@cyanheads/internet-archive-mcp-server

Search the Wayback Machine and IA library (40M+ items), fetch archived snapshots, retrieve item metadata and full text via MCP. STDIO or Streamable HTTP.

5 Tools • 1 Resource

Tools

Five tools covering two Internet Archive pillars — Wayback Machine snapshot discovery and retrieval, and IA library search and content access:

Tool	Description
`ia_find_snapshots`	Find Wayback Machine snapshots of a URL. Mode `closest` returns the nearest capture to a given timestamp. Mode `history` returns the full capture list via CDX with date range, status, and MIME filters, collapsed by default to one capture per day. Supports resume-key pagination for large histories.
`ia_get_snapshot`	Fetch the archived content of a URL at a specific Wayback timestamp. Strips HTML to readable text and returns the canonical replay URL.
`ia_search_items`	Search the IA library (40M+ items). Filter by media type, collection, creator, date range, and language. Sort by relevance, date, or downloads. Returns identifiers, titles, types, and pagination context (`total_found`, `page`, `rows`).
`ia_get_item`	Retrieve full metadata and the file manifest for an Archive item by identifier — title, creator, description, subjects, collections, license, and every file with its format, size, and direct download URL.
`ia_get_text`	Retrieve readable OCR text (DjVuTXT or plain-text) from a text item. Length-aware truncation with continuation pointer (`char_offset`) for paging through large documents.

`ia_find_snapshots`

Discover what the Wayback Machine has captured for any URL.

closest mode: single fast lookup via the Availability API — returns the nearest capture to a given timestamp
history mode: full capture list via the CDX API, filterable by date range (from/to), HTTP status (status_filter), and MIME type
Default collapse of timestamp:8 (one capture per day) keeps responses tractable for popular URLs; adjust with the collapse parameter (timestamp:N, N=1–14)
Resume-key pagination (resume_key) for stepping through large CDX histories without re-scanning

`ia_get_snapshot`

Retrieve what a page actually said at a point in time.

Resolves to the nearest available capture when the exact timestamp has no snapshot
Strips Wayback banner injections and extracts readable text — returns clean content alongside the canonical replay URL for browser access
Useful for fact-checking, citation verification, and tracing how content changed over time

`ia_search_items`

Search across 40M+ Archive items by keyword and metadata filters.

Full-text Solr query syntax plus structured filters: mediatype (texts, audio, video, software, image), collection, creator, language, and date range
Sort by relevance, date added, or download count
Pagination via page and rows; output includes total_found and current page/rows so agents can paginate correctly without guessing

`ia_get_item`

Fetch the complete metadata and file manifest for any Archive item.

Returns structured fields: title, creator, description, subjects, collections, date, license, and more
files[] includes every file in the item with its format, size, and direct download URL — the primary way to act on a search result
metadata response {} on unknown identifier → typed item_not_found error

`ia_get_text`

Read the OCR text of public-domain books, documents, and transcripts.

Locates the best available text file in the item's manifest (DjVuTXT preferred, falls back to plain text)
max_chars and char_offset enable efficient paging through long documents without re-fetching
Surfaces download_forbidden (HTTP 403) as a typed error for restricted collections rather than failing silently

Resource

Type	Name	Description
Resource	`ia://item/{identifier}`	Metadata snapshot for an Archive item — title, creator, mediatype, description, subjects, collections, date, license, and file count. Stable URIs for injectable context.

All resource data is also reachable via ia_get_item. The resource provides a stable, injectable URI for referencing a specific item across workflows.

Features

Built on @cyanheads/mcp-ts-core:

Declarative tool, resource, and prompt definitions — single file per primitive, framework handles registration and validation
Unified error handling — handlers throw, framework catches, classifies, and formats
Pluggable auth: none, jwt, oauth
Swappable storage backends: in-memory, filesystem, Supabase, Cloudflare KV/R2/D1
Structured logging with optional OpenTelemetry tracing
STDIO and Streamable HTTP transports

Internet Archive-specific:

No credentials required — all four APIs are public
Three service layers: WaybackService (Availability + CDX), ArchiveSearchService (Solr), ArchiveMetadataService (Metadata + downloads)
CDX collapse-by-day default and configurable limit keep responses tractable for high-capture URLs
Identifies User-Agent on every request as required by IA's terms; configurable via IA_USER_AGENT

Agent-friendly output:

Pagination context on every list response — total_found, page, rows (search) and resume_key (CDX history) so agents never have to guess whether results are complete
Typed error reasons (no_snapshots, no_snapshot_available, item_not_found, no_text_file, download_forbidden) with recovery hints so callers can retry or explain to users without parsing text
Structured file manifests — every ia_get_item response includes file-level metadata (format, size, URL) enabling agents to select the right file without a follow-up call

Getting started

No API key required — the Internet Archive's APIs are fully public.

Add the following to your MCP client configuration file:

config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "internet-archive-mcp-server": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "bunx",
      "args": ["@cyanheads/internet-archive-mcp-server@latest"],
      "env": {
        "MCP_TRANSPORT_TYPE": "stdio",
        "MCP_LOG_LEVEL": "info"
      }
    }
  }
}

Or with npx (no Bun required):

config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "internet-archive-mcp-server": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@cyanheads/internet-archive-mcp-server@latest"],
      "env": {
        "MCP_TRANSPORT_TYPE": "stdio",
        "MCP_LOG_LEVEL": "info"
      }
    }
  }
}

Or with Docker:

config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "internet-archive-mcp-server": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "docker",
      "args": [
        "run", "-i", "--rm",
        "-e", "MCP_TRANSPORT_TYPE=stdio",
        "ghcr.io/cyanheads/internet-archive-mcp-server:latest"
      ]
    }
  }
}

For Streamable HTTP, set the transport and start the server:

MCP_TRANSPORT_TYPE=http MCP_HTTP_PORT=3010 bun run start:http
# Server listens at http://localhost:3010/mcp

Prerequisites

Bun v1.3.0 or higher (or Node.js v24+).
No external accounts or API keys required.

Installation

Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/cyanheads/internet-archive-mcp-server.git

Navigate into the directory:

cd internet-archive-mcp-server

Install dependencies:

bun install

Configure environment:

cp .env.example .env
# Optional: edit .env for custom User-Agent, timeouts, etc.

Configuration

All configuration is validated at startup via Zod schemas in src/config/server-config.ts.

Variable	Description	Default
`MCP_TRANSPORT_TYPE`	Transport: `stdio` or `http`	`stdio`
`MCP_HTTP_PORT`	HTTP server port	`3010`
`MCP_AUTH_MODE`	Auth mode: `none`, `jwt`, or `oauth`	`none`
`MCP_LOG_LEVEL`	Log level (`debug`, `info`, `notice`, `warning`, `error`)	`info`
`LOGS_DIR`	Directory for log files (Node.js only)	`<project-root>/logs`
`STORAGE_PROVIDER_TYPE`	Storage backend	`in-memory`
`OTEL_ENABLED`	Enable OpenTelemetry instrumentation	`false`
`IA_USER_AGENT`	Custom User-Agent for IA API requests	`internet-archive-mcp-server/{version} (github.com/cyanheads/internet-archive-mcp-server)`
`IA_REQUEST_TIMEOUT_MS`	HTTP request timeout in milliseconds	`30000`
`IA_MAX_SNAPSHOT_CHARS`	Default character cap for `ia_get_text` responses	`50000`

See .env.example for the full list of optional overrides.

Running the server

Local development

Build and run:

# One-time build
bun run rebuild

# Run the built server
bun run start:stdio
# or
bun run start:http

Run checks and tests:

bun run devcheck   # Lint, format, typecheck, security
bun run test       # Vitest test suite
bun run lint:mcp   # Validate MCP definitions against spec

Docker

Terminal

docker build -t internet-archive-mcp-server .
docker run --rm -p 3010:3010 internet-archive-mcp-server

The Dockerfile defaults to HTTP transport, stateless session mode, and logs to /var/log/internet-archive-mcp-server. OpenTelemetry peer dependencies are installed by default — build with --build-arg OTEL_ENABLED=false to omit them.

Project structure

Directory	Purpose
`src/index.ts`	`createApp()` entry point — registers tools, resource, and inits services.
`src/config`	Server-specific environment variable parsing and validation with Zod.
`src/mcp-server/tools`	Tool definitions (`*.tool.ts`). Five tools across Wayback and IA library.
`src/mcp-server/resources`	Resource definitions. `ia://item/{identifier}` item metadata resource.
`src/services/wayback`	`WaybackService` — Availability API + CDX API client.
`src/services/archive-search`	`ArchiveSearchService` — Solr Advanced Search client.
`src/services/archive-metadata`	`ArchiveMetadataService` — Metadata API + file download client.
`tests/`	Unit and integration tests mirroring `src/`.

Development guide

See CLAUDE.md for development guidelines and architectural rules. The short version:

Handlers throw, framework catches — no try/catch in tool logic
Use ctx.log for request-scoped logging, ctx.state for tenant-scoped storage
Register new tools and resources via the barrels in src/mcp-server/*/definitions/index.ts
Wrap external API calls: validate raw → normalize to domain type → return output schema; never fabricate missing fields

Contributing

Issues and pull requests are welcome. Run checks and tests before submitting:

bun run devcheck
bun run test

License

Apache-2.0 — see LICENSE for details.