API Documentation

Access decades of preserved web history programmatically. The 1990 Web Archive API provides read-only access to archived pages, crawl status tracking, and historical web analytics.

💡 Quick Start

Install our official SDK or make direct HTTP requests. All endpoints return JSON and require authentication via API key.

bash

npm install @1990archive/sdk
# or via curl
curl -H 'X-Archive-Key: YOUR_API_KEY' https://api.1990webarchive.com/v1/pages/search

Base URL & Versioning

All requests target the following base URL. API versioning is enforced via URL path prefix.

text

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

Breaking changes are prevented by version pinning. The latest stable version is v1. Deprecated endpoints return a Deprecation header with sunset dates.

Authentication

Authenticate requests by including your API key in the X-Archive-Key header. Keys are generated in your dashboard and have scoped permissions.

http

GET /v1/pages/search HTTP/1.1
Host: api.1990webarchive.com
X-Archive-Key: sk_live_8f7d6e5c4b3a2910
Content-Type: application/json

⚠️ Security Note

Never expose API keys in client-side code. Use environment variables or server-side proxies for frontend applications.

Rate Limits

Requests are limited to 120 req/min for standard tiers and 1000 req/min for enterprise. Rate limit headers are included in every response.

http

RateLimit-Limit: 120
RateLimit-Remaining: 98
RateLimit-Reset: 1698765432

GET /pages/search

Search the archive for pages matching specific criteria. Supports era filtering, technology detection, and full-text indexing.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
`q`	string	Yes	Search query (title, content, or URL)
`year_from`	integer	—	Filter by capture year (1990-1999)
`year_to`	integer	—	End year range
`limit`	integer	—	Max results (default: 20, max: 100)

Example Request

bash

curl -H 'X-Archive-Key: YOUR_KEY' \
  'https://api.1990webarchive.com/v1/pages/search?q=geocities+personal+page&year_from=1995&limit=5'

Example Response

json

{
  "data": [
    {
      "id": "pg_8a9b7c6d5e4f3g2h",
      "url": "http://www.geocities.com/~user123/home.html",
      "title": "Welcome to My Homepage! ★",
      "captured_at": "1997-08-14T10:22:00Z",
      "tech_stack": ["HTML3.2", "Table Layout", "Animated GIF"],
      "preview_url": "https://archive.1990web.com/render/pg_8a9b7c6d5e4f3g2h"
    }
  ],
  "meta": {
    "total": 12843,
    "page": 1,
    "per_page": 5
  }
}

GET /pages/{id}

Retrieve full metadata and render-ready assets for a specific archived page.

bash

curl -H 'X-Archive-Key: YOUR_KEY' \
  'https://api.1990webarchive.com/v1/pages/pg_8a9b7c6d5e4f3g2h'

Returns complete HTML snapshot, extracted text, linked resources manifest, and cryptographic verification hash.

POST /crawl/submit

Queue a new crawling job for a live or dead URL. Our legacy-compatible crawler will attempt to capture and archive the content.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
`url`	string	Yes	Target URL to archive
`depth`	integer	—	Crawl depth (1-3, default: 1)
`browser`	string	—	Emulation target (`netscape3`, `ie5`, `modern`)

json

{
  "job_id": "crawl_x9y8z7w6v5u4",
  "status": "queued",
  "eta_seconds": 45,
  "message": "Crawl initiated. Poll /crawl/{job_id}/status for progress."
}

GET /crawl/{job_id}/status

Check the progress of a submitted crawl job. Returns stages: queued, fetching, rendering, archived, failed.

bash

curl -H 'X-Archive-Key: YOUR_KEY' \
  'https://api.1990webarchive.com/v1/crawl/crawl_x9y8z7w6v5u4/status'

GET /metrics/overview

Retrieve aggregate statistics about the archive, including total pages, era distribution, and storage footprint.

json

{
  "total_pages": 4289103,
  "total_size_gb": 142.7,
  "era_distribution": {
    "1990-1993": 12,
    "1994-1996": 48290,
    "1997-1999": 4236001
  }
}

Error Codes

The API uses standard HTTP status codes with extended application-level error payloads.

Code	Meaning	Description
`400`	Bad Request	Invalid parameters or malformed JSON
`401`	Unauthorized	Missing or invalid `X-Archive-Key`
`403`	Forbidden	Key lacks permission for this endpoint
`404`	Not Found	Page ID or crawl job does not exist
`429`	Too Many Requests	Rate limit exceeded. Retry after header value.
`500`	Server Error	Internal archive storage or rendering failure

json

{
  "error": {
    "code": 401,
    "message": "Authentication required",
    "documentation_url": "https://docs.1990webarchive.com/errors/401"
  }
}

SDKs & Libraries

Official client libraries are available for popular languages. Community-maintained wrappers are also supported.

text

JavaScript/Node.js: npm install @1990archive/sdk
Python:           pip install 1990-archive-client
Rust:             cargo add archive90-rs
Go:               go get github.com/1990archive/go-sdk