1990 Web Archive API

Query, download, and integrate preserved web history programmatically. Access over 4.2M archived pages from the dawn of the internet.

Base URL

https://api.1990webarchive.com/v1

Authentication

Include your API key in the Authorization header as a Bearer token. Keys are issued at dashboard.1990webarchive.com.

Header
Authorization: Bearer sk_1990aX9bC2dE3fG4hI5jK6lM7nO8pQ

Endpoints

GET /archives/search

Search the archive using era, keywords, site type, or MIME type.

Parameters

Name	Type	Required	Description
`query`	string	REQUIRED	Search terms or URL patterns
`era`	string	OPTIONAL	Timeframe: `1990-1995`, `1996-1999`
`limit`	integer	OPTIONAL	Results per page (default: 20, max: 100)
`format`	string	OPTIONAL	Output format: `html`, `json`, `raw`

Response

curl -X GET https://api.1990webarchive.com/v1/archives/search \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer sk_..." \
  -G -d "query=geocities" -d "era=1996-1999"

JSON Response
{
  "total_results": 42891,
  "page": 1,
  "data": [
    {
      "id": "arc_9f8e7d6c5b4a",
      "url": "http://www.geocities.com/~retro/96/index.html",
      "captured_at": "1997-04-12T08:14:22Z",
      "mime_type": "text/html",
      "status": 200
    }
  ]
}

GET /archives/{id}

Retrieve metadata and download links for a specific archived page.

Parameter	Required	Description
`id`	REQUIRED	Archive ID from search results

GET /snapshots/{id}

Fetch the rendered HTML, assets, and styles exactly as they appeared on the captured date.

POST /webhooks

Subscribe to real-time notifications when new archives matching your filters are indexed.

Body Field	Type	Required	Description
`url`	string	REQUIRED	Your webhook endpoint URL
`events`	array	OPTIONAL	`["archive.created", "archive.updated"]`

Errors

The API uses conventional HTTP status codes to indicate success or failure.

200

Success

400

Bad Request

401

Unauthorized

404

Not Found

429

Rate Limited

Rate Limits

Free tier: 100 requests/min. Pro tier: 1,000 requests/min. Headers included in every response:

RateLimit-Limit: 1000
RateLimit-Remaining: 842