ia_archiver
Internet Archive •
Since 1996
What is ia_archiver?
ia_archiver is the web crawler operated by the Internet Archive, the non-profit organization behind the Wayback Machine. This bot has been preserving the web since 1996, creating a historical record of billions of web pages. The crawler captures websites at various points in time, allowing users to see how sites looked in the past. This preservation effort is invaluable for researchers, historians, and anyone needing to reference old web content. The Internet Archive's mission of universal access to knowledge makes ia_archiver one of the most important crawlers for digital preservation.
User Agent String
ia_archiver (+http://www.alexa.com/site/help/webmasters; [email protected])
How to Control ia_archiver
Block Completely
To prevent ia_archiver from accessing your entire website, add this to your robots.txt file:
# Block ia_archiver
User-agent: ia_archiver
Disallow: /
Block Specific Directories
To restrict access to certain parts of your site while allowing others:
User-agent: ia_archiver
Disallow: /admin/
Disallow: /private/
Disallow: /wp-admin/
Allow: /public/
Set Crawl Delay
To slow down the crawl rate (note: not all bots respect this directive):
User-agent: ia_archiver
Crawl-delay: 10
How to Verify ia_archiver
Verification Method:
Check Internet Archive's crawler information
Check Internet Archive's crawler information
Learn more in the official documentation.
Detection Patterns
Multiple ways to detect ia_archiver in your application:
Basic Pattern
/ia_archiver/i
Strict Pattern
/^ia_archiver \(\+http\:\/\/www\.alexa\.com\/site\/help\/webmasters; crawler@alexa\.com\)$/
Flexible Pattern
/ia_archiver[\s\/]?[\d\.]*?/i
Vendor Match
/.*Internet Archive.*ia_archiver/i
Implementation Examples
// PHP Detection for ia_archiver
function detect_ia_archiver() {
$user_agent = $_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'] ?? '';
$pattern = '/ia_archiver/i';
if (preg_match($pattern, $user_agent)) {
// Log the detection
error_log('ia_archiver detected from IP: ' . $_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR']);
// Set cache headers
header('Cache-Control: public, max-age=3600');
header('X-Robots-Tag: noarchive');
// Optional: Serve cached version
if (file_exists('cache/' . md5($_SERVER['REQUEST_URI']) . '.html')) {
readfile('cache/' . md5($_SERVER['REQUEST_URI']) . '.html');
exit;
}
return true;
}
return false;
}
# Python/Flask Detection for ia_archiver
import re
from flask import request, make_response
def detect_ia_archiver():
user_agent = request.headers.get('User-Agent', '')
pattern = r'ia_archiver'
if re.search(pattern, user_agent, re.IGNORECASE):
# Create response with caching
response = make_response()
response.headers['Cache-Control'] = 'public, max-age=3600'
response.headers['X-Robots-Tag'] = 'noarchive'
return True
return False
# Django Middleware
class ia_archiverMiddleware:
def __init__(self, get_response):
self.get_response = get_response
def __call__(self, request):
if self.detect_bot(request):
# Handle bot traffic
pass
return self.get_response(request)
// JavaScript/Node.js Detection for ia_archiver
const express = require('express');
const app = express();
// Middleware to detect ia_archiver
function detect_ia_archiver(req, res, next) {
const userAgent = req.headers['user-agent'] || '';
const pattern = /ia_archiver/i;
if (pattern.test(userAgent)) {
// Log bot detection
console.log('ia_archiver detected from IP:', req.ip);
// Set cache headers
res.set({
'Cache-Control': 'public, max-age=3600',
'X-Robots-Tag': 'noarchive'
});
// Mark request as bot
req.isBot = true;
req.botName = 'ia_archiver';
}
next();
}
app.use(detect_ia_archiver);
# Apache .htaccess rules for ia_archiver
# Block completely
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ia_archiver [NC]
RewriteRule .* - [F,L]
# Or redirect to a static version
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ia_archiver [NC]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/static/
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /static/$1 [L]
# Or set environment variable for PHP
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "ia_archiver" is_bot=1
# Add cache headers for this bot
<If "%{HTTP_USER_AGENT} =~ /ia_archiver/i">
Header set Cache-Control "public, max-age=3600"
Header set X-Robots-Tag "noarchive"
</If>
# Nginx configuration for ia_archiver
# Map user agent to variable
map $http_user_agent $is_ia_archiver {
default 0;
~*ia_archiver 1;
}
server {
# Block the bot completely
if ($is_ia_archiver) {
return 403;
}
# Or serve cached content
location / {
if ($is_ia_archiver) {
root /var/www/cached;
try_files $uri $uri.html $uri/index.html @backend;
}
try_files $uri @backend;
}
# Add headers for bot requests
location @backend {
if ($is_ia_archiver) {
add_header Cache-Control "public, max-age=3600";
add_header X-Robots-Tag "noarchive";
}
proxy_pass http://backend;
}
}
Should You Block This Bot?
Recommendations based on your website type:
| Site Type | Recommendation | Reasoning |
|---|---|---|
| E-commerce | Optional | Evaluate based on bandwidth usage vs. benefits |
| Blog/News | Allow | Increases content reach and discoverability |
| SaaS Application | Block | No benefit for application interfaces; preserve resources |
| Documentation | Selective | Allow for public docs, block for internal docs |
| Corporate Site | Limit | Allow for public pages, block sensitive areas like intranets |
Advanced robots.txt Configurations
E-commerce Site Configuration
User-agent: ia_archiver
Crawl-delay: 5
Disallow: /cart/
Disallow: /checkout/
Disallow: /my-account/
Disallow: /api/
Disallow: /*?sort=
Disallow: /*?filter=
Disallow: /*&page=
Allow: /products/
Allow: /categories/
Sitemap: https://example.com/sitemap.xml
Publishing/Blog Configuration
User-agent: ia_archiver
Crawl-delay: 10
Disallow: /wp-admin/
Disallow: /drafts/
Disallow: /preview/
Disallow: /*?replytocom=
Allow: /
SaaS/Application Configuration
User-agent: ia_archiver
Disallow: /app/
Disallow: /api/
Disallow: /dashboard/
Disallow: /settings/
Allow: /
Allow: /pricing/
Allow: /features/
Allow: /docs/
Quick Reference
User Agent Match
ia_archiver
Robots.txt Name
ia_archiver
Category
other
Respects robots.txt
Yes
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