Requex.me LogoRequex.me

Documentation

Browse by section

Keep all guides, tool docs, automation recipes, and comparison pages in one navigable place.

Docs Home
Docs

Foundation docs for getting started fast, understanding key terms, and tracking what has changed.

Guides

Start with fundamentals, then move into provider-specific webhook testing and production hardening.

Tool Docs

These pages explain what each tool does, when to use it, and how it fits into a webhook debugging workflow.

Automation Docs

Use these setup guides when you want forwarding rules, custom responses, security checks, or multi-destination fanout.

Compare

Use these pages to compare developer workflows, pricing tradeoffs, and feature differences between webhook tools.

Feature docs

Instagram comment to DM automation

A walkthrough of how the feature actually works, what Meta lets you do, and the bits people usually trip over. Read this before you build rules that send hundreds of DMs you regret later.

What it does

Connect your Instagram business or creator account. Pick a post. Tell Requex which words to watch for in the comments. When someone leaves a comment that matches, Requex can do three things: reply publicly, send the commenter a private DM, or both.

The DM part is the one most people actually want. It is the workflow ManyChat built a company on. The pattern is simple. You post a reel that says “comment GUIDE and I’ll send it to you.” Someone comments GUIDE. They get a DM with the link. You skip the “link in bio” tax and put the offer directly in their inbox.

What you need before you start

  • An Instagram business or creator account. Personal accounts do not have the API.
  • That account linked to a Facebook Page you own.
  • A Requex.me account. The Instagram tab in the sidebar opens the dashboard.
  • Credits on your Requex account. One credit per public reply, one per DM, two if a single rule does both.

Setting up your first rule

Connect the account from the Instagram dashboard. Pick the account card. Click New automation. A panel slides up with four things to fill in:

  1. Name. Anything. Future you will thank present you for being descriptive.
  2. Trigger. Comment on a post or DM received. Comment is the comment-to-DM flow.
  3. Match. All comments, a keyword, or a regex. Keyword is what you want 95% of the time.
  4. Apply to post. Pick the specific reel or photo. Comment rules have to target one post.
  5. Action. Public reply, send DM, or both.

For the response text, you can drop in {{username}} and Requex swaps in the commenter’s handle. There’s also {{text}} if you want to echo back what they wrote.

DM types

The DM composer has three modes:

  • Text. Plain message. Variables work.
  • Image. A public HTTPS URL Instagram fetches and re-hosts. JPG or PNG, 8 MB or less.
  • Buttons. Up to three call-to-action buttons that open URLs. Title is capped at 20 characters by Meta, not by us.

The 24-hour message window

This is the rule that catches everyone. Meta only lets you DM someone within 24 hours of their last message to your account. Outside that window, the message gets rejected and you risk a policy strike.

Here’s the part people miss: a public comment is not a message. Replying to a comment with a DM works because Meta treats the comment as consent to open a thread. But once that thread is open, the 24-hour clock starts. If the person doesn’t reply, you cannot DM them again the next day.

Requex checks the window before every DM. If you’re outside it, we skip the send and log a warning. Nothing breaks. The rule just does not fire that round.

Comment private replies (the comment-to-DM bit)

Instagram has a separate endpoint for DM-ing the author of a comment. It has its own rules:

  • One private reply per comment. Try a second and Meta returns an error.
  • The comment has to be less than 7 days old.
  • You don’t need the 24-hour window for the first reply. The comment counts as the opener.

Requex enforces both. We store the comment ID the first time we reply, and after seven days we stop trying. If a rule asks for a DM on a comment that is too old, the rule skips the DM but still posts the public reply if you asked for that.

What we do not send

  • DMs to people you have never heard from.
  • DMs to the same person twice for the same comment.
  • DMs outside the 24-hour window without a Meta-approved tag.
  • Public replies to your own bot (we filter those, or you’d loop forever).

Credits

Every action costs a credit. A rule with action reply uses one. A rule with action DM uses one. A rule with action both uses two. If you run out, matching rules skip silently and we log a warning. Nothing crashes, nothing partial.

What happens if I disconnect

Click Disconnect on the account card. We unsubscribe from Meta, delete the access token from our database, and drop every automation and conversation record tied to that account. If you revoke us from Instagram directly, Meta calls our deauthorize callback and we run the same cleanup. Either path leaves nothing behind.

Where things go wrong

A few patterns we see often:

  • The rule matches but the DM doesn’t arrive. Usually the 24-hour window. Check the rule’s preview, look at the commenter’s last message to you.
  • Webhook says “Not subscribed.” Reconnect the account. The subscription is per-account and gets refreshed during the OAuth flow.
  • Comment keyword doesn’t match. We lowercase both sides before comparing, so case is not the problem. Watch for stray emoji or punctuation in your keyword.
  • Image DM never sends. The URL has to be public HTTPS. If it’s behind auth, Instagram’s fetcher can’t reach it.

The legal bit

We’re a verified Meta tech provider, which means an actual reviewer at Meta looked at the integration. We comply with their messaging policy, and the rules above (window, dedupe, age) are the result. See the Instagram Automation Privacy Policy and the Instagram Automation Terms for what we will and won’t do with your data.

Next

If you want the longer pitch and use cases, read the comment-to-DM page. If you’re ready, open the dashboard and connect an account.