Documentation & Guides

Master the 1990 Web Archive platform. Learn how to crawl, preserve, search, and programmatically access the earliest layers of the internet.

🚀 Quick Start: Your First Archive

5 min read

Follow these steps to archive a classic 90s webpage and render it exactly as it appeared in 1996.

  1. Install the Archive CLI

    Download the command-line interface for your operating system to interact directly with our preservation nodes.

    # macOS / Linux\ncurl -fsSL https://archive.1990web.dev/install | bash\n# Verify installation\n1990archive --version

  2. Authenticate & Configure

    Link your account and set your default rendering engine to Netscape Navigator 3.0 compatibility mode.

    1990archive login\n1990archive config set --renderer netscape30 --year 1996

  3. Crawl & Preserve

    Run a targeted crawl on a target URL. The system will recursively capture HTML, GIFs, MIDI, and table layouts.

    1990archive crawl --url http://example.homeip.net --depth 3 --preserve-assets

  4. Render & Verify

    Spin up a local viewer to inspect the archived snapshot before publishing it to the public timeline.

    1990archive view --id SNAP_8842A1 --open-browser

Getting Started

Beginner 3 min

Account & API Key Setup

Create your archival account, generate secure API keys, and configure rate limits for automated crawlers.

Updated: Oct 2024Read guide →
Beginner 4 min

Understanding the Dashboard

Navigate the main interface, view crawl status, monitor storage quotas, and manage your personal collection tags.

Updated: Sep 2024Read guide →
Beginner 6 min

CLI Installation & Basics

Step-by-step installation for Windows, macOS, and Linux. Learn essential commands for local archival workflows.

Updated: Nov 2024Read guide →

Crawling & Preservation

Intermediate 8 min

Advanced Crawling Strategies

Configure depth limits, handle framesets, bypass early web obfuscation, and manage large-scale GeoCity migrations.

Updated: Aug 2024Read guide →
Intermediate 7 min

Asset Recovery & Restoration

Techniques for recovering broken image links, restoring corrupted MIDI files, and reconstructing missing CSS/inline styles.

Updated: Oct 2024Read guide →
Advanced 12 min

Historical Rendering Engines

Deep dive into our emulated browser environments. Configure Netscape 3.0, IE4, and Mosaic for pixel-accurate reproduction.

Updated: Nov 2024Read guide →

Search & Exploration

Intermediate 5 min

Query Syntax & Filters

Master the search engine: boolean operators, date ranges, technology tags, and visual style filters.

Updated: Sep 2024Read guide →
Beginner 4 min

Curating Public Collections

Organize archived pages into shareable collections, add historical context, and embed timelines into your own projects.

Updated: Oct 2024Read guide →

Developer & API

Advanced 10 min

REST API Reference

Full documentation for programmatic access. Endpoints for crawling status, archive retrieval, and metadata bulk export.

Updated: Nov 2024Read guide →
Intermediate 6 min

Webhooks & Automation

Set up event-driven workflows, integrate with CI/CD pipelines, and trigger automated preservation tasks.

Updated: Aug 2024Read guide →