1990 Web Archive

🔑 Authentication

The 1990 Web Archive API uses Bearer token authentication. Include your API key in the Authorization header of every request.

http

Authorization: Bearer sk_live_1990a2b3c4d5e6f7g8h9i0j1
Content-Type: application/json
X-Archive-Source: github-bot
                    

⚠️ Keep your API keys secure. Never expose them in client-side code or public repositories. Use environment variables in production.

Auth Method

Method	Header	Description
Bearer Token	Authorization	Bearer token prefixed with Bearer
API Key	X-API-Key	Alternative header-based authentication

🔐 API Keys

Manage your API keys from the Developer Dashboard. Each key has an associated tier that determines rate limits and access levels.

Key Prefix	Environment	Purpose
sk_live_	Production	Live archive access with full crawl permissions
sk_test_	Sandbox	Read-only access to sample data for testing
sk_restricted_	Scoped	Limited access to specific archive collections

⏱️ Rate Limiting

API requests are rate limited based on your plan tier. Limits are tracked per API key and reset at the top of each time window.

📊 Rate Limit Tiers

Free: 100 requests / hour — read-only access
Pro: 5,000 requests / hour — full read access + indexing
Enterprise: 50,000 requests / hour — unlimited indexing + webhooks

Response Headers

Every API response includes rate limit headers:

headers

X-RateLimit-Limit: 5000
X-RateLimit-Remaining: 4973
X-RateLimit-Reset: 1704067200
X-RateLimit-Window: 3600
                    

ℹ️ When rate limit is exceeded, the API returns HTTP 429 Too Many Requests. Implement exponential backoff in your retry logic.

📌 API Versioning

The current API version is v1, embedded in the base URL. We maintain backward compatibility within major versions.

                        http
                        
// Current stable version
https://api.1990webarchive.com/v1//pages/search

// Version pinned to a specific release
https://api.1990webarchive.com/v1.2//pages/search

🔍 Search Pages

GET /pages/search Search the archived web for pages matching your query. Supports full-text search with era-specific filters.

Query Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
q	string	Yes	Search query. Supports boolean operators AND, OR, NOT.
start_year	integer	No	Inclusive start year. Default: 1990. Max: 1999.
end_year	integer	No	Inclusive end year. Default: 1999. Min: 1990.
site	string	No	Filter by domain (e.g., geocities.com, angelfire.com).
technology	string	No	Filter by tech stack: frames, table-layout, javascript, java.
page	integer	No	Page number for pagination. Default: 1.
per_page	integer	No	Results per page (1–100). Default: 20.
sort	string	No	Sort by: relevance, date_desc, date_asc. Default: relevance.

Example Request

http

GET /v1/pages/search?q=personal+homepage&start_year=1995&site=geocities.com&page=1&per_page=10
                    

Example Response

200 OK

json

{
  "status": "success",
  "meta": {
    "total_results": 42847,
    "page": 1,
    "per_page": 10,
    "total_pages": 4285,
    "search_time_ms": 127
  },
  "data": [
    {
      "id": "arc_gtc_00482195",
      "url": "http://geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Club/6285/",
      "snapshot_url": "https://archive.1990webarchive.com/v1/pages/arc_gtc_00482195/view",
      "snapshot_date": "1995-08-12T00:00:00Z",
      "title": "Welcome to My Homepage!!!",
      "site": "geocities.com",
      "technologies": ["frames", "table-layout", "animated-gifs"],
      "word_count": 1247,
      "image_count": 23
    }
  ]
}
                    

📄 Retrieve Archived Page

GET /pages/:archive_id Retrieve the full metadata and content of a specific archived page.

Path Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
archive_id	string	Yes	The unique archive identifier (e.g., arc_gtc_00482195)

Query Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
format	string	No	Output format: json, html, html-raw, pdf. Default: json.
render_assets	boolean	No	Include base64-encoded images. Default: false.
embed_midi	boolean	No	Include embedded MIDI audio tracks. Default: true.

Example Request

http

/v1/pages/arc_gtc_00482195?format=json&render_assets=true

Example Response

200 OK

json

{
  "status": "success",
  "data": {
    "id": "arc_gtc_00482195",
    "original_url": "http://geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Club/6285/",
    "snapshot_date": "1995-08-12T00:00:00Z",
    "title": "Welcome to My Homepage!!!",
    "html_content": "<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC '-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN'>...",
    "content_length": 12847,
    "mime_type": "text/html",
    "technologies": ["frames", "table-layout", "animated-gifs", "marquee"],
    "meta_tags": {
      "keywords": "homepage, personal, welcome, guestbook",
      "description": "Welcome to my awesome homepage!!",
      "generator": "Microsoft FrontPage 3.0"
    },
    "images": [
      {
        "src": "http://geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Club/6285/images/counter.gif",
        "width": 88,
        "height": 31,
        "type": "animated-gif",
        "base64": "data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlh..."
      }
    ],
    "linked_pages": [
      "http://geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Club/6285/guestbook.html",
      "http://geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Club/6285/links.html"
    ],
    "verification": {
      "sha256": "a3f2b8c9d1e4f5a6b7c8d9e0f1a2b3c4...",
      "verified": true,
      "integrity_hash": "blake3:7x9k2m4p6q8r..."
    }
  }
}
                    

🌐 Index URL

POST /pages/index Submit a URL for archival. The archive will crawl and store the page content at the specified timestamp.

Request Body

json

{
  "url": "http://www.example.com/page.html",
  "timestamp": "1996-03-15T12:00:00Z",
  "crawl_options": {
    "follow_frames": true,
    "capture_images": true,
    "capture_stylesheets": true,
    "screenshot": true,
    "screenshot_format": "png"
  },
  "tags": ["personal", "1996", "example"]
}
                    

Example Response

202 Accepted

json

{
  "status": "accepted",
  "data": {
    "job_id": "job_idx_1990_abc123",
    "status": "queued",
    "estimated_completion": "1996-03-15T12:05:00Z",
    "webhook_url": "https://api.1990webarchive.com/v1/jobs/job_idx_1990_abc123"
  }
}
                    

📦 Batch Index

POST /pages/batch-index Submit up to 1,000 URLs for simultaneous archival in a single request.

Request Body

json

{
  "urls": [
    {
      "url": "http://geocities.com/Area51/Cavern/2937/",
      "timestamp": "1997-06-20T00:00:00Z",
      "tags": ["geocities", "1997"]
    },
    {
      "url": "http://angelfire.com/flame/pets/index.html",
      "timestamp": "1998-01-10T00:00:00Z",
      "tags": ["angelfire", "1998"]
    }
  ],
  "crawl_options": {
    "parallel_workers": 5
  }
}
                    

⚠️ Batch requests are limited to 1,000 URLs per request. Enterprise plans support up to 10,000 URLs.

📁 Create Archive Collection

POST /archives Create a named archive collection to group related pages for organization and bulk operations.

Request Body

json

{
  "name": "GeoCities SunsetStrip Collection",
  "description": "Archived personal homepages from the SunsetStrip area of GeoCities, 1995-1997",
  "source_ids": [
    "arc_gtc_00482195",
    "arc_gtc_00591234",
    "arc_gtc_00678901"
  ],
  "access": "public"
}
                    

Example Response

201 Created

json

{
  "status": "success",
  "data": {
    "id": "arc_col_1990_xyz789",
    "name": "GeoCities SunsetStrip Collection",
    "page_count": 3,
    "access": "public",
    "created_at": "2024-01-15T10:30:00Z",
    "public_url": "https://archive.1990webarchive.com/collections/arc_col_1990_xyz789"
  }
}
                    

📚 List Archives

GET /archives Retrieve a paginated list of archive collections owned by your account.

Query Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
page	integer	No	Page number. Default: 1.
per_page	integer	No	Results per page (1–100). Default: 20.
sort	string	No	Sort by: created_at, name, page_count.

Example Response

200 OK

json

{
  "status": "success",
  "meta": {
    "total": 12,
    "page": 1,
    "per_page": 20
  },
  "data": [
    {
      "id": "arc_col_1990_xyz789",
      "name": "GeoCities SunsetStrip Collection",
      "page_count": 1847,
      "created_at": "2024-01-15T10:30:00Z",
      "access": "public"
    }
  ]
}
                    

🗑️ Delete Archive

DELETE /archives/:archive_id Permanently delete an archive collection. This action cannot be undone.

🚨 DANGER: Deleting an archive permanently removes all references and breaks public sharing links. Consider creating a "deleted" status archive instead.

Example Response

200 OK

json

{
  "status": "success",
  "data": {
    "message": "Archive arc_col_1990_xyz789 has been permanently deleted.",
    "pages_removed": 1847
  }
}
                    

📸 Create Snapshot

POST /snapshots Create a visual snapshot (screenshot) of an archived page as it would appear in a 1990s browser.

Request Body

json

{
  "archive_id": "arc_gtc_00482195",
  "browser_emulation": "netscape-4.7",
  "display_mode": "1024x768",
  "format": "png",
  "render_javascript": true,
  "embed_plugins": true
}
                    

Example Response

201 Created

json

{
  "status": "success",
  "data": {
    "snapshot_id": "snap_1990_abc456",
    "screenshot_url": "https://archive.1990webarchive.com/snapshots/snap_1990_abc456.png",
    "width": 1024,
    "height": 768,
    "file_size": 2847291,
    "browser": "Netscape Navigator 4.7"
  }
}
                    

🔄 Compare Snapshots

GET /snapshots/compare Compare two archived snapshots of the same page from different dates and visualize differences.

Query Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
page_id	string	Yes	The archive page ID to compare.
snapshot_1	string	Yes	First snapshot ID.
snapshot_2	string	Yes	Second snapshot ID.
diff_type	string	No	Diff method: html, visual, both. Default: both.

Example Response

200 OK

json

{
  "status": "success",
  "data": {
    "page_id": "arc_gtc_00482195",
    "snapshots": {
      "snapshot_1": {
        "id": "snap_1990_abc456",
        "date": "1995-08-12"
      },
      "snapshot_2": {
        "id": "snap_1990_def789",
        "date": "1997-03-22"
      }
    },
    "diff": {
      "html_lines_added": 47,
      "html_lines_removed": 12,
      "new_images": 5,
      "removed_images": 2,
      "visual_diff_url": "https://archive.1990webarchive.com/diffs/arc_gtc_00482195.png"
    }
  }
}
                    

📊 Archive Analytics

GET /analytics/:archive_id Retrieve usage analytics and access statistics for your archive collections.

Query Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
start_date	string	No	ISO 8601 date. Default: 30 days ago.
end_date	string	No	ISO 8601 date. Default: today.
granularity	string	No	Data granularity: day, week, month. Default: day.

Example Response

200 OK

json

{
  "status": "success",
  "data": {
    "total_requests": 12847,
    "unique_visitors": 3291,
    "top_pages": [
      {
        "page_id": "arc_gtc_00482195",
        "title": "Welcome to My Homepage!!!",
        "views": 2847
      }
    ],
    "top_referrers": [
      {
        "source": "google.com",
        "count": 4521
      }
    ],
    "daily_timeline": [
      {"date": "2024-01-01", "requests": 412},
      {"date": "2024-01-02", "requests": 389},
      {"date": "2024-01-03", "requests": 445}
    ]
  }
}
                    

🔔 Webhooks

Configure webhook endpoints to receive real-time notifications for archive events. Enterprise plans support up to 10 webhook endpoints.

Create Webhook Endpoint

http

POST /webhooks
Authorization: Bearer sk_live_...
Content-Type: application/json

// Body
{
  "url": "https://your-server.com/webhooks/archive-events",
  "events": ["archive.completed", "archive.failed", "batch.done"],
  "secret": "whsec_your_webhook_secret_1990"
}
                    

ℹ️ Webhook payloads are signed with HMAC-SHA256. Verify the signature using the X-Webhook-Signature header and your configured secret.

Supported Events

archive.indexed

Triggered when a page has been successfully archived and indexed. Payload includes the archive ID and crawl metadata.

archive.failed

Triggered when archival fails (404, timeout, blocked). Payload includes the error code and retry status.

batch.completed

Triggered when a batch indexing job is complete. Payload includes per-URL results and aggregate stats.

snapshot.ready

Triggered when a visual snapshot has been generated. Payload includes the screenshot URL and dimensions.

archive.deleted

Triggered when an archive collection is permanently deleted.

⚡ Error Codes

The API uses standard HTTP status codes and returns structured error responses in JSON format.

json

// Standard Error Response
{
  "status": "error",
  "error": {
    "code": "page_not_found",
    "message": "The requested archive page could not be found.",
    "doc_url": "https://docs.1990webarchive.com/errors/page_not_found"
  }
}
                    

All Error Codes

HTTP Status	Error Code	Description
400	invalid_request	Malformed request body or missing required parameters
401	unauthorized	Invalid or expired API key
403	forbidden	Insufficient permissions for the requested resource
404	page_not_found	Archive page or collection not found
409	already_indexed	URL is already in the archive at the requested timestamp
422	crawl_failed	Unable to reach the target URL for crawling
429	rate_limited	Too many requests — check X-RateLimit headers
500	internal_error	Server error — please retry and contact support if persistent
503	service_unavailable	API maintenance in progress

📦 SDKs & Libraries

Official SDKs are available for popular languages. All SDKs are open source on GitHub.

Language	Package	GitHub
JavaScript / Node.js	`1990webarchive`	github.com/1990webarchive/js-sdk
Python	`pip install 1990webarchive`	github.com/1990webarchive/py-sdk
Ruby	`gem install 1990webarchive`	github.com/1990webarchive/rb-sdk
Go	`go get github.com/1990webarchive/go-sdk`	github.com/1990webarchive/go-sdk
Rust	`1990webarchive = "0.3"`	github.com/1990webarchive/rs-sdk

Quick Start — JavaScript

javascript

import { WebArchive } from '1990webarchive';

const archive = new WebArchive({
  apiKey: process.env.ARCHIVE_API_KEY
});

// Search archived pages
const results = await archive.pages.search({
  q: 'personal homepage',
  start_year: 1995,
  per_page: 10
});

console.log(`Found ${results.meta.total_results} pages`);

// Retrieve a specific page
const page = await archive.pages.retrieve('arc_gtc_00482195');
console.log(page.data.title); // "Welcome to My Homepage!!!"
                    

Quick Start — Python

python

from 1990webarchive import WebArchive

archive = WebArchive(api_key="sk_live_1990a2b3c4d5e6f7")

# Search archived pages
results = archive.pages.search(
    q="personal homepage",
    start_year=1995,
    per_page=10
)

print(f"Found {results['meta']['total_results']} pages")

# Retrieve a specific page
page = archive.pages.retrieve("arc_gtc_00482195")
print(page["data"]["title"])  # "Welcome to My Homepage!!!"
                    

REST API Documentation

🔑 Authentication

Auth Method

🔐 API Keys

⏱️ Rate Limiting

📊 Rate Limit Tiers

Response Headers

📌 API Versioning

🔍 Search Pages

Query Parameters

Example Request

Example Response

📄 Retrieve Archived Page

Path Parameters

Query Parameters

Example Request

Example Response

🌐 Index URL

Request Body

Example Response

📦 Batch Index

Request Body

📁 Create Archive Collection

Request Body

Example Response

📚 List Archives

Query Parameters

Example Response

🗑️ Delete Archive

Example Response

📸 Create Snapshot

Request Body

Example Response

🔄 Compare Snapshots

Query Parameters

Example Response

📊 Archive Analytics

Query Parameters

Example Response

🔔 Webhooks

Create Webhook Endpoint

Supported Events

⚡ Error Codes

All Error Codes

📦 SDKs & Libraries

Quick Start — JavaScript

Quick Start — Python