/wayback/snapshots/search

POST /api/wayback/snapshots/search

Price: 1 credit

Search the Wayback Machine for all archived captures of a URL, host, or domain

How to use it

Search the Wayback Machine (Internet Archive) for the full capture history of a URL. Returns each archived snapshot with its capture timestamp, original URL, MIME type, HTTP status code, content digest, byte length, and a ready-to-open archive URL. Use `match_type` to widen the scope: `exact` for one URL, `prefix` for all paths under it, `host` for a whole host, or `domain` to include every subdomain. Filter by date range, HTTP status, or MIME type, and use `collapse` to deduplicate (e.g. one capture per day, or only when the content changed). The backbone tool for tracking how a page or site changed over time. A URL with no captures returns an empty list.

Parameters

• access-token string required

Request body

• timeout integer — Max scrapping execution timeout (in seconds) (default: 300; min: 20; max: 1500)
• url string required — Target URL, host, or domain to search archived captures for. The form depends on `match_type` (a bare domain, a host, or a full URL with path). (examples: "cnn.com", "example.com/about", "https://github.com"; minLength: 1)
• count integer required — Max number of captures to return (min: 1)
• match_type string — How to match the URL: `exact` (this exact URL), `prefix` (all paths under it), `host` (all URLs on this host), `domain` (this host plus all subdomains). (default: "exact"; one of: "exact", "prefix", "host", "domain")
• from_date string nullable — Lower bound of the capture date range, as YYYYMMDD or YYYYMMDDHHMMSS
• to_date string nullable — Upper bound of the capture date range, as YYYYMMDD or YYYYMMDDHHMMSS
• status_code string nullable — Filter captures by HTTP status code. Supports a single code, a regex, or negation with a leading `!` (e.g. `200`, `30.`, `!200`). (examples: "200", "!200")
• mimetype string nullable — Filter captures by content MIME type. Supports a value, a regex, or negation with a leading `!`. (examples: "text/html", "application/pdf")
• collapse string — Collapse adjacent captures: `none` (all), `digest` (only when content changed), `urlkey` (unique URLs), `timestamp_day` (one per day), `timestamp_year` (one per year). (default: "none"; one of: "none", "digest", "urlkey", "timestamp_day", "timestamp_year")

Response

• @type string (default: "WaybackSnapshot")
• urlkey string nullable
• timestamp string nullable
• captured_at string nullable
• original_url string nullable
• mimetype string nullable
• status_code integer nullable
• digest string nullable
• length integer nullable
• archive_url string nullable

Errors

• 422 — The request body did not validate Check the fields against this schema. A URN with the wrong prefix is the most common cause.
• 408 — The request ran past its time limit Raise `timeout` in the request body, up to the maximum this endpoint documents. Lowering `count` or turning off the `with_*` flags also helps, because less work finishes sooner.
• 412 — The entity was not found, or a precondition failed Retrying will not help: either the entity does not exist, or the input points at a different one.
• 429 — Too many requests: a rate limit or a usage window is exhausted When the response carries an X-Retry-After header, wait that many seconds and retry: the same number is in the body as `detail.retry_after`, and the limit clears once that window passes. The message in the body names the limit that was hit.
• 500 — Something broke on our side Retrying will not help. If it keeps happening, send us the X-Request-ID from the response headers.
• 529 — Rate limit reached, or the endpoint is overloaded Wait at least 30 seconds, then retry.

Response headers

• X-Error — Error message text (present only on error)
• X-Request-ID — Unique request identifier
• X-Execution-Time — Execution time in seconds
• X-Result-Count — How many records the body carries. 0 means an empty result, which is a normal answer and not by itself an error. A non-zero count can come back together with X-Error when the failure happened partway through — read this header and X-Error independently.
• X-Total-Available-Results — How many records exist for this query, when the endpoint can say. On a `dry_run` request this is the answer and the body is empty. It saturates: the endpoint's documented maximum means 'at least that many', any smaller number is exact.
• X-Warning — Present when the request body carried keys this endpoint does not document. They were ignored, so any filter you meant to apply through them did not apply. Check the spelling against this schema and retry.
• X-Retry-After — Seconds to wait before retrying. Present only on 429.