jackwener/OpenCLI · error · Error

Failed to fetch followers: HTTP ' + r2.status

Error message

Failed to fetch followers: HTTP ' + r2.status

What it means

The followers command GETs https://www.instagram.com/api/v1/friendships/<userId>/followers/?count=<limit> with session credentials and the hardcoded X-IG-App-ID header. If the HTTP response status is not ok (4xx/5xx), the CLI throws this error carrying the status code. It means Instagram refused the followers request at the transport/status level before any payload validation.

Source

Thrown at clis/instagram/followers.js:29

        { name: 'limit', type: 'int', default: 20, help: 'Number of followers' },
    ],
    columns: ['rank', 'username', 'name', 'verified', 'private'],
    pipeline: [
        { navigate: 'https://www.instagram.com' },
        { evaluate: `(async () => {
  const username = \${{ args.username | json }};
  const limit = \${{ args.limit }};
  if (!Number.isInteger(limit) || limit < 1) throw new Error('limit must be a positive integer');
  const headers = { 'X-IG-App-ID': '936619743392459' };
  const opts = { credentials: 'include', headers };

  ${buildResolveInstagramUserIdJs()}

  const r2 = await fetch(
    'https://www.instagram.com/api/v1/friendships/' + userId + '/followers/?count=' + limit,
    opts
  );
  if (!r2.ok) throw new Error('Failed to fetch followers: HTTP ' + r2.status);
  const d2 = await r2.json();
  if (!d2 || typeof d2 !== 'object' || !Array.isArray(d2.users)) {
    throw new Error('Instagram followers returned malformed users payload');
  }
  return d2.users.slice(0, limit).map((u, i) => {
    if (!u || typeof u !== 'object') {
      throw new Error('Instagram followers returned malformed user row');
    }
    const pkRaw = u.pk ?? u.pk_id ?? u.id;
    const pk = typeof pkRaw === 'number' ? String(pkRaw) : (typeof pkRaw === 'string' ? pkRaw.trim() : '');
    const usernameValue = typeof u.username === 'string' ? u.username.trim() : '';
    if (!/^\\d+$/.test(pk) || !usernameValue) {
      throw new Error('Instagram followers returned malformed user row');
    }
    return {
      rank: i + 1,
      username: usernameValue,
      name: typeof u.full_name === 'string' ? u.full_name : '',

View on GitHub (pinned to 49907e53dc)

Solutions

1. Log into instagram.com in the browser session to restore cookies (401/403).
2. Back off and retry after delays; reduce request rate / limit to avoid 429.
3. Verify the target username resolves to the right userId (404 suggests bad id).
4. Check whether Instagram changed the required X-IG-App-ID or endpoint and update the hardcoded header.

Example fix

// before
if (!r2.ok) throw new Error('Failed to fetch followers: HTTP ' + r2.status);
// after (caller-side backoff)
try { await listFollowers(user, limit); }
catch (e) {
  const m = /HTTP (\d+)/.exec(e.message);
  if (m && m[1] === '429') await sleep(60000);
  else throw e;
}

// Pre-flight session check before fetching followers:
const authed = document.cookie.includes('ds_user_id');
if (!authed) throw new Error('Log into instagram.com first (would get HTTP 401/403)');

async function withRetry(fn, tries = 3) {
  for (let i = 0; i < tries; i++) {
    try { return await fn(); }
    catch (e) {
      const m = /HTTP (\d+)/.exec(String(e.message));
      const code = m && +m[1];
      if (code === 429 || code >= 500) { await new Promise(r => setTimeout(r, 2 ** i * 1000)); continue; }
      throw e;
    }
  }
  throw new Error('retries exhausted');
}

When it happens

Trigger: 401/403 from missing or expired session cookies; 429 rate limited; 404 when userId resolved incorrectly; 5xx from Instagram side; request blocked by anti-bot challenge.

Common situations: Not logged into instagram.com in the browser session; scraping too many followers rapidly (429); private/deleted account yielding 404/403; IG App-ID header no longer accepted after Instagram frontend update.

Understand the failure class

Background: "API error: {status}" and "HTTP 401/403/404/429/5xx" errors: non-2xx HTTP responses explained — this error's family across 27 libraries.

Related errors

• Failed to fetch following: HTTP ' + r2.status
• archive snapshots failed: HTTP ${resp.status}
• Instagram private publish ${stage} failed: ${response.status
• ${label} failed: HTTP ${response.status}
• HTTP ' + res.status + ' - make sure you are logged in to Ins

AI-assisted analysis of jackwener/OpenCLI@49907e53dc (2026-08-29). Data as JSON: /api/errors/a2eaad7d932fb3c3. Report an issue: GitHub.