instagram-reel-downloader-whatsapp
Download an Instagram Reel via sssinstagram.com and return it as a WhatsApp-ready video file. Use when a reel URL is provided and yt-dlp is blocked or not preferred.
Install via CLI (Recommended)
clawhub install openclaw/skills/skills/besaif/instagram-reel-downloader-whatsappWhat This Skill Does
The instagram-reel-downloader-whatsapp skill provides a robust mechanism for retrieving Instagram Reels directly for use within your WhatsApp conversations. Unlike standard library implementations that may rely on APIs prone to sudden breakage or rate-limiting, this skill utilizes a Playwright-based automation script to interact with sssinstagram.com. By leveraging a real browser instance, it mimics human interaction to bypass common download restrictions. Once the video file is successfully retrieved and processed in your workspace, the agent automatically transmits it to the requested WhatsApp contact with an optional success notification.
Installation
To integrate this skill into your environment, use the OpenClaw CLI tool. Ensure you have Node.js 18 or higher installed on your system. Run the following command in your terminal:
clawhub install openclaw/skills/skills/besaif/instagram-reel-downloader-whatsapp
Ensure that you have playwright-core installed and a Chromium-compatible binary available. While the skill defaults to looking for /usr/bin/brave-browser, you can specify a custom path via the BROWSER_EXECUTABLE_PATH environment variable to better match your local setup.
Use Cases
This skill is ideal for content curators, social media managers, or users who want to share trending videos with their WhatsApp contacts without dealing with manual downloading and re-uploading. It is particularly useful when public APIs are rate-limited or when you need a fallback method because yt-dlp is blocked by the target platform.
Example Prompts
- "Download this reel for me: https://www.instagram.com/reel/C7xYzA_abc1/ and send it to Mom on WhatsApp."
- "Can you grab that Instagram video I just saw and forward it to my work group on WhatsApp? Here is the link: https://www.instagram.com/reels/D8zQxY_xyz9/"
- "Please download this https://www.instagram.com/reel/E9aWbC_def2/ reel and send it to my brother."
Tips & Limitations
To ensure optimal performance, keep your REEL_DOWNLOAD_DIR organized. If you notice frequent failures, check that your BROWSER_EXECUTABLE_PATH is correctly configured to a working browser binary. The skill is designed to be headless; however, if a site implements aggressive anti-bot measures, the script will retry once automatically. Please respect user privacy by avoiding the storage of links or downloaded files longer than necessary. Finally, run the provided cleanup script (scripts/cleanup_reels.sh) periodically to free up disk space by removing files older than your configured threshold, such as 30 minutes.
Metadata
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Find the right skillPaste this into your clawhub.json to enable this plugin.
{
"plugins": {
"official-besaif-instagram-reel-downloader-whatsapp": {
"enabled": true,
"auto_update": true
}
}
}Tags(AI)
Flags: network-access, file-write, file-read, code-execution