canonical: https://jentic.com/apis/archivebox.io/archivebox # ArchiveBox API Jentic publishes the only available OpenAPI specification for ArchiveBox API, keeping it validated and agent-ready. ArchiveBox is a self-hosted web archiving system that lets teams capture, search, and replay snapshots of web pages on infrastructure they control. The v1 ALPHA REST API exposes 35 endpoints covering snapshots, archive results, tags, crawls, CLI commands, and machine binary information. Authentication supports both bearer tokens and a cookie-based session for human users. ## For AI agents Capture, list, and manage web archive snapshots on a self-hosted ArchiveBox instance, plus drive crawls and CLI operations. ## Scope Does not handle hosted public archive lookups, content moderation, or external CDN delivery - use for self-hosted snapshot capture and management only. ## Capabilities - Capture a new snapshot of a URL into an ArchiveBox instance - List and filter the snapshot catalogue across the archive - Update or delete an existing snapshot record - Read individual archive results (e.g. WARC, screenshot, PDF) for a snapshot - Tag snapshots and query the archive by tag - Drive crawls and execute archived CLI commands programmatically - Inspect machine and binary metadata for the archiving worker ## Use cases ### Self-Hosted Web Archive for Compliance Capture and retain full-fidelity snapshots of customer-facing pages under the team's control rather than relying on a third-party archive. Compliance and legal teams use ArchiveBox to keep WARC, screenshot, and PDF copies of pages on their own infrastructure. POST /core/snapshots queues a new capture and the resulting archive results endpoints expose the captured artefacts. Example prompt: Call POST /core/snapshots with the target URL, then poll GET /core/snapshot/{snapshot_id} until the snapshot status is complete and return the artefact URLs. ### Tag-Based Research Collections Build curated research collections by tagging snapshots and querying the archive by tag. Researchers and journalists use this to group sources for a story or investigation without leaving the archive. The /core/tags endpoint exposes the tag taxonomy and tag-filter queries on snapshots return the matching subset. Example prompt: Call GET /core/tags to confirm the tag exists, then list snapshots filtered by that tag and return the snapshot IDs. ### Snapshot Maintenance and Cleanup Periodically prune outdated or duplicate snapshots to keep an ArchiveBox instance manageable. Operations teams use the update and delete endpoints to expire snapshots that are no longer relevant or to correct metadata after the fact. PATCH and DELETE on /core/snapshot/{snapshot_id} drive these workflows. Example prompt: List snapshots older than a target date via GET /core/snapshots, then call DELETE /core/snapshot/{snapshot_id} for each ID returned. ### AI Agent Web Archiving via Jentic An agent that captures evidence or research pages on behalf of a user can call ArchiveBox through Jentic to queue snapshots without managing the bearer token directly. The agent searches for the snapshot operation, loads the schema, and executes the create-snapshot call. Jentic resolves the bearer token from its credential vault. Example prompt: Use Jentic search 'archive a web page in ArchiveBox', load the schema for POST /core/snapshots, then execute with the target URL and return the new snapshot ID. ## Key endpoints | Method | Path | Description | | --- | --- | --- | | GET | /core/snapshots | List all snapshots | | POST | /core/snapshots | Create a new snapshot | | GET | /core/snapshot/{snapshot_id} | Get a snapshot by ID | | PATCH | /core/snapshot/{snapshot_id} | Update a snapshot | | DELETE | /core/snapshot/{snapshot_id} | Delete a snapshot | | GET | /core/archiveresults | List archive result artefacts | | GET | /core/tags | List tags applied across the archive | ## Key resources - **Snapshots** — Capture, list, update, and delete archived snapshots of web pages - **Archive Results** — Read individual artefacts (WARC, screenshot, PDF) attached to a snapshot - **Tags** — Tag snapshots and query the archive by tag - **Crawls** — Drive crawls from seed URLs into the archive - **CLI** — Run ArchiveBox CLI commands programmatically against the instance - **Machine** — Inspect machine and binary metadata for the archiving worker ## Why Jentic - **Setup:** Wiring ArchiveBox by hand means learning its bearer and API-key auth, pointing at your self-hosted server URL, and threading snapshot ids through its paths yourself. Through Jentic you install once, import the ArchiveBox API from the API Directory, store the token once, and your agent calls it. - **Permission scoping:** ArchiveBox puts the snapshot id in the URL path (/core/snapshot/{snapshot_id}), so a rule can pin your agent to reading and updating specific snapshots. You choose the operations it may call, so destructive ones like deleting a snapshot are not included unless you add them. - **Credential handling:** Your ArchiveBox bearer token is stored once, encrypted, by your own Jentic One instance and injected as the Authorization header at execution time. It never enters the agent's prompt, logs, or context. - **Discovery method:** Agents search Jentic by intent such as 'archive a web page in ArchiveBox', and Jentic returns the matching ArchiveBox operation with its input schema so the agent calls the right endpoint without browsing docs. ## Related APIs - **Wayback Machine API** — Hosted public web archive - use when self-hosting is not required. - **Internet Archive Search Services** — Public catalogue search for archived items - useful alongside a private ArchiveBox for cross-corpus research. - **NASA APOD API** — Public open-data API often used in research pipelines that also archive supporting web pages with ArchiveBox. ## FAQ ### Why is there no official OpenAPI spec for ArchiveBox API? ArchiveBox does not publish an OpenAPI specification for its v1 ALPHA REST API. Jentic generates and maintains this spec so that AI agents and developers can call ArchiveBox API via structured tooling. It is validated against the live API and kept up to date. Get started with Jentic One, the self-hosted execution layer. ### What authentication does the ArchiveBox API use? ArchiveBox supports two schemes: a bearer token in the Authorization header for machine-to-machine calls and a cookie-based session for human admin users. Through Jentic, the bearer token is stored encrypted in the vault and never enters the agent's context. ### Can I create a new snapshot of a URL via the API? Yes. POST /core/snapshots with the target URL queues a new capture. Poll GET /core/snapshot/{snapshot_id} until the status indicates completion to retrieve the resulting WARC, screenshot, and PDF artefact URLs. ### How do I find all archive results for a snapshot? Call GET /core/archiveresults with a filter on the snapshot ID, or fetch GET /core/archiveresult/{archiveresult_id} for an individual artefact. The archive results endpoints expose each captured format separately. ### What are the rate limits for the ArchiveBox API? Because ArchiveBox is self-hosted, rate limits are determined by the deployment's own configuration rather than a vendor-imposed quota. The OpenAPI spec does not declare hard limits - the practical ceiling is the worker concurrency you configure on your instance. ### How do I archive a page through Jentic? Install Jentic with pip install jentic, search for 'archive a web page in ArchiveBox', load the schema for POST /core/snapshots, then execute with the URL. Jentic injects the bearer token automatically. ### Can I limit what my agent is allowed to do with the ArchiveBox API? Yes. Because you run Jentic One yourself, your own rules decide which ArchiveBox operations and credentials the agent may use. ArchiveBox puts the snapshot id in the URL path (/core/snapshot/{snapshot_id}), so you can pin the agent to reading and updating specific snapshots while keeping destructive operations like DELETE /core/snapshot/{snapshot_id} out of its reach unless you explicitly add them. You choose whether it can capture new snapshots, drive crawls, or run CLI commands, and the bearer token you store stays under your control.