[Share] Save to Wayback Machine (auto-archive new items)

[the-solipsist]

[Share] Save to Wayback Machine (auto-archive new items)

This action archives the URL of the target item(s) in the Internet Archive
Wayback Machine (anonymous Save Page Now) and records the snapshot as tag
archived:wayback plus an Extra line Wayback Machine: <snapshot-url>.

Setup: create an action, operation customScript, paste the script below
as Data. For on-demand use, leave Event empty and set a Menu Label
(e.g. "Save to Wayback Machine") and/or a shortcut. For automatic use, set
Event to createItem — it fires for every new item, however added.

Caveats (by design — this is the slim community version):

• Anonymous saving only (no secrets belong in shared scripts). It shares
  archive.org's per-IP quota and has no retry queue, so a burst of imports
  will hit rate limits; items that fail simply get no tag.
• For queueing with backoff, personal S3-key quota, and auto-update, use
  the standalone plugin this was extracted from:
  https://github.com/the-solipsist/zotero-wayback-autosave
• The tag/Extra convention is identical, so the script and the plugin
  interoperate: either one skips items the other already archived.

License: GPL-3.0-or-later, (C) 2026 Pranesh Prakash. Source (linted,
with a test harness) is versioned here:
https://github.com/the-solipsist/zotero-wayback-autosave/tree/main/action-script

/**
 * Save to Wayback Machine — custom script for Actions & Tags.
 * Copyright (C) 2026 Pranesh Prakash
 * SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-3.0-or-later <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/>
 */
(async () => {
  const TAG = "archived:wayback";
  const SPN = "https://web.archive.org/save/";
  const delay = (ms) => new Promise((r) => setTimeout(r, ms));

  async function archiveOne(item) {
    if (
      !item ||
      typeof item.isRegularItem !== "function" ||
      !item.isRegularItem()
    ) {
      return "skipped";
    }
    const url = item.getField("url") || "";
    if (!/^https?:\/\//i.test(url)) return "skipped";
    if (item.getTags().some((t) => t.tag === TAG)) return "skipped";
    let xhr;
    try {
      xhr = await Zotero.HTTP.request("GET", SPN + url, {
        responseType: "text",
      });
    } catch (e) {
      Zotero.debug(`wayback-action: request failed for ${url}: ${e}`);
      return "failed";
    }
    if (xhr.status !== 200) return "failed";
    let snapshot = null;
    try {
      const link = xhr.getResponseHeader("Link") || "";
      const m = [...link.matchAll(/<([^>]+)>;\s*rel="memento"/gi)];
      if (m.length) snapshot = new URL(m[m.length - 1][1], SPN + url).href;
    } catch (e) {
      snapshot = null;
    }
    if (!snapshot) {
      const finalURL = xhr.responseURL || "";
      if (/\/web\/\d+\//.test(finalURL)) snapshot = finalURL;
    }
    if (!snapshot) return "failed";
    const extra = item.getField("extra") || "";
    if (!extra.includes(snapshot)) {
      item.setField(
        "extra",
        extra
          ? `${extra}\nWayback Machine: ${snapshot}`
          : `Wayback Machine: ${snapshot}`
      );
    }
    if (!item.hasTag(TAG)) item.addTag(TAG);
    await item.saveTx();
    return "archived";
  }

  if (typeof items !== "undefined" && items && items.length) {
    // Menu/shortcut path: the action fires once for the whole selection
    // and then per item — handle the batch call only.
    if (typeof item !== "undefined" && item) return;
    const counts = { archived: 0, failed: 0, skipped: 0 };
    for (const it of items) {
      counts[await archiveOne(it)]++;
      await delay(3000); // crude rate spacing; no persistent queue here
    }
    Zotero.debug(
      `wayback-action: batch done — ${counts.archived} archived, ${counts.failed} failed, ${counts.skipped} skipped`
    );
    return;
  }
  if (typeof item !== "undefined" && item) {
    await archiveOne(item);
  }
})();