Turn your Instagram saves into a searchable reel library with Claude

You have hundreds of saved reels. When did you last open one?

You save a reel because it is useful. Then the Saved tab turns into a storage room where everything is inside and nothing can be found. You need that prompt you saw three weeks ago, you scroll for 15 minutes, and you give up.

Think of it like a library with no shelves and no catalog. The books are all there. You just can't use them. This guide adds the shelves and the catalog. After it, you type “hook” or “Midjourney” into a search box and see the exact reel in seconds.

In this guide: what you will build · what you need · the habit · Action 1: export your data · Action 2: build the library in Claude · picking folders · monthly refresh · troubleshooting · checklist.

What you will build

At the end Claude builds you an interactive page, your personal reel library:

• A header with the total number of your reels.
• A card for every folder with its name and how many reels are inside.
• A bar that shows each folder’s share in percent, so you see what you actually save the most.
• A search box that looks through captions, creator names and folder names at once.
• Click a folder and its reels open as cards: creator, a short caption preview, date and an “Open on Instagram” link.

What you need

• An Instagram account.
• A Claude account. A normal chat on claude.ai is enough.
• 15 minutes, plus the wait for Instagram to prepare your export.

When you find a reel worth keeping, don’t just tap Save. Also send it to yourself in a DM. Instagram’s export keeps the caption text for reels shared in chats, but not for saved posts, and captions are exactly what lets Claude sort by topic.

Saving is putting a book on the shelf. Sending it to yourself is putting it on the shelf with a label on the spine.

How: tap the share icon (the paper plane) under the reel, search your own username, tap Send. Two taps more than Save.

You don’t give your login to any app. Instagram itself packs your data and sends it to you.

Inside the zip, two files matter:

Saved posts (link, creator, date saved, no caption):
your_instagram_activity/saved/saved_posts.json

Your self chat (link, creator and caption of every reel you sent):
your_instagram_activity/messages/inbox/<a folder with your own name>/message_1.json

If your chat is long, you will also see message_2.json, message_3.json and so on. Take all of them.

Open a new normal chat on claude.ai. Upload saved_posts.json and every message_ file from your self chat. Then paste the prompt below. Select the whole text and copy it as it is.

I uploaded files from my Instagram data export: saved_posts.json (my saved posts) and message_1.json (plus any message_2.json and more) from the chat where I send reels to myself. Build me a personal reel library.

1. Read all the files. From saved posts, take the link, creator and date saved. From the messages, take every shared reel or post: link, creator, caption text and date. Merge everything into one list and remove duplicates by link. If the same reel appears in both, keep the version with the caption.

2. Instagram exports often break non English text (you will see symbols like Ã, Ð or Õ instead of letters). Fix this by re-decoding the text as UTF 8, so Armenian, Russian and emoji display correctly.

3. Sort every reel into folders based on its caption and creator. My folders: [write your folders here, or leave empty and Claude will suggest 6 to 8 based on your content]. Anything unclear goes to "Other". Before building anything, show me the folder list with how many reels are in each and 2 example captions per folder, so I can rename, merge or split folders.

4. After I approve, build an interactive page:
  - a header with the total number of reels
  - a card for each folder with its name and count
  - a bar showing each folder's share in percent
  - a search box that filters across captions, creator names and folder names
  - clicking a folder shows its reels; each reel is a card with creator, a short caption preview, date, and an "Open on Instagram" link
  - a clean, light design that works on mobile

5. Finish with a short summary: total reels, how many had captions, how many sorted by creator only, and the 3 creators I save most.

What each numbered part does:

1. Reads and merges. Pulls every reel from both files into one list and removes duplicates. If a reel is both saved and sent to yourself, it keeps the version with the caption, because that one sorts better.
2. Fixes broken letters. Instagram’s export often scrambles anything that isn’t English, so Armenian or Russian captions look like Ã, Ð, Õ. This line turns them back into real text and emoji.
3. Proposes folders and waits. Claude shows you the folders, the count in each and 2 example captions before building anything. You rename, merge or split. Your folders, not random ones.
4. Builds the page. Only after your OK. Folder cards, percent bar, search, reel cards with an “Open on Instagram” link, light design that works on your phone.
5. Gives you a summary. How many reels, how many had captions, how many were sorted by creator only, and the 3 creators you save most. That last one is a small mirror of what you really learn from.

Pick your folders

You can leave the folder line empty and let Claude suggest 6 to 8. Or write your own. Three sample sets to start from:

Monthly refresh

Troubleshooting

Checklist

• I send good reels to myself in a DM, not only Save.
• I exported only Messages and Saved, in JSON.
• I found saved_posts.json and the message_1.json from my self chat.
• I uploaded the files to Claude and pasted the prompt.
• I approved or renamed the folders before Claude built the page.
• I put a monthly refresh in my calendar.