Instagram Active Hours & Best Time to Post Analyzer

Instagram

Operated by Sourcelane✓ verified

A data-analysis connector for Instagram that identifies optimal posting times and maps posting behavior for any public account by sampling recent posts and Reels, bucketing timestamps into weekday×hour slots, and computing per-slot average engagement (likes + comments, plus Reel plays where available). Outputs include a day-by-hour posting heatmap in both account local time and UTC, an engagement heatmap, histograms of post volume by hour and by day, ranked best posting slots with average engagement metrics, the single most active day and hour, quiet hours (likely offline/sleep window), a weekday vs. weekend posting split, an estimated time zone inferred from the circadian dip with a confidence score (overrideable), and summary statistics for the sampled time range. Technical approach: time-series sampling of recent content, timestamp bucketing by weekday and hour, per-slot engagement averaging, and time-zone inference via the multi-hour low-activity window. Operates without login or cookies.

Verified Sep 28, 12:10 AM

$0.10

per report

Up to 10 per call. Only pay for results returned; failed calls are refunded.

What people use it for

Determine best times to post by identifying day+hour slots that earn the highest average engagement for a target account.
Build content calendars and posting schedules backed by account-specific engagement patterns.
Audience and competitor research: understand a creator’s or brand’s posting rhythm and when their audience responds.
Influencer vetting: detect flat/automated posting schedules versus organic human activity.
Time-zone inference: estimate an account’s likely geographic time zone from posting activity.

Trust & reliability

7d uptime trend

Window	Uptime	Success rate	p50	p95
24h	—	—	—	—
7d	—	—	—	—
30d	—	—	—	—

Calling contract

Call it through Sourcelane's gateway or MCP server. We run the connector, apply your agent's spend guardrails, and bill only the results returned.

Call it via Sourcelane

curl -X POST https://cool-puffin-608.convex.site/v1/call \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer sl_live_your_agent_key" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"listing":"instagram-active-hours-analyzer","params":{"username":"natgeo","maxPosts":5},"maxResults":10}'

Request params

Field	Type	Required	Description
`username`	string	required	Instagram username, with or without leading @. Profile URLs (https://www.instagram.com/username) are also accepted.
`maxPosts`	integer	optional	How many recent posts and Reels to sample for the heatmap (1-500). More samples = a sharper pattern. Capped at 10 per call.
`timezoneOffset`	number	optional	The account's UTC offset in hours, e.g. -5 for US Eastern, 1 for Central Europe, 5.5 for India. Leave blank to auto-detect the time zone from the account's quietest posting window.

Each result contains

Field	Type	Description
`username`	string	Username
`platform`	string	Platform
`postsAnalyzed`	integer	Posts Analyzed
`timeRange`	object	—
`timezone`	object	—
`mostActiveDay`	string	Most Active Day
`mostActiveHour`	string	Most Active Hour
`quietHours`	array	Quiet Hours
`weekdayShare`	number	Weekday Share
`weekendShare`	number	Weekend Share
`engagementMetric`	string	Engagement Metric
`avgEngagementPerPost`	integer	Avg Engagement Per Post
`bestTimesToPost`	array	—
`topSlotsByPosts`	array	—
`hourHistogram`	array	Hour Histogram
`dayHistogram`	array	Day Histogram
`avgEngagementByHour`	array	—
`avgEngagementByDay`	array	—
`dayNames`	array	—
`heatmap`	object	—
`heatmapUtc`	object	—
`engagementHeatmap`	object	—

Use Instagram Active Hours & Best Time to Post Analyzer from Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor

Pick your tool and connect in under a minute. Then just ask — for example: “Pull the last 20 posts from @natgeo and tell me which formats get the most engagement.”

Connect Claude

Web, desktop and mobile. Paste one URL.

1Copy your personal connector URL
2In Claude open Settings → Connectors → Add custom connector
3Paste the URL and click Add — done

Manual setup (config files, REST, Python) +

Claude Code

Adds the Sourcelane MCP server with your key as a header.

terminal

claude mcp add --transport http sourcelane https://cool-puffin-608.convex.site/mcp \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer sl_live_your_agent_key"

Claude Desktop (config file)

Alternative to the connector URL: add to claude_desktop_config.json, then restart Claude.

claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "sourcelane": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "mcp-remote",
        "https://cool-puffin-608.convex.site/mcp",
        "--header",
        "Authorization:${AUTH_HEADER}"
      ],
      "env": {
        "AUTH_HEADER": "Bearer sl_live_your_agent_key"
      }
    }
  }
}

Cursor & Windsurf

Add to ~/.cursor/mcp.json (or Windsurf's mcp_config.json).

mcp.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "sourcelane": {
      "url": "https://cool-puffin-608.convex.site/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer sl_live_your_agent_key"
      }
    }
  }
}

VS Code

Save as .vscode/mcp.json. VS Code prompts for your key once.

.vscode/mcp.json

{
  "servers": {
    "sourcelane": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://cool-puffin-608.convex.site/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer ${input:sourcelane-key}"
      }
    }
  },
  "inputs": [
    {
      "type": "promptString",
      "id": "sourcelane-key",
      "description": "Sourcelane agent key",
      "password": true
    }
  ]
}

ChatGPT Custom GPT (Actions)

Create a GPT → Actions → Import from URL, then Authentication: API Key, Bearer.

OpenAPI schema URL

https://sourcelane-amber.vercel.app/openapi.json

REST

One POST. Pass maxResults to cap cost.

curl

curl -X POST https://cool-puffin-608.convex.site/v1/call \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer sl_live_your_agent_key" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"listing":"instagram-active-hours-analyzer","params":{"username":"natgeo","maxPosts":5},"maxResults":10}'

Python, LangChain, CrewAI, OpenAI Agents SDK…

Wrap the REST call as a tool, or point an MCP client at the endpoint.

python

import requests

res = requests.post(
    "https://cool-puffin-608.convex.site/v1/call",
    headers={"Authorization": "Bearer sl_live_your_agent_key"},
    json={
        "listing": "instagram-active-hours-analyzer",
        "params": {"username":"natgeo","maxPosts":5},
        "maxResults": 10,
    },
    timeout=300,
)
body = res.json()
print(body["receipt"]["chargedMicros"], "micro-USD for", body["receipt"]["results"], "results")
print(body["data"])

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