Wayback Machine Snapshot History & Archived Text Extractor: MCP config, n8n workflow and API

{
  "mode": "closest",
  "url": "apify.com",
  "matchType": "exact",
  "collapseBy": "none",
  "sortDirection": "earliest",
  "targetDate": "2024-01-01",
  "enrichWithContent": false,
  "maxContentFetch": 0,
  "maxContentChars": 500000,
  "includeHeadings": false,
  "maxItems": 1,
  "detectChanges": false
}

---
name: wayback-machine-snapshot-history-and-archived-text
description: "Wayback capture history, closest snapshots, archive coverage summaries, version timelines, and readable archived page text. Runs the Apify Actor dataspryva/wayback-machine-snapshot-history-and-archived-text. Use when the user needs Wayback Machine data with fields such as originalUrl, archiveDate, archiveUrl, statusCode, mimeType, contentLength and an Apify token is available."
compatibility: "Needs network access, curl, and an APIFY_TOKEN environment variable. Runs are billed to the token owner's Apify account."
metadata:
  actor: "dataspryva/wayback-machine-snapshot-history-and-archived-text"
  store-url: "https://apify.com/dataspryva/wayback-machine-snapshot-history-and-archived-text"
---

# Wayback Machine Snapshot History & Archived Text Extractor

Use this skill to fetch Wayback Machine data with the Apify Actor `dataspryva/wayback-machine-snapshot-history-and-archived-text` and work with the returned rows.

## Before running

1. Check that `APIFY_TOKEN` is set in the environment. Never print it or write it to a file.
2. Build `input.json` from the user's request using the fields below. Keep limits small for a first run.
3. Confirm the search terms or URLs with the user if the request is ambiguous.

## Input fields

| Field | Type | Meaning |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `mode` | one of `search`, `timeline`, `summary`, `closest`, `content` | What to collect. 'search' returns every matching capture; 'timeline' returns one row per distinct content version; 'summary' returns archive coverage per target; 'closest' returns the nearest capture to a date; 'content' returns readable text from the… |
| `url` | string | One URL, host, domain, or Wayback playback URL. Examples: 'apify.com', 'https://example.com/blog', 'https://web.archive.org/web/20240101000000/https://apify.com/'. Wildcards like 'example.com/*' and '*.example.com' are detected automatically. |
| `urls` | array | One or more targets for batch collection. Each target is queried independently and the Max items budget is split across them. |
| `matchType` | one of `exact`, `prefix`, `host`, `domain` | How the target is matched against the archive. 'exact' = that URL only; 'prefix' = the URL and every path beneath it; 'host' = every path on the same host; 'domain' = the host and all subdomains. |
| `statusCodes` | array | Only keep captures with these HTTP status codes, e.g. ['200','301']. Leave empty for all statuses. Values may also be comma-separated. |
| `excludeStatusCodes` | array | Drop captures with these HTTP status codes, e.g. ['404','500']. Leave empty to exclude nothing. |
| `mimeTypes` | array | Only keep captures with these MIME types, e.g. ['text/html','application/pdf']. Leave empty for all MIME types. |
| `excludeMimeTypes` | array | Drop captures with these MIME types, e.g. ['image/png','video/mp4']. Leave empty to exclude nothing. |
| `collapseBy` | one of `none`, `digest`, `urlkey`, `monthly`, `daily`, `hourly` | Deduplicate adjacent captures in 'search' mode. 'digest' keeps one record per distinct content fingerprint; 'urlkey' keeps one capture per URL; 'monthly', 'daily', and 'hourly' keep one capture per time bucket; 'none' returns every raw capture. |
| `sortDirection` | one of `earliest`, `latest` | Choose whether the limited result set comes from the oldest or newest captures. Search rows are emitted in chronological order; 'latest' reverses the final rows so the newest appears first. |
| `targetDate` | string | Date used by 'closest' and 'content' modes, and as the reference when a playback URL does not include a timestamp. Accepts YYYY, YYYY-MM, YYYY-MM-DD, or a full timestamp. Defaults to now when empty. |
| `enrichWithContent` | boolean | In 'search' mode, fetch the archived HTML for the first Max content fetches rows and add its readable text and metadata. Off by default because it costs extra requests. |
| `maxContentFetch` | integer | Cap on archived pages downloaded when 'Add archived text to search rows' is on. 0 disables enrichment. This setting is ignored by 'content' mode, which uses Max items instead. |
| `maxContentChars` | integer | Truncate extracted text at this many characters. The full word count and text hash are still recorded, and contentTruncated is set when clipping happens. |

Example `input.json` (the Actor's published prefill):

```json
{
  "mode": "closest",
  "url": "apify.com",
  "matchType": "exact",
  "collapseBy": "none",
  "sortDirection": "earliest",
  "targetDate": "2024-01-01",
  "enrichWithContent": false,
  "maxContentFetch": 0,
  "maxContentChars": 500000,
  "includeHeadings": false,
  "maxItems": 1,
  "detectChanges": false
}
```

## Run

```bash
curl -sS -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/dataspryva~wayback-machine-snapshot-history-and-archived-text/run-sync-get-dataset-items" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d @input.json > results.json
```

The call waits for the run to finish and returns the dataset items as a JSON array. If the run needs more than 300 seconds the API answers with HTTP 408; then start the run with `POST /v2/acts/dataspryva~wayback-machine-snapshot-history-and-archived-text/runs`, poll `GET /v2/actor-runs/{runId}` until `SUCCEEDED`, and read `GET /v2/datasets/{defaultDatasetId}/items`.

## Output

Each item is one record. Published fields include: `originalUrl`, `archiveDate`, `archiveUrl`, `statusCode`, `mimeType`, `contentLength`, `changeType`, `captureYear`, `resultIndex`, `title`, `wordCount`, `characterCount`, `requestedDate`, `available`, `firstArchiveDate`, `lastArchiveDate`, `captureCount`, `versionCount`, `spanDays`.

Summarise what was found, cite the record URLs when present, and say how many items came back. Do not invent values for empty fields.