# Wayback Machine Extractor - Archive.org Downloader (`caulleonard/wayback-extractor`) Actor

Recover dead or deleted websites. Download HTML, files, and snapshot metadata from the Wayback Machine.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/caulleonard/wayback-extractor.md
- **Developed by:** [Fatih Şahinbaş](https://apify.com/caulleonard) (community)
- **Categories:** Developer tools, SEO tools
- **Features:** Limited permissions
- **Stats:** 71 total users, 13 monthly users, 89.5% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $0.50 / 1,000 results

This Actor is paid per event and usage. You are charged both the fixed price for specific events and for Apify platform usage.

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 Downloader — Recover Deleted Websites & Archive.org Data

**Download Wayback Machine snapshots, recover dead websites, and scrape archive.org history — HTML, files, and metadata — in one run.** This Wayback Machine downloader queries the official `web.archive.org` CDX API to list every archived capture of a domain, then optionally saves the raw historical HTML and files so you can restore, migrate, or analyze sites that no longer exist online.

Whether a site was shut down, a page was deleted, or you need the historical version of a competitor's store, this actor turns the Internet Archive into structured, downloadable data.

### What this actor does

- 🔎 **List every archived snapshot** of any URL or full domain from the Wayback Machine (archive.org).
- 📄 **Download historical HTML** exactly as it was captured, with the Wayback banner stripped (raw `id_` captures).
- 🗂️ **Extract archived files** — PDFs, images, and other assets — using MIME filters.
- 🕒 **Filter by date range** to grab a specific point in a website's history.
- 💾 **Structured output** — clean JSON metadata to the dataset, raw content to the Key-Value Store.

### Use cases

- **Dead website recovery** — the site is gone, but archive.org still has it. Pull the last working snapshot and rebuild.
- **Deleted page retrieval** — recover a single removed URL and its historical content.
- **Content migration** — export an old site's pages before decommissioning a legacy platform.
- **Competitor & market research** — inspect how a competitor's website, pricing, or messaging looked in past years.
- **Digital archiving & compliance** — capture a verifiable historical record of any public web page.
- **SEO & link recovery** — find old URLs and content that used to rank.

### Input

| Field | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| `targetUrl` | string | Site or page to recover, e.g. `example.com`. **Required.** |
| `mode` | select | `single_page`, `full_site` (domain crawl), `files_only`, or `snapshot_list` (metadata only). |
| `fromDate` | string | Start date `YYYYMMDD` (optional). |
| `toDate` | string | End date `YYYYMMDD` (optional). |
| `mimeFilter` | array | Keep only matching MIME types, e.g. `application/pdf`, `image/`. |
| `only200` | boolean | Skip non-200 captures (redirects, errors). Default `true`. |
| `limit` | integer | Max snapshots to process. `0` = no limit. |
| `saveContent` | boolean | `false` = metadata only (cheaper). `true` = download HTML/files to Key-Value Store. |

#### Example input

```json
{
  "targetUrl": "example.com",
  "mode": "full_site",
  "fromDate": "20100101",
  "toDate": "20151231",
  "only200": true,
  "limit": 500,
  "saveContent": true
}
```

### Output

Each snapshot is pushed to the dataset as a clean JSON record:

```json
{
  "timestamp": "20100603215612",
  "original_url": "http://www.example.com/",
  "mimetype": "text/html",
  "statuscode": "200",
  "digest": "AB2CD3EF4GH5IJ6KL7MN8OP9QR0ST1UV",
  "captured_at": "2010-06-03T21:56:12",
  "raw_url": "https://web.archive.org/web/20100603215612id_/http://www.example.com/"
}
```

When `saveContent` is enabled, the raw historical HTML and files are stored in the run's **Key-Value Store**, keyed by timestamp and URL, ready to download or re-host.

### How it works

The actor uses the Internet Archive's **CDX Server API** to enumerate captures, deduplicating identical content by digest. For downloads it requests the raw `id_` capture URL, which returns the original archived bytes without the Wayback Machine's injected toolbar, JavaScript, or CSS — so the recovered HTML is clean and usable.

No login, no API key, no proxy required. Data comes straight from the public Internet Archive.

### Tips

- Start with `mode: snapshot_list` and a small `limit` to preview what the archive holds before downloading.
- Large domains return thousands of captures — use `fromDate`/`toDate` and `limit` to stay focused and control cost.
- Use `mimeFilter: ["application/pdf"]` to recover only archived documents.

### Pricing

Pay-per-event: you pay a small fee per run start, per snapshot listed, and per file downloaded. Run metadata-only (`saveContent: false`) for the cheapest previews; enable downloads only when you need the content.

***

*This actor reads publicly available data from the Internet Archive (archive.org). Respect the copyright and terms of use of any recovered content.*

# Actor input Schema

## `targetUrl` (type: `string`):

Site or page to recover, e.g. example.com

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

What to extract

## `fromDate` (type: `string`):

YYYYMMDD, optional

## `toDate` (type: `string`):

YYYYMMDD, optional

## `mimeFilter` (type: `array`):

e.g. application/pdf, image/

## `only200` (type: `boolean`):

Skip non-200 captures (redirects, errors)

## `limit` (type: `integer`):

Safety cap. 0 = no limit

## `saveContent` (type: `boolean`):

Off = only metadata to Dataset (cheaper). On = HTML/files stored.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "targetUrl": "example.com",
  "mode": "snapshot_list",
  "mimeFilter": [],
  "only200": true,
  "limit": 50,
  "saveContent": false
}
```

# 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 = {
    "targetUrl": "example.com"
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("caulleonard/wayback-extractor").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 = { "targetUrl": "example.com" }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("caulleonard/wayback-extractor").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 '{
  "targetUrl": "example.com"
}' |
apify call caulleonard/wayback-extractor --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

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

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/04GaEjFbJsWCcXNvl/builds/cQdt0Wa87jvYXfHrV/openapi.json