API Endpoints

Access the complete 1990 Web Archive programmatically. Our RESTful API allows you to search, retrieve, and submit web content for preservation. All responses are returned in JSON format.

📡 API v1 is now in production The current stable version is v1. All endpoints require authentication via API key. Sandboxes are available for testing.

Base URL & Response Format

All API requests should be made to:

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

Responses follow a consistent envelope structure:

{
  "status": "success",
  "data": { ... },
  "meta": {
    "request_id": "a8f3-1990-x729",
    "timestamp": "2024-11-12T08:30:00Z"
  }
}

Authentication

Authenticate by passing your API key in the X-Archive-Key header. Keys can be generated from your dashboard.

curl -X GET "https://api.1990webarchive.com/v1/archives/latest" \
  -H "X-Archive-Key: your_api_key_here"

⚠️ Security Notice Never expose your API key in client-side code or public repositories. Use environment variables and server-side proxying for web applications.

Archives

Retrieve metadata, snapshots, and raw HTML for archived webpages.

GET /archives/{id} Stable

Returns full metadata and available snapshots for a specific archived URL.

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
`id` REQUIRED	String	Unique archive identifier (UUID v4)

Response Example

{
  "status": "success",
  "data": {
    "id": "a1b2c3d4-1990-e5f6",
    "original_url": "http://www.geocities.com/area51/cyber/1998.html",
    "captured_at": "1998-07-15T14:22:00Z",
    "format": "html",
    "size_bytes": 24580,
    "snapshots": ["1998-07-15", "2001-03-02", "2005-11-18"]
  }
}

GET /archives/{id}/raw Stable

Returns the raw, unmodified HTML source of the archived page exactly as captured.

Headers

Header	Description
`Accept: text/html`	Optional. Defaults to HTML. Use `application/json` for encoded payload.

Search & Query

GET /search Stable

Query the archive index using full-text and metadata filters.

Query Parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
`q` REQUIRED	String	Search query (supports boolean operators)
`era`	String	Filter by year range (e.g., `1995-1999`)
`domain`	String	Filter by registered domain
`limit`	Integer	Results per page (max 100, default 20)

Response Example

{
  "status": "success",
  "data": {
    "total_results": 4821,
    "results": [
      {"id": "x9y8z7-1990-w6v5", "title": "Welcome to the Information Superhighway", "year": 1996}
    ]
  }
}

Preservation Jobs

POST /preservations Stable

Submit a live or dead URL for archival crawling and preservation.

Request Body

{
  "url": "http://example.com/old-site",
  "priority": "standard",
  "capture_assets": true,
  "web_archive_format": "warc"
}

Response

{
  "status": "success",
  "data": {
    "job_id": "job_1990_arch_8f29",
    "status": "queued",
    "estimated_completion": "2024-11-12T09:15:00Z"
  }
}

GET /preservations/{job_id} Stable

Check the status of an active or completed preservation job.

Rate Limits

API access is tiered based on your plan. Exceeding limits returns 429 Too Many Requests.

Plan	Requests / Min	Concurrent Crawls
Free	60	1
Researcher	600	5
Institution	Unlimited	20

Error Codes

Code	Meaning	Description
400	Bad Request	Missing parameters or malformed JSON
401	Unauthorized	Invalid or missing API key
403	Forbidden	Insufficient permissions for requested resource
404	Not Found	Archive ID or endpoint does not exist
429	Rate Limited	Too many requests. Check `Retry-After` header
500	Server Error	Internal archive processing failure