Developers | 1990 Web Archive

Quick Start

Get up and running in under a minute. Install our CLI or SDK to start querying the archive immediately.

# Install the official JavaScript/TypeScript SDK
npm install @1990-archive/sdk

# Basic usage
import { ArchiveClient } from '@1990-archive/sdk';

const client = new ArchiveClient({ apiKey: process.env.ARCHIVE_API_KEY });

const results = await client.search({
  era: '1990s',
  query: 'geocities personal homepage',
  limit: 10
});

console.log(results.pages.length);
                

# Install the official Python client
pip install archive1990

# Basic usage
from archive1990 import ArchiveClient

client = ArchiveClient(api_key=os.environ["ARCHIVE_API_KEY"])

results = client.search(
    era="1990s",
    query="dotcom boom startup",
    limit=10
)

print(len(results.pages))
                

curl https://api.1990webarchive.com/v1/archive/search \\
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \\
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \\
  -d '{"era": "1990s", "query": "under construction", "limit": 10}'
                

Authentication

All API requests require authentication via API Key or OAuth 2.0. Keys are tied to your organization workspace and can be managed in the developer dashboard.

⚠️ Security Notice: Never expose your secret API keys in client-side code or public repositories. Use environment variables or a secure vault.

API Key Header

Include your key in the Authorization header using the Bearer scheme:

Authorization: Bearer ak_live_7x92mKp4nQw8vR3zL5

OAuth 2.0 (Server-to-Server)

For automated pipelines requiring rotating credentials, use our OAuth client credentials flow. Request a token at:

POST https://auth.1990webarchive.com/oauth/token

API Reference

Our REST API follows consistent naming, pagination, and error formats. All endpoints are prefixed with /v1.

GET

/v1/archive/search

Query indexed pages with full-text, metadata, and temporal filters.

GET

/v1/archive/render/:id

Retrieve pixel-perfect HTML/CSS/GIF snapshot as it appeared in its original era.

GET

/v1/archive/metadata/:url

Fetch technical metadata: crawl date, tech stack, DOM stats, and hash verification.

POST

/v1/archive/submit

Submit new URLs for immediate crawling and permanent archival.

GET

/v1/user/quota

Check remaining requests, storage allocation, and tier status.

GET

/v1/archive/trends

Aggregate analytics on web design evolution, tech adoption, and traffic patterns.

SDKs & Libraries

Officially maintained libraries for your preferred stack. Community packages are welcome via GitHub.

Language              Package                  Version
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
JavaScript/Node     @1990-archive/sdk        v2.4.1
Python              archive1990              v1.8.0
Go                  github.com/1990archive/go  v0.9.2
Rust                 1990_archive             v0.7.4
Ruby                 web_archive_1990         v2.1.0
                

Rate Limits & Tiers

We offer tiered access to ensure stability and fair usage across the archival network. All tiers include 99.9% uptime SLA.

Tier	Requests / min	Concurrent Jobs	Storage Access	Price
Developer	60	2	Read-only (1990-1995)	Free
Researcher	300	10	Full Era Access	$29/mo
Enterprise	Custom	Unlimited	Dedicated Nodes + Raw Dumps	Contact Sales

Rate limit headers X-RateLimit-Remaining and X-RateLimit-Reset are included in every response. Exceeding limits returns 429 Too Many Requests.

Error Handling

The API uses conventional HTTP status codes. Errors return a consistent JSON structure:

{
  "error": {
    "code": "NOT_FOUND",
    "message": "Archive ID 'page_8821' does not exist or has been purged.",
    "request_id": "req_9x72mKp4nQw8",
    "doc_url": "https://docs.1990webarchive.com/errors#not_found"
  }
}
                

Developer API