How to Build a Local Web Archive with ArchiveBox Step by Step Guide

ArchiveBox is a popular open source tool for creating a personal or institutional web archive. This guide walks you through setting up ArchiveBox on inexpensive hardware, creating capture workflows, and managing long term storage. It assumes basic familiarity with the command line but explains each step in practical terms.

What you will need

• A small server or single board computer such as an Intel NUC or Raspberry Pi 4 with at least 8GB of storage alternatively a cloud VM.
• Linux or macOS knowledge to install dependencies.
• At least 50 GB of disk space for small scale projects more for larger collections.

Install ArchiveBox

ArchiveBox offers a containerized install and a pip based install. For most users we recommend the Docker Compose approach as it simplifies dependency management and is reproducible.

Docker compose quick start

1 Install Docker and Docker Compose on your host

2 Create a directory for your archive and create a docker compose file

3 Run docker compose up -d to start services

Configuring storage and paths

ArchiveBox stores each snapshot as a directory with multiple representations whiteboard html raw wget output and screenshots. On small systems consider mounting an external SSD or network attached storage. Use rsync or borg for remote backups to protect against disk failure.

Adding URLs

You can add links via the CLI web UI or watchers that detect new links in RSS feeds and Twitter lists. For example to add a single URL use

archivebox add https colon slash slash example dot com

To batch import a CSV of URLs prepare a file with one URL per line and use archivebox add - < input.txt

Capture modes and fidelity

ArchiveBox supports multiple archivers including wget headless chrome and remote scraping. Select the highest fidelity option that your hardware supports. Headless chrome captures dynamic content and single page apps better but is more resource intensive.

Scheduling and automation

Use cron or systemd timers to schedule periodic recrawls. For collections where content changes frequently set shorter intervals and for stable resources schedule monthly or quarterly recaptures. Implement a change detection policy to avoid repeated identical captures that waste space.

Metadata and discoverability

ArchiveBox automatically stores basic metadata such as capture time and MIME types. Add custom metadata files and tags to collections so you can filter and export subsets for research or legal discovery. Consider a minimal metadata schema capturing preservation rationale and rights status for each item.

Backup and replication

Backups are essential. Use one or more of the following strategies

• Periodic rsync to an offsite server
• Deduplicated backup with borg or restic
• Cloud object storage exports for long term retention

Integrations and workflows

Integrate ArchiveBox with workflow tools. A typical workflow looks like

1. Detect new content via an RSS or webhook
2. Pipe the URL into ArchiveBox for immediate capture
3. Index metadata into a search tool such as Elasticsearch or a lightweight full text index for discovery

Monitoring and maintenance

Monitor disk usage and process health. For long running deployments rotate logs and set up alerts for failed captures. Periodically verify captures can be replayed in your environment to avoid surprises when an important item is needed later.

Ethical and legal considerations

Respect copyright and privacy. Archive what you are legally allowed to and consult institutional counsel when in doubt. For personal archives avoid capturing sensitive personal data without clear consent and a secure access plan.

Scaling up

For institutions scale out by distributing capture across multiple nodes and centralizing metadata. Use deduplication to avoid storing multiple identical large assets such as library fonts or common analytics scripts. Consider content selection policies to prioritize high value websites when resources are constrained.

Conclusion

ArchiveBox is a powerful tool for building resilient local archives. With a modest investment in hardware and careful configuration you can preserve web content for research civic memory or disaster recovery scenarios. Start small pick a few priority collections and iterate your workflows as you learn.

Author: Daniel Brooks