🕰️ Wayback Machine Integration in iBrowe

Since version 1.4, iBrowe has included native support for the Wayback Machine, making it easy for users to access archived versions of web resources that are no longer available online.

🔍 Feature Overview

When iBrowe encounters a web page or resource that fails to load (due to server issues, removal, etc.), it prompts the user with an option:

“Check for a saved version via the Wayback Machine”

If the user agrees, iBrowe sends the original resource URL to the Wayback Machine service to check for an archived snapshot. If one is found, the user is redirected to it.

Settings can be managed at:


ibrowe://settings/ibroweHelpTips/

🌐 Supported Domains

iBrowe applies Wayback Machine checks only on typical web URLs:

  • ✅ http://*.*/ and https://*.*
  • ❌ Excludes: localhost, *.local, *.onion, and any page on web.archive.org

📡 Triggering Conditions

iBrowe displays the Wayback Machine infobar when specific HTTP status codes are detected:

Code Description Code Description
404 Not Found 509 Bandwidth Limit Exceeded
408 Request Timeout 520 Unknown Server Error
410 Gone 521 Web Server Down
451 Unavailable for Legal Reasons 523 Origin Is Unreachable
500 Internal Server Error 524 A Timeout Occurred
502 Bad Gateway 525 SSL Handshake Failed
503 Service Unavailable 526 Invalid SSL Certificate

📥 How the Lookup Works

If a resource is unreachable, iBrowe queries:


[https://ibrowe-api.archive.org/wayback/available?url](https://ibrowe-api.archive.org/wayback/available?url)\<original\_url>

✅ Example: Archived Resource Found

{
  "url": "https://ibrowe.com/",
  "archived_snapshots": {
    "closest": {
      "status": "200",
      "available": true,
      "url": "http://web.archive.org/web/20210901235003/https://ibrowe.com/",
      "timestamp": "20210901235003"
    }
  }
}

❌ Example: No Archive Found

{
  "url": "https://example.site/",
  "archived_snapshots": {}
}

If a valid URL exists in archived_snapshots.closest.url, the infobar is shown. If not, or if JSON parsing fails, the bar is suppressed.

⚠️ Known Limitations

  • Some websites return incorrect HTTP codes (e.g., a 404 with valid content), leading to false positives.
  • Redirects involving 404s may also falsely trigger the infobar.

📬 Feedback & Contributions

To report bugs or provide suggestions:

Adapted from Brave Browser’s original documentation: https://github.com/brave/brave-browser/wiki