API Access

🔑 Authentication

Authenticate your API requests using an API key. Include your key in the Authorization header as a Bearer token. Keys can be generated from your dashboard.

⚠️ Never expose your API key in client-side code, public repositories, or unsecured channels. Keys can be revoked instantly from your dashboard.

HTTP Request

GET /v2/search?q=geocities HTTP/2
Host: api.1990webarchive.com
Authorization: Bearer sk_live_1990a3b7c9d2e4f6...
Content-Type: application/json

Key Types

Type	Prefix	Description
Live Key	sk_live_	Full access to production API with billing applied
Test Key	sk_test_	Sandbox access — no data charges, read-only access
Webhook Key	sk_wh_	Webhook signing key for verifying incoming events

🌐 Base URL

All API endpoints are relative to the base URL below:

Production https://api.1990webarchive.com/v2

Sandbox https://sandbox-api.1990webarchive.com/v2

💡 The sandbox environment uses the same API but returns simulated data for testing. No credits are consumed.

🔍 Search

Search across the entire archive of archived web pages. Supports full-text search, era filtering, and content-type filtering.

GET /search Search pages

Search the archive for pages matching your query. Supports keyword, URL, title, and author filters.

Query Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
q	string	required	Search query string (keyword, phrase, or URL)
era	string	optional	Filter by decade: `1990s`, `1991s`, `1992s` ... `1999s`
type	string	optional	Content type: `html`, `gif`, `midi`, `flash`
site	string	optional	Filter by domain: `geocities.com`, `angelfire.com`, etc.
page	integer	optional	Page number (default: `1`, max: `100`)
per_page	integer	optional	Results per page (default: `20`, max: `100`)
sort	string	optional	Sort order: `relevance`, `date_desc`, `date_asc`

cURL

$ curl -X GET \
  https://api.1990webarchive.com/v2/search?q=welcome+counter \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer sk_live_..." \
  -H "Accept: application/json" \
  -G --data-urlencode "era=1990s" \
  -G --data-urlencode "site=geocities.com" \
  -G --data-urlencode "page=1" \
  -G --data-urlencode "per_page=50"

Node.js

const { ArchiveClient } = require('1990-archiver');

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

const results = await client.search({
  q: 'welcome counter',
  era: '1990s',
  site: 'geocities.com',
  page: 1,
  perPage: 50,
});

console.log(results.total); // 12,847

Python

import os
from one_nine_ninety import ArchiveClient

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

results = client.search(
    q="welcome counter",
    era="1990s",
    site="geocities.com",
    page=1,
    per_page=50,
)

print(results.total)  # 12,847

Response

JSON Response — 200 OK

{
  "status": "success",
  "query": {
    "q": "welcome counter",
    "era": "1990s",
    "site": "geocities.com"
  },
  "pagination": {
    "current_page": 1,
    "per_page": 50,
    "total_results": 12847,
    "total_pages": 257
  },
  "results": [
    {
      "id": "1990-arc-8f3a2b1c
      "url": "http://geocities.com/area51/hangar/2271/",
      "title": "Welcome to my World!!",
      "archived_date": "1996-03-15T08:22:00Z",
      "site": "geocities.com",
      "era": "1990s",
      "match_score": 0.94,
      "has_screenshot": true,
      "has_audio": true,
      "snapshot_url": "https://api.1990webarchive.com/v2/snapshots/8f3a2b1c/full"
    },
    {
      "id": "1990-arc-7d2e9f4a",
      "url": "http://geocities.com/Colosseum/Diamond/6849/",
      "title": "Welcome to my Cool Page!!",
      "archived_date": "1997-08-22T14:05:00Z",
      "site": "geocities.com",
      "era": "1990s",
      "match_score": 0.89,
      "has_screenshot": true,
      "has_audio": false,
      "snapshot_url": "https://api.1990webarchive.com/v2/snapshots/7d2e9f4a/full"
    }
  ]
}

POST /search/reverse Reverse URL search

Find archived versions of a given URL, even if the site is no longer online.

cURL

$ curl -X POST \
  https://api.1990webarchive.com/v2/search/reverse \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer sk_live_..." \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "url": "http://geocities.com/area51/hangar/2271/",
    "include_deleted": true
  }'

📄 Retrieve Page

GET /pages/:id Retrieve page

Retrieve the full archived HTML content of a page, including all inline resources.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
id	string	required	The archive ID (e.g., `1990-arc-8f3a2b1c`)
render	string	optional	`raw` (default) or `rendered` — renders with original 90s styles
include_assets	boolean	optional	Include linked GIFs, MIDIs, and CSS (default: `false`)

cURL

$ curl -X GET \
  https://api.1990webarchive.com/v2/pages/1990-arc-8f3a2b1c?render=raw&include_assets=true \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer sk_live_..."

📅 Search by Era

GET /search/era/:era Browse by decade

Browse archived pages filtered by a specific decade. Returns a curated collection of representative pages from that era.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
era	string	required	Decade identifier: `1990s` through `1999s`
category	string	optional	Filter by category: `personal`, `business`, `fan`, `education`, `government`
has_audio	boolean	optional	Filter to pages with MIDI audio (default: `false`)
has_animation	boolean	optional	Filter to pages with animated GIFs (default: `false`)

cURL

$ curl -X GET \
  https://api.1990webarchive.com/v2/search/era/1990s?category=personal&has_audio=true \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer sk_live_..."

📚 Collections

GET /collections List collections

List all curated collections available in the archive.

JSON Response — 200 OK

{
  "collections": [
    {
      "id": "geo-cities-restored",
      "name": "GeoCities Restored",
      "description": "180,000+ restored GeoCities personal homepages",
      "page_count": 182431,
      "era": "1990s",
      "thumbnail": "https://cdn.1990webarchive.com/collections/geo-cities/thumb.png"
    },
    {
      "id": "dot-com-boom",
      "name": "Dot-Com Boom",
      "description": "Business and e-commerce sites from 1995–2000",
      "page_count": 45210,
      "era": "1990s",
      "thumbnail": "https://cdn.1990webarchive.com/collections/dot-com/thumb.png"
    },
    {
      "id": "web-ring-foundations",
      "name": "Web Ring Foundations",
      "description": "Sites connected through the classic WebRing system",
      "page_count": 28900,
      "era": "1990s",
      "thumbnail": "https://cdn.1990webarchive.com/collections/web-ring/thumb.png"
    }
  ]
}

GET /collections/:id/pages Get collection pages

Get all pages within a curated collection.

cURL

$ curl -X GET \
  https://api.1990webarchive.com/v2/collections/geo-cities-restored/pages?page=1&per_page=20 \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer sk_live_..."

🖼️ Media

GET /media/:id/screenshot Get screenshot

Retrieve the pixel-perfect screenshot of an archived page, rendered in its original dimensions and style.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
width	integer	optional	Output width in pixels (default: `1024`)
format	string	optional	`png` (default) or `webp`

GET /media/:id/audio Get audio asset

Retrieve the MIDI or WAV audio file embedded in an archived page, extracted and preserved in its original format.

🎵 Fun fact: We've preserved over 340,000 MIDI files from archived pages. Many still play in modern browsers with the ?embed=1 parameter.

🏷️ Metadata

GET /pages/:id/metadata Get page metadata

Get technical metadata about an archived page, including original HTML, technology stack, and preservation details.

JSON Response — 200 OK

{
  "id": "1990-arc-8f3a2b1c",
  "original_url": "http://geocities.com/area51/hangar/2271/",
  "archived_date": "1996-03-15T08:22:00Z",
  "content_type": "text/html",
  "content_length": 8742,
  "technology": {
    "html_version": "HTML 2.0",
    "has_frames": false,
    "has_tables": true,
    "has_javascript": false,
    "has_applet": false,
    "has_midi_audio": true,
    "has_animated_gif": true,
    "has_counter": true,
    "guestbook": false,
    "web_ring": true
  },
  "preservation": {
    "crawl_id": "1990-crawl-441",
    "verified": true,
    "integrity_hash": "sha256:a1b2c3d4e5f6...",
    "signed": true,
    "timestamp_url": "https://ts.1990webarchive.com/1990-arc-8f3a2b1c"
  }
}

📸 Snapshots

GET /snapshots/:id/full Full snapshot

Retrieve a complete rendered snapshot of a page as it appeared at the time of archiving, including all stylesheets, fonts, and assets.

GET /snapshots/:id/comparison Side-by-side comparison

Get a side-by-side comparison view of a page's HTML from two different archival dates, useful for tracking design evolution.

🕷️ Crawl

POST /crawl Initiate crawl

Initiate a new crawl of a live URL to add it to the archive. Supports recursive crawling with configurable depth and scope.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
url	string	required	The URL to crawl
depth	integer	optional	Link depth (1–3, default: `1`)
scope	string	optional	`same_domain` (default) or `all`
name	string	optional	Custom crawl name label

cURL

$ curl -X POST \
  https://api.1990webarchive.com/v2/crawl \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer sk_live_..." \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "url": "https://example.com",
    "depth": 2,
    "scope": "same_domain",
    "name": "My Test Crawl"
  }'

⏱️ Rate Limits

API requests are rate-limited based on your plan tier. Headers in every response indicate your current usage.

Free

60

requests / minute

Pro

1,000

requests / minute

Enterprise

10,000

requests / minute

💡 Rate limit headers are returned in every response: X-RateLimit-Limit, X-RateLimit-Remaining, and X-RateLimit-Reset.

Response Headers — 200 OK

HTTP/2 200 OK
Content-Type: application/json
X-RateLimit-Limit: 1000
X-RateLimit-Remaining: 987
X-RateLimit-Reset: 1709251200
X-Request-Cost: 1

⚡ Error Handling

The API uses standard HTTP status codes and returns detailed error objects in JSON format.

Status	Code	Description
400	BAD_REQUEST	Invalid query parameters or malformed request body
401	UNAUTHORIZED	Missing or invalid API key
403	FORBIDDEN	API key lacks permission for this endpoint
404	NOT_FOUND	No results found for the query or the page ID doesn't exist
429	RATE_LIMITED	Too many requests — check `X-RateLimit-Reset`
500	INTERNAL_ERROR	Unexpected server error — contact support
503	SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE	Archive is undergoing maintenance

JSON Error Response — 400

{
  "status": "error",
  "code": "BAD_REQUEST",
  "message": "Invalid era: '1980s' is not within archive range (1990–1999)",
  "details": {
    "field": "era",
    "valid_values": ["1990s", "1991s", "1992s", "1993s", "1994s", "1995s", "1996s", "1997s", "1998s", "1999s"]
  },
  "request_id": "req_1990x7f8a2b"
}

🚨 Always handle rate limits gracefully. Implement exponential backoff when receiving 429 responses. The X-RateLimit-Reset header contains the Unix timestamp when your limit resets.

📦 SDKs & Client Libraries

Official SDKs are available for popular languages. Community-maintained libraries for additional languages are also listed below.

🟢

Node.js

Official SDK

npm i 1990-archiver

🐍

Python

Official SDK

pip install one_ninety

☕

Java

Community

mvn:1990-archiver-java

🦀

Rust

Community

cargo add 1990-archiver

🔷

C# / .NET

Community

dotnet add 1990Archiver

🐹

Go

Official SDK

go get 1990-archiver

💡 All SDKs support the complete API surface including search, retrieve, crawl, and webhooks. See individual SDK README for installation and usage docs.

🔔 Webhooks

Configure webhook endpoints to receive real-time notifications for crawl completions, archive additions, and page updates.

Available Events

crawl.completed Fired when a crawl initiated via POST /crawl finishes processing
page.archived Fired when a new page is added to the archive (scheduled crawl results)
page.updated Fired when an existing archived page is re-captured with new content
archive.snapshot_ready Fired when a rendered snapshot of a page is fully processed and available
rate_limit.warning Fired when usage exceeds 80% of your rate limit for the current minute

Webhook Payload — 200 OK

{
  "id": "evt_1990abc123",
  "type": "crawl.completed",
  "timestamp": "1990-03-15T08:22:00Z",
  "data": {
    "crawl_id": "1990-crawl-441",
    "url": "http://geocities.com/area51/hangar/2271/",
    "pages_crawled": 12,
    "new_archives": 11,
    "errors": 0
  }
}

✅ Verification: All webhook payloads are signed with your webhook key (sk_wh_...). Use the X-Signature header to verify authenticity before processing.

📃 Pagination

All list endpoints support cursor-based pagination. Use the page and per_page parameters to navigate results.

Usage Example

# Page 1 — 50 results per page
GET /v2/search?q=webmaster?page=1&per_page=50

# Page 2 — next set of 50 results
GET /v2/search?q=webmaster?page=2&per_page=50  

# Page 100 — maximum page
GET /v2/search?q=webmaster?page=100&per_page=50

💡 Use the pagination object in every response to track your position. The total_pages field tells you the maximum page number available for the query.

Start Using the API Today

Get your API key and start archiving. Free tier includes 1,000 requests per month.

Get API Key → Read Full Docs

API /api-access

🔑 Authentication

Key Types

🌐 Base URL

🔍 Search

Query Parameters

Response

📄 Retrieve Page

📅 Search by Era

📚 Collections

🖼️ Media

🏷️ Metadata

📸 Snapshots

🕷️ Crawl

⏱️ Rate Limits

⚡ Error Handling

📦 SDKs & Client Libraries

🔔 Webhooks

Available Events

📃 Pagination

Start Using the API Today

API `/api-access`