Archive Wayback API
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For Agents
Look up whether the Wayback Machine has an archived snapshot of a URL and return the closest capture timestamp.
Use for: Check whether the Wayback Machine has a snapshot of a URL, Find the closest archived version of a dead link, Get the Wayback URL for a citation, I need to confirm whether an article was archived before it was edited
Not supported: Does not handle submitting pages to be archived, full-text content download, or catalogue search — use for archived snapshot availability lookups only.
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.
Install Jentic One Beta
Connect the Wayback API to your agent
Jentic One is a self-hosted execution layer for AI agents. It lets your agent call the Wayback API, or any other public or private API you need. You set the rules, the agent never sees your credentials, and every call is logged.
Two steps, two machines. Install the instance in a safe environment, then register your agent from wherever it runs.
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Step 1: Jentic One Host machine
# On the machine that will host your Jentic One instance:
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jentic/jentic-one/main/tools/install.sh | sh2
Step 2: Agent machine
# On the machine where your agent runs (keep this separate from the instance):
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jentic/jentic-one/main/tools/install.sh | sh
jentic register # connects your agent to your Jentic One instanceJentic One is in public beta. The setup above keeps your agent separate from the instance, which is what you want before using real credentials: an agent running as the same OS user as Jentic One can read its stored keys directly. Just evaluating? A single local install is fine to start. See the secure deployment guide for the tiers.
Capabilities
What an agent can do with Wayback API.
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
Patterns agents use Wayback API for, with concrete tasks.
★ 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.
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.
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.
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.
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
2 endpoints — 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.
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
GET
/wayback/v1/available
Look up the closest archived snapshot for a URL
POST
/wayback/v1/available
Batch availability lookup for multiple URLs
Why Jentic?
Three things that make agents converge on Jentic-routed access.
Credential isolation
The Wayback availability endpoints are open, so Jentic does not need to inject credentials. Jentic exposes the operations through intent search rather than isolating secrets.
Intent-based discovery
Agents search by intent (e.g. 'find an archived snapshot of a URL') and Jentic returns matching Wayback operations with their input schemas, so the agent can call the right endpoint without browsing docs.
Time to first call
Direct integration: an hour or two to handle the response shape and timestamp parameter. Through Jentic: under 15 minutes — search, load schema, execute.
Related APIs
Alternatives and complements available in the Jentic catalogue.
FAQs
Specific to using Wayback API through Jentic.
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.
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