this account banned once already. """ caption_pp = { "name": "metadata", "event": "post", "mode": "custom", "content-format": "{description}", "extension": "txt", # JD2 wrote no .txt when the caption was empty; "empty": false (the # default) reproduces that. } meta_pp = { "name": "metadata", "event": "post", "mode": "json", # `include`, NOT `fields` -- `fields` applies to mode:custom and # silently does nothing here, dumping audio_user blobs that contain # unrelated users' profile picture URLs. "include": [ "post_shortcode", "post_id", "type", "date", "post_date", "username", "fullname", "owner_id", "description", "count", "likes", "post_url", "sidecar_shortcode", ], } def post_like(stem: str) -> dict: """Naming for surfaces whose unit is a post (posts, reels).""" return { # `sidecar_shortcode` is set only for carousels, so it is the # carousel discriminator. First matching condition wins. "filename": { "sidecar_shortcode and count >= 10": stem + " - {num:02}.{extension}", "sidecar_shortcode": stem + " - {num}.{extension}", "": stem + ".{extension}", }, "postprocessors": [ {**caption_pp, "filename": stem + ".txt"}, {**meta_pp, "filename": stem + ".json"}, ], } def item_like(stem: str) -> dict: """ Naming for surfaces whose unit is an item inside a reel (stories, highlights). `{shortcode}` is per item; `{post_shortcode}` is the reel's id and is shared by every item in it. """ return { "filename": stem + ".{extension}", "postprocessors": [{**meta_pp, "filename": stem + ".json"}], } return { "extractor": { "base-directory": ".", "instagram": { "api": "rest", # never "graphql" -- see docstring "sleep-request": sleep_request, "sleep": sleep, # The CDN does rate-limit: a first run at 3M/1-3s drew # '429 Too Many Requests' from scontent-*.cdninstagram.com and # lost two videos. Back off hard rather than retry fast. "sleep-429": 120.0, "retries": 8, "videos": True, "include": "", # never "all"; sources are explicit # Directory is forced per-invocation with -D, because a reels # tab returns collab reels owned by OTHER accounts and # {username} would scatter them into the wrong profile. "directory": [], "posts": post_like(POST_STEM), "reels": post_like(POST_STEM), "stories": item_like(ITEM_STEM), "highlights": { **item_like(ITEM_STEM), # The only surface that must derive its own directory, # since the title is not known until extraction. "directory": ["story highlights - {username} - {highlight_title}"], }, }, }, # `retries` here is the CDN-side counterpart to sleep-429 above. "downloader": {"http": {"rate": rate, "retries": 8}}, "output": {"mode": "null"}, } # -------------------------------------------------------------------------- # Planning and execution # -------------------------------------------------------------------------- def gdl_command(src: Source, staging: Path, config: Path, cookies: str, archive_db: Path | None) -> list[str]: cmd = [ "gallery-dl", "--config", str(config), "--cookies-from-browser", cookies, ] if archive_db: # Without a seeded skip-archive, staging is empty and every file is # re-downloaded; see seed_archive_db. 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 # embeds a title only known mid-extraction, so the config formats it. dest = staging if src.subcategory == "highlights" else staging / src.directory cmd += ["--destination", str(dest)] cmd.append(src.url) return cmd # gallery-dl keys its skip-archive on `archive_prefix + archive_fmt`, which for # this extractor is the literal "instagram" followed by the per-media numeric # pk (`instagram.py:25`, `job.py:713-719`). Verified against a real run: a # 3-image carousel produced 3 rows, one per item. ARCHIVE_KEY = "instagram{}".format ARCHIVE_SCHEMA = "CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS archive (entry TEXT PRIMARY KEY)" RE_ARCHIVED = re.compile( r"^(\d{4}-\d{2}-\d{2})_(.+?) - ([A-Za-z0-9_-]+?)(?: - (\d+))?\.(\w+)$") NON_MEDIA = {"txt", "json"} def index_existing(listing: list[str]) -> set[tuple[str, int]]: """ Reduce a flat list of filenames to the (shortcode, index) pairs already held. Only names matter — never the bytes — which is what lets the sync run on a host that has no copy of the archive. """ have: set[tuple[str, int]] = set() for name in listing: m = RE_ARCHIVED.match(name.rsplit("/", 1)[-1]) if not m or m.group(5).lower() in NON_MEDIA: continue # An absent index means a single-media post, which is index 1 — the # same normalisation the viewer's EXPORT_RE applies. have.add((m.group(3), int(m.group(4) or 1))) return have def live_key(item: dict, kind: str) -> tuple[str, int]: """ The (shortcode, index) a live item *would* be filed under, mirroring the filename template exactly. The two surfaces disagree about which shortcode identifies a file, and getting this wrong silently seeds almost nothing: posts/reels filed under {post_shortcode} — for a carousel, each child item ALSO has its own `shortcode`, which is not what appears in the filename. stories/highlights filed under the per-item {shortcode}, because `post_shortcode` there is the containing reel's id and is shared by every item in it. """ if kind in ("stories", "highlights"): return (item.get("shortcode"), 1) return (item.get("post_shortcode"), item.get("num")) def seed_archive_db(db: Path, existing: set[tuple[str, int]], live: list[dict], kind: str) -> int: """ Mark everything already held as downloaded, so a fetch into an empty directory pulls only what is missing. `live` is the metadata of one listing pass — the pass we have to make anyway — each entry carrying at least `media_id` plus the shortcode fields `live_key` needs. Seeding costs no additional Instagram requests, and needs only a *listing* of the archive, never its contents. """ import sqlite3 db.parent.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True) con = sqlite3.connect(db) con.execute(ARCHIVE_SCHEMA) rows = [ (ARCHIVE_KEY(item["media_id"]),) for item in live if live_key(item, kind) in existing ] con.executemany("INSERT OR IGNORE INTO archive (entry) VALUES (?)", rows) con.commit() con.close() return len(rows) def probe_live(src: Source, config: Path, cookies: str) -> list[dict]: """ One metadata-only listing pass. `sleep` is forced to 0 because it otherwise applies per *file* even with no download — 2275 files at 1-3s each is over an hour for a single profile. """ out = subprocess.run( ["gallery-dl", "-j", "--config", str(config), "--cookies-from-browser", cookies, "-o", "sleep=0", src.url], capture_output=True, text=True, check=True, ) items: list[dict] = [] def walk(node): if isinstance(node, dict): if "media_id" in node and "shortcode" in node: items.append(node) for value in node.values(): walk(value) elif isinstance(node, list): for value in node: walk(value) walk(json.loads(out.stdout)) return items def rsync_command(staging: Path, dest: str, dry_run: bool) -> list[str]: """ Publish a staging tree into the archive. `--ignore-existing` is not an optimisation, it is the safety property: the archive deliberately outlives Instagram (posts exist here that Instagram no longer serves), so publishing must only ever *add*. No `--delete`, and nothing already present is overwritten — including sidecars, which get rewritten on every run and would otherwise churn the synced share. `dest` may be a local path or any rsync destination (`user@host:/path`), because the archive usually is not writable from the fetch host. """ cmd = ["rsync", "-a", "--ignore-existing", "--partial", "--info=stats2", # Belt and braces: the config lives outside staging, but nothing # resembling tooling output should ever reach the archive. Archive # sidecars are always "_ - .json", so none of # these can match real content. "--exclude", "gdl-sync*.json", "--exclude", "*.gdl-config.json", "--exclude", ".gdl-*", "--exclude", "*.sqlite", "--exclude", "*.db"] if dry_run: cmd.append("--dry-run") # Trailing slash: copy the *contents* of staging into dest. cmd += [f"{staging}/", dest if dest.endswith("/") else dest + "/"] return cmd def publish(staging: Path, dest: str, dry_run: bool) -> int: if not any(staging.iterdir()): print(" nothing staged; skipping publish") return 0 cmd = rsync_command(staging, dest, dry_run) print(" " + " ".join(cmd)) return subprocess.run(cmd).returncode def main() -> int: ap = argparse.ArgumentParser(description=__doc__, formatter_class=argparse.RawDescriptionHelpFormatter) ap.add_argument("--index", required=True, help="existing archive listing: a local root, or the " "viewer's base URL (only a FILE LISTING is needed, " "never the contents)") ap.add_argument("--publish", required=True, help="rsync destination for fetched files; a local path or " "user@host:/path") ap.add_argument("--staging", type=Path, required=True, help="local scratch directory gallery-dl writes into") g = ap.add_mutually_exclusive_group(required=True) g.add_argument("--profile", action="append", default=[], help="profile to sync; repeatable") g.add_argument("--all", action="store_true", help="every profile on disk") g.add_argument("--urls-file", type=Path, help="file of Instagram profile URLs or usernames, one per " "line; # comments and blank lines allowed") 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, help="gallery-dl skip-archive sqlite path") ap.add_argument("--rate", default="1M", help="per-download rate cap") ap.add_argument("--sleep-request", nargs=2, type=float, default=[6.0, 10.0], metavar=("MIN", "MAX")) ap.add_argument("--sleep", nargs=2, type=float, default=[3.0, 6.0], metavar=("MIN", "MAX")) ap.add_argument("--no-stories", action="store_true", help="skip stories and highlights (posts and reels only)") mode = ap.add_mutually_exclusive_group() mode.add_argument("--dry-run", action="store_true", default=True, help="print the plan and the config; default") mode.add_argument("--execute", action="store_true", help="actually run gallery-dl") args = ap.parse_args() if not shutil.which("gallery-dl"): print("gallery-dl not on PATH", file=sys.stderr) return 2 if not shutil.which("rsync"): print("rsync not on PATH", file=sys.stderr) return 2 index = ArchiveIndex(args.index) names = index.profiles() if args.urls_file: if not args.urls_file.is_file(): print(f"urls file not found: {args.urls_file}", file=sys.stderr) return 2 wanted = read_urls_file(args.urls_file) if not wanted: print(f"no usable profiles in {args.urls_file}", file=sys.stderr) return 2 print(f"read {len(wanted)} profile(s) from {args.urls_file}") selected = [Profile(p) for p in wanted] elif args.profile: for p in args.profile: if p not in names: print(f"note: {p} is not in the index yet; it will be created") selected = [Profile(p) for p in args.profile] else: selected = [Profile(p) for p in sorted(names)] config = build_config(args.rate, list(args.sleep_request), list(args.sleep)) args.staging.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True) # Deliberately a SIBLING of the staging directory, not inside it: staging is # rsynced wholesale into the archive, and a dry run caught this file being # published to the archive root. config_path = args.staging.parent / f"{args.staging.name}.gdl-config.json" plan: list[tuple[Profile, Source]] = [ (prof, src) for prof in selected for src in prof.sources(include_stories=not args.no_stories) ] print(f"profiles : {len(selected)}") print(f"sources : {len(plan)}") 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 prof, src in plan: dest = src.directory or "(per-highlight)" print(f" {prof.user:<20} {src.kind:<11} -> {dest}") 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 prof, src in plan: print(f"==> {prof.user} / {src.kind}") stage_dir = args.staging / (src.directory or ".") stage_dir.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True) # Seed the skip-archive from what the archive already holds, so # fetching into an empty staging directory pulls only what is missing. # The listing pass this needs is one we have to make anyway. if args.archive_db: try: live = probe_live(src, config_path, args.cookies) held = index_existing(index.listing(prof.user)) seeded = seed_archive_db(args.archive_db, held, live, src.subcategory) print(f" seeded {seeded} of {len(live)} live items") except subprocess.CalledProcessError as exc: failures += 1 print(f" probe FAILED: {exc}", file=sys.stderr) continue cmd = gdl_command(src, args.staging, config_path, args.cookies, args.archive_db) result = subprocess.run(cmd) if result.returncode != 0: failures += 1 # Keep going: one private or renamed profile must not abort the run. print(f" FAILED (exit {result.returncode})", file=sys.stderr) # Publish once, at the end, so a partially-fetched profile never reaches # the archive mid-run. Only ever adds -- see rsync_command. 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 if __name__ == "__main__": sys.exit(main())