# Wayback Machine Scraper — Archived URLs & Snapshot History (`forevertools/wayback-machine-snapshots`) Actor

List Internet Archive Wayback Machine captures for any URL (snapshot history with dates, status codes, content digests) or every archived URL of a domain (recover old pages, sitemaps, lost content). Official CDX API, date filters, one-per-year/month/day or only-when-changed.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/forevertools/wayback-machine-snapshots.md
- **Developed by:** [Forever Tools](https://apify.com/forevertools) (community)
- **Categories:** SEO tools, Developer tools
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

$0.50 / 1,000 archived capture listeds

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## Wayback Machine Scraper — Archived URLs & Snapshot History

List what the **Internet Archive's Wayback Machine** holds for any page or domain: one clean row per capture, with the date,
HTTP status, MIME type, content digest, size and ready-to-open snapshot links. The data comes from the official public
**CDX API** at web.archive.org. Nothing is scraped from live sites.

**Two modes:**

- **Snapshots:** the full capture history of each URL, e.g. every archived version of `example.com/pricing`. Thin it out
  to one capture per year, month or day, or keep only captures where the content changed.
- **URLs:** every archived URL under a domain, host or path prefix, e.g. every page `example.com` ever had. Use it to
  recover deleted pages, rebuild an old sitemap, find 404s worth redirecting after a migration, or research a
  competitor's old pricing and landing pages.

### Output (one row per capture or URL)

| Field | Example |
|---|---|
| input | `apify.com` |
| timestamp / capturedAt | `20070531101538` / `2007-05-31T10:15:38Z` |
| originalUrl | `http://www.apify.com:80/` |
| statusCode | `200` (null for revisit records) |
| mimeType | `text/html` |
| digest | SHA-1 of the archived content. Identical digest = identical page |
| lengthBytes | compressed size in the archive |
| snapshotUrl | `https://web.archive.org/web/20070531101538/http://www.apify.com:80/` |
| rawContentUrl | the original bytes without the Wayback toolbar (`id_` URL) |

Inputs with no captures, or invalid input, return a single `error` row and are **not charged**.

### Filters

- **From / To date:** `YYYY`, `YYYYMM` or `YYYYMMDD`.
- **Only HTTP 200:** drop redirects and error captures.
- **One capture per year/month/day**, or **only when content changed** (collapses identical digests). Snapshots mode only.
- **Max rows per input:** a hard cap, so you never pay for more than you asked for.

### Pricing

Pay per event: **$0.50 per 1,000 rows** (one row = one capture or one archived URL), plus Apify platform usage. Error rows
are free. Set "Max rows per input" to cap the cost of big domains.

### Notes and limits

- The Internet Archive rate-limits its CDX server. The actor runs requests one at a time and backs off on HTTP 429 and
  5xx errors, so large domains take a while. Very large domains (millions of URLs) are best narrowed with a prefix or a
  date range.
- The actor only lists archive records. Open `snapshotUrl` or `rawContentUrl` to fetch the page itself.
- Not affiliated with the Internet Archive. Please consider [donating to them](https://archive.org/donate) if this data
  is useful to you.
- Built and maintained with AI assistance. Report problems in the Issues tab and they get fixed.

# Actor input Schema

## `urls` (type: `array`):

Pages (example.com/pricing) or domains (example.com). One row per archived capture (snapshots mode) or per archived URL (urls mode). Duplicates are removed. Invalid input or no captures returns an `error` row that is not charged.

## `mode` (type: `string`):

What to list.

## `matchType` (type: `string`):

How far to expand each input in urls mode.

## `from` (type: `string`):

Optional. YYYY, YYYYMM or YYYYMMDD (e.g. 2019 or 20190131).

## `to` (type: `string`):

Optional. YYYY, YYYYMM or YYYYMMDD.

## `onlyStatus200` (type: `boolean`):

Skip redirects and error pages.

## `collapse` (type: `string`):

Thin out long histories. 'Only when content changed' drops identical consecutive captures.

## `maxResultsPerUrl` (type: `integer`):

Cap per URL/domain. You pay only for rows returned.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "urls": [
    "apify.com"
  ],
  "mode": "snapshots",
  "matchType": "domain",
  "from": "",
  "to": "",
  "onlyStatus200": false,
  "collapse": "none",
  "maxResultsPerUrl": 1000
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

No description

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "urls": [
        "apify.com"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("forevertools/wayback-machine-snapshots").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = { "urls": ["apify.com"] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("forevertools/wayback-machine-snapshots").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "urls": [
    "apify.com"
  ]
}' |
apify call forevertools/wayback-machine-snapshots --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,forevertools/wayback-machine-snapshots"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/gnczXppbfe3JW3QHO/builds/y9BmyGA0f4eIhYLCU/openapi.json