Triage first
Ask which of last night’s messages are real questions and which are reactions. That single pass is most of the value, because the interface shows them all in the same list and the real ones are not the most recent.
“What Instagram DMs came in overnight, and which are real sales questions?”
“Anyone asking about shipping or stock this week?”
A three-word message needs its sender
Is it available means different things from a returning customer and from a first-time visitor. The agent can read the profile behind the message before proposing an answer, which is what makes the reply fit instead of being technically correct and tonally wrong.
Read the thread, not the last line
Instagram conversations restart weeks apart. Reading the exchange in order surfaces what was already promised — a discount, a date, a size — which is exactly what an answer written from the last message alone contradicts.
Draft, then approve
Reading is free of consequence; sending is explicit. On an account that faces customers, proposing and approving is the sane split — the assistant is good at reading forty messages, you are the one who knows what you can promise.
Pacing you do not manage
A hundred actions a day per account, serialized and spaced, enforced server-side. It makes a burst of fifty replies impossible by accident, which is the behaviour that gets Instagram accounts restricted.
The follow-up matters more than the answer
Most Instagram sales conversations die after one exchange because nobody comes back to them. Asking which threads went quiet after a question — and which of those had a real buying signal — is a harder question than triage and a more valuable one, and it needs the conversations read rather than counted.
Next to the other inboxes
The same customer often writes on Instagram and then by email, or on WhatsApp, and nobody notices they are the same person. With those accounts connected too, did anyone ask about the September order becomes one question with one answer, instead of three apps checked at three different moments by three different people.
Common questions
Can ChatGPT read my Instagram DMs?
Yes, once the account is connected, with the profile behind each message available too.
Do I need a Business or Creator account?
No. That belongs to Meta’s Graph API route; the account you already use is connected directly.
Can it reply automatically?
It drafts freely and sends only when you ask. On a public-facing inbox, approving each answer is the reasonable default.
How Instagram works with Nilyo
Connection. Secure hosted sign-in on your own Instagram account; a verification code may be requested by Instagram on the provider side, never in the chat.
What your agent can do. Direct messages (read, reply, send), profile lookup, followers and following lists, your own profile.
Pacing and safety. About 100 actions per day per account, calls serialized.
- Instagram limits new conversations with people who do not follow you; the agent says so instead of retrying.
All Instagram guides
Related guides
Give Nilyo to your agent.
Paste one setup link. Your agent can guide OAuth, account connection and the first useful action.