Use ArchiveBox’s CLI, web interface, REST API, or generated static index to find a saved page. Search returns matching snapshots—not a highlighted paragraph—so open the snapshot and use your browser’s find feature or a file-search tool to locate the passage.
Choose where to search
Use whichever entry point fits how you work. The examples below are documented by ArchiveBox, but commands and interfaces can vary by release; check your installed version and configuration.
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- Command line: run
archivebox list --filter-type=search 'text to search'. Checkarchivebox list --helpif the option is unavailable or behaves differently in your version. - Web UI: use the search box to look through the archive, or search the snapshot list in the admin interface.
- REST API: use the list endpoint with the search filter, documented as
/api/v1/list?filter_type=search. Confirm the API base URL and authentication requirements for your installation. - Static index: if you generated an HTML index, open it in a browser and use its search and sort controls. Select the file icon for a result to open its details page.
These interfaces are described in the ArchiveBox search guide and usage guide.
Understand what a search result means
Depending on the search backend, ArchiveBox can match snapshot metadata such as URL, title, timestamp, and tags, as well as text in archived content. The result identifies snapshots that match; it does not promise to show or highlight the exact sentence or location. Search terms also cannot find content that was never captured in a searchable form.
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After opening a likely result, use Ctrl+F (or your browser’s equivalent) to look for the term within the displayed snapshot. If the snapshot is a collection of downloaded files rather than a single page, use an external file-search tool against the saved outputs. Which formats are available depends on what was captured and which archiving methods were configured.
Choose a search backend if basic search is not enough
ArchiveBox documents ripgrep, Sonic, and SQLite FTS5 as search-engine options. The selected engine is used by the UI and CLI, but setup, defaults, and capabilities are version- and configuration-dependent. The configuration guide lists ripgrep, sqlite, and sonic; check your own installation rather than assuming one backend is universally enabled.
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| Backend | Useful when | Trade-offs |
|---|---|---|
| ripgrep | You want a low-overhead scan of archived files, especially for a smaller collection. | No separate search index or background indexer is needed. Scans can slow as the collection grows, and this approach does not search binary files such as PDFs, ebooks, or compressed archives. |
| Sonic | You want indexed search and broader supported content, including formats that a plain filesystem scan may miss. | Requires an additional dependency and a background worker to maintain search. |
| SQLite FTS5 | You want to evaluate an experimental full-text search option integrated around a SQLite index. | Uses its own index database and requires an update step. The search guide describes it as experimental, so verify current support and setup before relying on it. |
These are the documented trade-offs, not performance guarantees. To choose, consider collection size and filesystem speed; whether you need PDF, ebook, or other binary-format searching; whether you need advanced queries such as regex, stemming, or boolean operators; index storage and refresh needs; and whether you can operate another service or background worker. Exact query support and defaults should be verified for your installed version.
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- Search by a distinctive word or phrase, URL fragment, title, tag, or other metadata you remember.
- Open the matching snapshot’s details from the web UI or admin list. From a static index, select the result’s file icon.
- Choose an available archived output to inspect. A snapshot may contain several formats, and the available files depend on what ArchiveBox captured.
- Use browser find on a readable page, or search the relevant saved files externally when the match is not visible in the browser view.
Troubleshoot missing or unhelpful results
- The CLI rejects the search option: check
archivebox list --helpand your installed release’s documentation; the documented command may not match an older or differently configured installation. - The page is found but the phrase is not highlighted: this is expected. Search locates matching snapshots, not exact passages; inspect the snapshot with browser find or a file-search tool.
- Metadata matches but page text does not: the search may have matched its URL, title, timestamp, or tags. Open the snapshot and inspect its captured outputs.
- A PDF, ebook, or compressed file is not found with ripgrep: the search guide notes that ripgrep does not search these binary formats. Consider an indexed backend if its supported formats meet your needs.
- Search seems stale or an indexed backend returns nothing: confirm the selected engine, its dependencies, worker status, and index-update procedure for your ArchiveBox version. SQLite FTS5, in particular, has an index update step.
- The UI and CLI appear to search differently: verify the configured engine and plugin settings. Documentation describes the selected engine as serving both interfaces, but backend-specific configuration can affect behavior.
Or skip the browser setup
If what you need is a new screenshot of a live page rather than a search of an existing ArchiveBox collection, ScreenshotNeo provides a website screenshot API. One GET request can return an image or PDF; it does not search ArchiveBox or retrieve its stored snapshots.
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cURL:
curl -G "https://api.screenshotneo.com/v1/shot" -d access_key=YOUR_API_KEY --data-urlencode url=https://stripe.com -o shot.webpPython:
import requests
r = requests.get("https://api.screenshotneo.com/v1/shot", params={"access_key": "YOUR_API_KEY", "url": "https://stripe.com"}, timeout=90)
open("shot.webp", "wb").write(r.content)Node.js:
const q = new URLSearchParams({ access_key: 'YOUR_API_KEY', url: 'https://stripe.com' });
const res = await fetch(`https://api.screenshotneo.com/v1/shot?${q}`);See the ScreenshotNeo API documentation for request options. Cookie banners, newsletter popups, and chat widgets can be removed before capture; bot checks, blank pages, and failed loads are never billed. An MCP server lets AI agents take screenshots, and the free plan includes 1,000 screenshots a month with no card; paid plans start at $5 for 3,000. Sign up for free.
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