@cyanheads/internet-archive-mcp-server

@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:

{
  "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):

{
  "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:

{
  "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 v1.3.2 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

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.