Quickstart Guide

v1.4.2

Learn how to authenticate, retrieve archived webpages, and integrate the 1990 Web Archive API into your application in under 5 minutes.

ℹ️ Note for Legacy Systems

This documentation assumes HTTPS/TLS 1.2+. If you're integrating with pre-1999 infrastructure, refer to our Protocol Bridging Guide.

Prerequisites

An active API key from the developer dashboard
Node.js 18+ or any HTTP client supporting JSON payloads
Basic understanding of RESTful API architecture

Authentication

All API requests require authentication via Bearer token. Include your API key in the Authorization header:

GET /v1/archive/retrieve HTTP/1.1
Host: api.1990webarchive.com
Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY
Accept: application/json

⚠️ Security Warning

Never expose your API keys in client-side code or public repositories. Use environment variables or secret managers.

Retrieving Archived Pages

The core endpoint for fetching historical web content. You can query by URL, timestamp, or archive ID.

Basic Request

const response = await fetch('https://api.1990webarchive.com/v1/archive/retrieve', {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: {
    'Content-Type': 'application/json',
    'Authorization': `Bearer ${API_KEY}`
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    url: 'https://www.geocities.com/Area51/CyberZone/2424',
    timestamp: '1998-11-04T14:30:00Z',
    format: 'mhtml' // 'html', 'warc', or 'mhtml'
  })
});

const archive = await response.json();
console.log(archive.content);

Response Format

Field	Type	Description
`id`	string	Unique archive identifier
`original_url`	string	The source URL captured
`capture_date`	string	ISO 8601 timestamp of preservation
`content`	string	Base64-encoded archive payload
`metadata`	object	HTTP headers, MIME type, checksums

Advanced Search

Query the index using era-specific filters, technology tags, or visual style descriptors.

const results = await fetch('https://api.1990webarchive.com/v1/archive/search', {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: { 'Authorization': `Bearer ${API_KEY}` },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    query: 'guestbook webring',
    filters: {
      era: '1996-1999',
      technologies: ['html_tables', 'mid_background', 'hit_counter'],
      min_quality: 0.8
    },
    limit: 20
  })
});

💡 Pro Tip

Use the render_preview=true parameter to get a base64 PNG snapshot of how the page appeared in Netscape Navigator 3.0.

Rate Limits

API access is tiered based on your subscription plan:

Plan	Requests/min	Daily Quota	Max Payload
Free	15	500	2 MB
Researcher	100	10,000	50 MB
Enterprise	500	Unlimited	500 MB

Exceeding limits returns 429 Too Many Requests with a Retry-After header.

Next Steps

Explore Authentication Methods for OAuth2 and API key rotation
Read the WARC Format Specification for offline archival
Join our Developer Discord for community support

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