Mearman Find Oldest Wayback Machine Capture
Find the earliest archived snapshot of a URL from the Wayback Machine.
Usage
npx tsx scripts/oldest-newest.ts <url> --oldest-only [options]
Arguments
| Argument | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
url |
Yes | The URL to search for |
Options
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
--full |
Include archive URL in output |
--json |
Output as JSON |
--no-cache |
Bypass cache and fetch fresh data from API |
Output
Default (compact):
1998-12-01 08:00 (9200 days ago)
With --full:
📜 OLDEST:
1998-12-01 08:00 (9200 days ago)
https://web.archive.org/web/19981201080000id_/https://example.com
Script Execution
npx tsx scripts/oldest-newest.ts <url> --oldest-only
Run from the wayback plugin directory: ~/.claude/plugins/cache/wayback/
CDX API Endpoint
https://web.archive.org/cdx/search/cdx?url={URL}&output=json&limit=1&filter=statuscode:200
The limit=1 parameter with default ascending sort returns the oldest capture first.
Caching
CDX API responses are cached for 1 hour. Use --no-cache to bypass.
Related Skills
- wayback-newest - Find the most recent capture
- wayback-range - Show both oldest and newest with archive span
- wayback-list - List all snapshots with pagination