archive API for agents (unofficial) — JSON over curl | clify
Internet Archive (archive.org): a digital library of texts, audio, video, software and web snapshots. This CLI searches items, including full-text search inside books, browses collections and user uploads, reads item metadata, file lists, reviews and OCR text, downloads files, and queries Wayback Machine snapshots.
Host: archive.org. Call these verified read commands with plain curl; no install, key, or account. Use the public JSON API with plain curl. No install, key, account, or browser is needed. Example: curl 'https://clify-dev.netlify.app/sites.json'. Start with /search?q=weather, then call /abc/COMMAND. Responses are one JSON object. The hosted MCP and GitHub repo are also available.
Commands
search-items
Keyword search across archive.org items, as the archive.org/search UI does it, with facet filters, sort and paging; set service_backend=fts to search inside book text Params: query*, filter_map, sort, service_backend, hits_per_page, page
curl 'https://clify-dev.netlify.app/archive/search-items?query=grateful+dead&filter_map=%7B%22mediatype%22%3A%7B%22audio%22%3A%22inc%22%7D%7D&sort=downloads%3Adesc'
list-collection-items
List the items in a collection (e.g. GratefulDead, texts, audio), with sort, facet filters and paging Params: collection*, query, filter_map, sort, hits_per_page, page
curl 'https://clify-dev.netlify.app/archive/list-collection-items?collection=GratefulDead&sort=publicdate%3Adesc'
list-user-uploads
List the public uploads of an archive.org user account Params: user*, sort, hits_per_page, page
curl 'https://clify-dev.netlify.app/archive/list-user-uploads?user=%40matthew_vernon'
advanced-search
Solr-style advanced search (advancedsearch.php) returning identifier, title, creator, mediatype, date and downloads, with sort and paging Params: q*, sort, rows, page
curl 'https://clify-dev.netlify.app/archive/advanced-search?q=grateful+dead+AND+mediatype%3Aaudio&sort=downloads+desc'
scrape-items
Bulk-list every item matching a query with the cursor-based scrape API; suited to enumerating large collections Params: q*, api_fields, count, cursor
curl 'https://clify-dev.netlify.app/archive/scrape-items?q=collection%3AGratefulDead'
get-item-metadata
Get an item's descriptive metadata (title, creator, date, collection, description and more) by identifier Params: identifier*
curl 'https://clify-dev.netlify.app/archive/get-item-metadata'
list-item-files
List the files in an item, with name, format, size and checksums; pass a name to download-file Params: identifier*
curl 'https://clify-dev.netlify.app/archive/list-item-files'
get-item-reviews
Get the user reviews (title, body, reviewer, stars, date) posted on an item Params: identifier*
curl 'https://clify-dev.netlify.app/archive/get-item-reviews'
get-item-fulltext
Get the full OCR plain text of a text item (book or document) Params: identifier*
curl 'https://clify-dev.netlify.app/archive/get-item-fulltext'
download-file
Download one file from an item (text files are returned as text) Params: identifier*, file*
curl 'https://clify-dev.netlify.app/archive/download-file'
get-collection-views
Get view statistics for a collection over the last N days, broken down by country and region Params: collection*, days
curl 'https://clify-dev.netlify.app/archive/get-collection-views'
list-user-lists
Get a user's public item lists and the items each one contains Params: username*
curl 'https://clify-dev.netlify.app/archive/list-user-lists'
list-top-collections
List the top collections featured on the archive.org home page, with item counts Params: page, count
curl 'https://clify-dev.netlify.app/archive/list-top-collections?page=1&count=50'
get-media-counts
Get total item counts per media type (texts, movies, audio, software, image, etree, tv, web) Params: none
curl 'https://clify-dev.netlify.app/archive/get-media-counts'
wayback-available
Find the Wayback Machine snapshot of a URL closest to a given timestamp Params: url*, timestamp
curl 'https://clify-dev.netlify.app/archive/wayback-available?url=example.com×tamp=20100101'
list-wayback-snapshots
List Wayback Machine captures of a URL from the CDX index, optionally limited to a date range Params: url*, from, to, matchType, collapse, api_limit
curl 'https://clify-dev.netlify.app/archive/list-wayback-snapshots?url=example.com&api_limit=20'