Wayback Cache Management

Manage the OS tmpdir-based cache for Wayback Machine API responses.

Usage

npx tsx scripts/cache.ts <command> [options]

Commands

Command	Description
clear	Clear all cached Wayback data
status	Show cache directory location and file count

Options

Option	Description
--no-cache	Bypass cache for single operation

Cache Location

Cached responses are stored in the OS temporary directory:

os.tmpdir()/wayback-cache/

Cache keys are generated from URLs and parameters using SHA-256 hashing.

Cache TTL by Operation

Operation	TTL	Rationale
Availability API	24 hours	Snapshots don't change often
CDX API	1 hour	Snapshot list can change
Save status	30 seconds	Only during polling

Cached entries expire automatically and are deleted on access.

Script Execution

npx tsx scripts/cache.ts <command> [options]

Commands:

• clear - Clear all cached Wayback data
• status - Show cache directory location and file count

Clear Cache

Remove all cached API responses:

npx tsx scripts/cache.ts clear

This deletes all .json cache files from the cache directory.

Check Cache Status

Display cache information:

npx tsx scripts/cache.ts status

Shows:

• Cache directory path
• Number of cached files
• Total cache size (if available)

Usage Examples

# Clear all cache before checking a URL
npx tsx scripts/cache.ts clear
npx tsx scripts/check.ts https://example.com

# Clear cache, then list snapshots
npx tsx scripts/cache.ts clear
npx tsx scripts/list.ts https://example.com 20

# Check cache status
npx tsx scripts/cache.ts status

Bypass Cache for Single Operation

Individual scripts support --no-cache to skip cache for one operation without clearing all cached data:

npx tsx scripts/check.ts https://example.com --no-cache
npx tsx scripts/list.ts https://example.com --no-cache
npx tsx scripts/screenshot.ts https://example.com --no-cache

The --no-cache flag bypasses reading from cache but still caches the fresh response for future requests.

Cache Key Format

Cache keys are 16-character hexadecimal strings:

a1b2c3d4e5f6g7h8.json

Each key represents a unique URL + parameter combination.

Manual Cache Inspection

View cache directory contents:

# On macOS/Linux
ls -la $(getconf DARWIN_USER_TEMP_DIR)/wayback-cache/
# Or
ls -la /tmp/wayback-cache/

# View individual cache file
cat /tmp/wayback-cache/a1b2c3d4e5f6g7h8.json | jq

Related

• Use wayback-check to verify if a URL is archived
• Use wayback-list to see all captures with filtering options
• Use wayback-screenshot to retrieve visual screenshots
• Use wayback-submit to create a new archive