What you need
The login for the Instagram account you want to connect, and two minutes. Nothing to host, nothing to install, and no code. Only an Owner can connect it.Set it up
1
Add the channel
In the dashboard, go to Channels and pick Instagram.
2
Press Continue to Meta
Meta owns Instagram, so the login happens on Meta’s own screen. Log in
and pick the account.
3
Come back to Channels
Meta sends you back to the dashboard, which says Instagram is
connected. If you cancelled on Meta’s screen, nothing changed.
One account per workspace
A workspace connects one Instagram account. To switch to another, disconnect the first.Only messages from now on
Direct messages sent after you connect become conversations. Your existing Instagram inbox is not imported, so a customer you were already talking to starts a new conversation the next time they write.What arrives
Direct messages, and what comes with them. Photos and PDFs are stored alongside the message, up to 10MB each, the same as everywhere else in the product. Videos, voice messages and other files are not stored. An internal note names each one, so your team knows something was sent and can look in the Instagram app. We stop at images and PDFs because almost every support attachment is a screenshot, and every file type we accept is one we have to store and serve safely. A message with no words, like a photo on its own, still becomes a conversation. It gets a short placeholder line, like “(sent a photo)”, so the thread is not blank. Replies to your story and mentions of you in someone’s story arrive the same way, as “(replied to your story)” and “(mentioned you in their story)”. Comments on your posts do not arrive. Only direct messages do.Which conversation a message joins
A chat has no threads, just one continuous stream. So a new message joins the customer’s open conversation if they have one. If every conversation with them is resolved or closed, it starts a new one. That means a customer coming back a month later opens a fresh conversation rather than reviving a finished one.Their name and picture
The customer’s Instagram name is used as their name in your inbox. Where they have a profile picture, we fetch it whenever they start a new conversation and show it beside their name. People with no picture keep the initials circle. The image is stored privately and shown through a short-lived signed link, not a public URL. Erasing a customer deletes the file along with the record.Replying
Your reply goes back as a direct message. Three things are worth knowing. Meta only lets businesses reply within 24 hours of the customer’s last message. A reply written by a person gets 7 days instead. The AI does not get the extra time, and does not need it: it answers within minutes. Once the window has closed, nothing reaches the customer until they write again. Long replies are split. Instagram caps a message at 1000 characters, so a longer reply arrives as several messages, broken at a line or a space. Only the text goes. Files you attach to a reply stay on the conversation in miniDesk. If the customer needs one, send a link.A reply that did not arrive says so
If Instagram refuses a reply, you get an internal note on the conversation saying it was not delivered, and why: the 24 hours have passed, the account needs reconnecting, or Instagram did not accept it. The note is there so nobody on your team believes the customer has an answer they never got.Replies sent from the Instagram app
You can still answer from the Instagram app on your phone. That reply is added to the conversation, labelled Instagram app, so the thread in your inbox stays complete. It is not sent a second time. A conversation you start yourself from the app does not become a ticket. It is not a support request.Automated replies
If you have AI auto-reply switched on, Instagram follows it like any other channel. Once the account is connected, the Reply automatically on list under AI Agent → Settings gets an Instagram switch. It starts on, so you can turn it off for Instagram and leave it on for email, or the reverse.The confirmation message
When the AI is not answering a new conversation, the customer hears nothing until someone on your team replies. Switch on Confirmation message in Channels → Instagram to send them one line straight away, so they know it arrived. It goes once, when a conversation starts, and only if the AI did not reply on its own. Leave the text as it is to send ours: “Thanks for your message! We’ll get back to you as soon as we can.” Or write your own, up to 500 characters. Clear the field to go back to ours. It is off until you switch it on. Your team does not see it as a message in the thread. It is listed as Confirmation sent in the conversation’s history, and the conversation still counts as unanswered.On the free plan
On the free plan, the first message we send in each conversation ends with the line “Sent from miniDesk.ai”. That is the confirmation message if one went out, or the first reply if not. Paid plans never add it, and upgrading removes it straight away.The states
The Channels screen shows which one you are in:
Reconnect needed usually means the account’s password changed or its
access was removed on Meta’s side. Open Channels → Instagram and press
Reconnect to log in on Meta again.
Pausing and disconnecting
Pausing is the Accept new conversations switch. While it is off, nothing customers send is picked up, not even replies to conversations already in your inbox, and nothing is kept for later. The connection is kept, so switching it back on picks up from the next message. Disconnecting removes the connection and withdraws the access Meta gave us. The Instagram account itself is untouched and stays exactly as it is. Conversations that already arrived stay in your inbox either way. They are your support history, not part of the connection.Through the API
Conversations that start on Instagram havesource: "instagram" in
the REST API. Their requesters are never
verified: Meta vouches that an Instagram account exists, not that it belongs to
one of your customers.