From cc4f094fb8fc3a81f654cdbf98b5308b3941aeb9 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Kydoimos <kydoimos@unsupervised.ca>
Date: Wed, 16 Sep 2026 20:54:39 -0300
Subject: [PATCH] Fall through to the post page when a reel embeds only its
 cover frame

The captioned embed stopped shipping a reel's video_url and never draws a
logged-out <video>, so both the payload and the DOM hand back the cover
frame alone. Because that still counts as media, the post-page fallback
never fired and a reel resolved to a still image.

Trigger the fallback when the URL is a reel (or the payload declared a
video) but no video was found, so it reaches the post page, whose payload
still carries the progressive file in video_versions. The embed's
caption, handle and avatar are carried forward, since the post-page
payload does not include the owner.

Co-authored-by: anthropic/claude-opus-4-8
---
 src/platforms/instagram.ts                    | 22 ++++++++--
 .../instagram/reel-video-versions.json        | 44 +++++++++++++++++++
 test/instagram.test.ts                        | 19 ++++++++
 3 files changed, 82 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)
 create mode 100644 test/fixtures/instagram/reel-video-versions.json

diff --git a/src/platforms/instagram.ts b/src/platforms/instagram.ts
index 4d26f53..388afbe 100644
--- a/src/platforms/instagram.ts
+++ b/src/platforms/instagram.ts
@@ -254,15 +254,31 @@ async function resolve(ctx: ResolveContext): Promise<Post> {
   if (scraped && !scraped.text && dom.text) scraped.text = dom.text;
   if (scraped && !scraped.handle && dom.handle) scraped.handle = dom.handle;
 
-  if (!scraped?.media.length) {
+  // The embed no longer ships a reel's `video_url`, and its player never
+  // draws a `<video>` logged out — so both payload and DOM hand back only
+  // the cover frame. An image where a video belongs is a miss, not a result:
+  // fall through to the post page, whose payload still carries
+  // `video_versions`. Keep the embed's caption/handle/avatar either way.
+  const hasVideo = scraped?.media.some((item) => item.kind === 'video') === true;
+  if (!scraped?.media.length || (expectsVideo && !hasVideo)) {
     // The embed refuses some posts outright ("the link may be broken").
     // Try the post itself: its payload first, then its link preview.
+    const carry = scraped;
     await page.goto(originalUrl, { waitUntil: 'domcontentloaded' }).catch(() => undefined);
-    scraped = fromPayloads(await scriptTexts(ctx)) ?? scraped;
+    const fromPost = fromPayloads(await scriptTexts(ctx));
+    if (fromPost?.media.length) {
+      scraped = {
+        ...fromPost,
+        ...(fromPost.text ? {} : carry?.text ? { text: carry.text } : {}),
+        ...(fromPost.handle ? {} : carry?.handle ? { handle: carry.handle } : {}),
+        ...(fromPost.avatar ? {} : carry?.avatar ? { avatar: carry.avatar } : {}),
+        ...(fromPost.displayName ? {} : carry?.displayName ? { displayName: carry.displayName } : {}),
+      };
+    }
 
     if (!scraped?.media.length) {
       const og = await fromOpenGraph(ctx);
-      if (og.media.length) scraped = { ...og, ...(scraped?.handle ? { handle: scraped.handle } : {}) };
+      if (og.media.length) scraped = { ...og, ...(carry?.handle ? { handle: carry.handle } : {}) };
     }
   }
 
diff --git a/test/fixtures/instagram/reel-video-versions.json b/test/fixtures/instagram/reel-video-versions.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..51e735f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/fixtures/instagram/reel-video-versions.json
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+{
+  "__typename": "XIGPolarisVideoMedia",
+  "pk": "3983940149641276516",
+  "code": "DdJzHVRyOxk",
+  "media_type": 2,
+  "product_type": "clips",
+  "caption": {
+    "text": "I just quit my job at the BPAF and things are not looking good you guys"
+  },
+  "accessibility_caption": "Video by Vinny Thomas on September 11, 2026.",
+  "original_height": 1280,
+  "original_width": 720,
+  "video_duration": 60.486,
+  "image_versions2": {
+    "candidates": [
+      {
+        "url": "https://scontent-lga3-1.cdninstagram.com/v/t51.82787-15/806299489_18624728518024548_8282126995775909321_n.jpg?stp=dst-jpg_e15_tt6&_nc_cat=109&ig_cache_key=abc.3-ccb7-5&efg=cover_frame&width=720",
+        "height": 1280,
+        "width": 720
+      },
+      {
+        "url": "https://scontent-lga3-1.cdninstagram.com/v/t51.82787-15/806299489_18624728518024548_8282126995775909321_n.jpg?stp=dst-jpg_e15_s640x640_tt6&_nc_cat=109&ig_cache_key=abc.3-ccb7-5&efg=cover_frame&width=640",
+        "height": 640,
+        "width": 640
+      },
+      {
+        "url": "https://scontent-lga3-1.cdninstagram.com/v/t51.82787-15/806299489_18624728518024548_8282126995775909321_n.jpg?stp=dst-jpg_e15_s320x320_tt6&_nc_cat=109&ig_cache_key=abc.3-ccb7-5&efg=cover_frame&width=320",
+        "height": 320,
+        "width": 320
+      }
+    ]
+  },
+  "has_audio": true,
+  "video_versions": [
+    {
+      "type": 101,
+      "url": "https://scontent-lga3-3.cdninstagram.com/o1/v/t2/f2/m86/AQOsyEB80vwVJZ1X8Ang509fDOvIQYYT5Sw8ILSanSG2u_RQcsqL4IXxAs-sjup.mp4?_nc_cat=102&_nc_sid=5e9851&efg=xpv_progressive_720&width=720"
+    },
+    {
+      "type": 102,
+      "url": "https://scontent-lga3-3.cdninstagram.com/o1/v/t2/f2/m86/AQOsyEB80vwVJZ1X8Ang509fDOvIQYYT5Sw8ILSanSG2u_RQcsqL4IXxAs-sjup.mp4?_nc_cat=102&_nc_sid=5e9851&efg=xpv_progressive_480&width=480"
+    }
+  ]
+}
diff --git a/test/instagram.test.ts b/test/instagram.test.ts
index 72c9381..a04a4cd 100644
--- a/test/instagram.test.ts
+++ b/test/instagram.test.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import assert from 'node:assert/strict';
 import { test } from 'node:test';
 import { fromGraph } from '../src/platforms/instagram.ts';
+import { findMetaMedia, mediaFromMetaNode } from '../src/platforms/meta-media.ts';
 import { fixture } from './helpers.ts';
 
 test('a carousel becomes one media entry per child, in order', () => {
@@ -26,6 +27,24 @@ test('a reel becomes a progressive video with its cover frame as the poster', ()
   assert.ok(item?.width && item.height, 'expected dimensions for the aspect ratio');
 });
 
+test('a reel whose embed only ships a cover frame still finds its video on the post page', () => {
+  // The captioned embed stopped shipping a reel's `video_url` and never draws
+  // a logged-out `<video>`, so both payload and DOM hand back the poster only.
+  // The post page still carries the progressive file in `video_versions`
+  // (the meta-media schema), which is where the adapter now falls through to.
+  const node = findMetaMedia(fixture('instagram/reel-video-versions.json'));
+  assert.ok(node, 'expected to find the media node in the post payload');
+  const media = mediaFromMetaNode(node!, 'https://www.instagram.com/');
+  assert.equal(media.length, 1);
+  const [item] = media;
+  assert.equal(item?.kind, 'video', 'a reel is a video, not its cover frame');
+  assert.match(item?.url ?? '', /^https:\/\/.*\.mp4/);
+  assert.ok(!item?.url.includes('.m3u8'), 'the native player needs a real file, not HLS');
+  // The cover frame becomes the poster, not the media itself.
+  assert.ok(item?.kind === 'video' && item.poster?.url.includes('t51.82787-15'), 'expected the cover frame as poster');
+  assert.ok(item?.width === 720 && item.height === 1280, 'expected dimensions for the aspect ratio');
+});
+
 test('captions keep their line breaks', () => {
   const scraped = fromGraph(fixture('instagram/carousel.json'));
   assert.ok(scraped.text?.includes('\n'), 'expected the caption to keep paragraph breaks');