How to get Internet Archive & Wayback Machine in an AI tool

Search archive.org and the Wayback Machine for OSINT, journalism, and research - books, movies, audio, software, item metadata, file lists, and URL snapshots. archive.org is one page of it. A run reads that public list and saves one row per result.

Set up the Apify actor

Apify is where this run is collected. An actor is the program that collects the rows. A task is that program saved with your settings, so the next section can ask for the latest rows. You need a free Apify account.

01
Open Internet Archive & Wayback Machine and click Try for free. Create an Apify account if you do not have one. The Free plan does not ask for a card.

You are on the input form. Keep the sample for this first run.

{
    "queries": [
        "https://archive.org/details/the-sketch-show-s1-e3"
    ],
    "mode": "auto",
    "mediaType": "all",
    "maxItems": 5,
    "includeFiles": false,
    "enrichMetadata": false,
    "collapseSnapshots": false,
    "maxResults": 5
}

03
Leave the proxy setting as it is. Click Start and wait until the run says Succeeded.
04
Open Storage, then Dataset. You should see kind, identifier, title, mediaType.
05
When you want the real list, raise maxItems. The sample cap is only there so the first run stays small.
06
Go back to the input and choose Save as a new task. Name it after this list.
07
Open the task. Copy the task ID from the address bar. Excel, Sheets, Power BI, and the other guides ask for this ID.
08
On the task, open Schedules and add a weekly run if you want fresh rows. Each run pays the start charge and the charge for the rows. The amounts are in the price list on this page.
09
Open Settings, then API & Integrations, and copy an API token. Excel, Sheets, and the other guides put this token in a download link. Anyone with that link can download the rows, so treat it like a password.

How to set up in an AI tool

Use the task ID and the API token from Set up the Apify actor, above.

01
Open the API tab on Internet Archive & Wayback Machine.
02
Copy the MCP config, or call the run endpoint with the API token from Set up the Apify actor, above.
03
Ask for kind, identifier, title, mediaType, date. A schedule still lives on the task from Set up the Apify actor, above.

Schema

Examples come from the actor sample, not a live result.

Name	Description	Example
`kind`	Row kind	`item`
`identifier`	Archive identifier	`the-sketch-show-s1-e3`
`title`	Title	`The Sketch Show - Series 1 - Episode 3 (2001)`
`mediaType`	Media type	`movies`
`date`	Item date	`2026-10-15`
`downloads`	Downloads	`128`
`archiveUrl`	Item or snapshot URL	`https://archive.org/details/the-sketch-show-s1-e3`
`fileSizeBytes`	File size (bytes)	`M`

kindRow kinditem
identifierArchive identifierthe-sketch-show-s1-e3
titleTitleThe Sketch Show - Series 1 - Episode 3 (2001)
mediaTypeMedia typemovies
dateItem date2026-10-15
downloadsDownloads128
archiveUrlItem or snapshot URLhttps://archive.org/details/the-sketch-show-s1-e3
fileSizeBytesFile size (bytes)M