canonical: https://jentic.com/apis/archive.org/archive-wayback

# Archive Wayback API

The Internet Archive Wayback Machine API exposes the canonical lookup that determines whether a given URL has an archived snapshot and, if so, returns the closest available capture. The API offers two endpoints - a GET and a POST variant of the availability lookup - so callers can either pass the URL as a query parameter or send a batched request body. It is the same backbone that powers archive.org/wayback/available and is widely used in citation tooling, dead-link recovery, and journalism workflows.

## For AI agents

Look up whether the Wayback Machine has an archived snapshot of a URL and return the closest capture timestamp.

## Scope

Does not handle submitting pages to be archived, full-text content download, or catalogue search - use for archived snapshot availability lookups only.

## Capabilities

- Check whether a specific URL has an archived snapshot in the Wayback Machine
- Find the snapshot closest to a target timestamp for a URL
- Recover a working Wayback URL for a now-dead source link
- Batch-check several URLs in a single POST request
- Build a citation footnote that points to a stable archived version

## Use cases

### Dead-Link Recovery for Citations

When a research or journalism tool encounters a dead URL, query the Wayback Machine to find the closest archived snapshot and substitute that as the citation. Publishing platforms use this to keep historical links alive when the source goes offline. The /wayback/v1/available endpoint returns the closest snapshot URL and timestamp for a given input.

Example prompt: Call GET /wayback/v1/available with the dead URL and return the archived snapshot URL plus its capture timestamp.

### Edit-History Verification

Confirm whether a news article or page was archived before a known edit so editors can compare versions. Fact-checking workflows use this to surface the pre-edit copy as evidence. By passing a target timestamp, the same /wayback/v1/available endpoint returns the snapshot closest to that moment.

Example prompt: Call GET /wayback/v1/available with the article URL and a target timestamp, then return the closest snapshot URL for review.

### Bulk Archive Availability Checks

Verify that a list of URLs all have archived snapshots before publishing or distributing a curated link list. Curation platforms use the POST variant to batch checks in fewer round-trips. POST /wayback/v1/available accepts multiple URLs in a single request body.

Example prompt: Call POST /wayback/v1/available with the full URL list, then return the array of snapshot results aligned to the input order.

### AI Agent Citation Recovery via Jentic

An agent that drafts research notes or articles can call the Wayback Machine through Jentic to swap in archived URLs whenever a source goes dead. The agent searches for the availability operation, loads the schema, and executes the lookup as a regular tool call. Because the API is open, Jentic adds discovery rather than credential isolation.

Example prompt: Use Jentic search 'find an archived snapshot of a URL', load the schema for GET /wayback/v1/available, then execute with the dead URL and return the snapshot URL.

## Key endpoints

| Method | Path | Description |
| --- | --- | --- |
| GET | /wayback/v1/available | Look up the closest archived snapshot for a URL |
| POST | /wayback/v1/available | Batch availability lookup for multiple URLs |

## Key resources

- **Availability** — Look up whether a URL has an archived snapshot and fetch the closest capture URL and timestamp

## Why Jentic

- **Setup:** Wiring the Wayback availability API by hand means learning its snapshot-lookup parameters and handling both the GET and POST variants yourself. These endpoints are open, so through Jentic you install once, import the Wayback API from the API Directory, and your agent calls it without managing any credential.
- **Permission scoping:** The Wayback operations are open reads that carry the URL to check in request parameters, so you limit the agent to the availability-lookup operations it needs. You choose the operations it may call, so the agent only runs the snapshot lookups you have added.
- **Credential handling:** The Wayback availability endpoints are open, so there is no credential to store: your own Jentic One instance runs the operations without injecting any secret into the agent's prompt, logs, or context.
- **Discovery method:** Agents search Jentic by intent such as 'find an archived snapshot of a URL', and Jentic returns the matching Wayback operation with its input schema so the agent calls the right endpoint without browsing docs.

## Related APIs

- **Internet Archive Search Services** — Sister API on archive.org for searching the catalogue of archived items rather than looking up web snapshots.
- **ArchiveBox API** — Self-hosted web archiver that captures and serves snapshots from your own infrastructure.
- **NASA APOD API** — Public open-data API often combined with Wayback in research and educational pipelines.

## FAQ

### What authentication does the Wayback Machine API use?

The availability endpoints are open and do not require authentication. Anyone can call GET or POST /wayback/v1/available to look up whether a URL is archived.

### Can I find the snapshot closest to a specific date?

Yes. GET /wayback/v1/available accepts a timestamp parameter; the response returns the snapshot whose capture time is closest to that timestamp. This is how editors recover the version of a page that existed at a specific moment.

### Can I check many URLs in one call?

Yes. POST /wayback/v1/available accepts multiple URLs in a single request body and returns an array of availability results, which is more efficient than issuing one GET per URL.

### What are the rate limits for the Wayback API?

The Internet Archive applies fair-use throttling but does not publish a fixed quota in the OpenAPI spec. For sustained workloads above a few requests per second, expect occasional throttling - back off and retry on a 429 response.

### Does this API tell me whether the page can be archived?

No. These endpoints only report whether an archive already exists. Submitting a URL to be archived is a different Wayback Machine endpoint not covered by this OpenAPI spec - use the Save Page Now interface for that.

### How do I look up an archived snapshot through Jentic?

Install Jentic with pip install jentic, search for 'find an archived snapshot of a URL', load the schema for GET /wayback/v1/available, then execute with the URL. Jentic returns the snapshot URL and timestamp.

### Can I limit what my agent is allowed to do with the Wayback API?

Yes. Jentic One runs self-hosted on your own infrastructure, so your rules decide which operations the agent may call. Because the Wayback availability endpoints are open reads, you can restrict the agent to just the snapshot-lookup operations it needs, such as GET /wayback/v1/available or the batch POST /wayback/v1/available. The agent only runs the lookups you have added, and it never gains access to any operation you have not enabled.