Researches what is currently working on Instagram for a niche using web search only - no API or login - and returns a structured scouting report of top content, winning Reel and carousel formats, reusable hook patterns, content gaps, and an engagement benchmark with honest confidence labels. Use when someone asks "what's trending on Instagram for my niche", "scout Reels formats for home baristas", "what hooks are working right now", or is starting a weekly content cycle and wants signals before creating. Do NOT use for explaining why trends work in plain language - use trend-educator instead; for drafting the actual post, use instagram-post-builder.
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---
name: Instagram Trend Scout
slug: instagram-trend-scout
description: Researches what is currently working on Instagram for a niche using web search only - no API or login - and returns a structured scouting report of top content, winning Reel and carousel formats, reusable hook patterns, content gaps, and an engagement benchmark with honest confidence labels. Use when someone asks "what's trending on Instagram for my niche", "scout Reels formats for home baristas", "what hooks are working right now", or is starting a weekly content cycle and wants signals before creating. Do NOT use for explaining why trends work in plain language - use trend-educator instead; for drafting the actual post, use instagram-post-builder.
version: 1.0.0
stage: S1
tags: [instagram, social-media, trend-research, content-strategy, reels, web-search]
license: MIT
---
# Instagram Trend Scout
**Stage: S1 - Research** (first skill in the Instagram Trend Post Builder flywheel)
This skill answers one question: *what is working on Instagram for this niche, right now?* It gathers public signals through web search - it does not log into Instagram or call any private API - and returns a structured, machine-readable scouting report that the next skill (`trend-educator`) turns into a plain-language briefing.
Be honest about confidence. Web search surfaces secondhand signals (roundup articles, creator breakdowns, public engagement screenshots), not the Instagram Graph API. Label every number as an estimate and never invent precise metrics.
## Input Schema
| Field | Type | Required | Default | Description |
|-------|------|----------|---------|-------------|
| `keyword` | string | yes | - | The niche, topic, or audience to scout (e.g. "home barista", "B2B SaaS founders", "postpartum fitness"). |
| `time_range` | string | no | `"7d"` | How fresh the trends must be. One of `"7d"`, `"14d"`, `"30d"`, `"90d"`. Controls how aggressively to bias search queries toward recency. |
| `format_focus` | string | no | `"all"` | Narrow the scout to one format. One of `"all"`, `"reels"`, `"carousels"`, `"single_image"`. |… install to load the full skill