---
title: ToolRouter — Agent Use Case Guide
description: Step-by-step guide for completing a task with a specific AI agent using ToolRouter.
url: https://toolrouter.com/tools/web-archive/use-cases/view-historical-websites/claude
---
# How to View Historical Websites with Claude

Claude turns Wayback Machine research into a deep-dive investigation from your terminal where you follow leads as they emerge. Start with a URL, explore available snapshots interactively, and pivot your research based on what you discover in each archived version. The session-based workflow excels at tracing how websites evolved over time, letting you compare versions side by side, document changes methodically, and build a narrative of how a site transformed -- whether for competitive intelligence, legal evidence, or historical research.

## Setup

claude mcp add toolrouter -- npx -y toolrouter-mcp

## Steps

1. Connect ToolRouter: claude mcp add toolrouter -- npx -y toolrouter-mcp
2. Ask Claude: "Check if apple.com has Wayback Machine snapshots from 2007 using the web-archive tool"
3. Claude checks availability and returns snapshot dates
4. Ask: "Find all captures of apple.com/iphone from June 2007"
5. Claude returns a list of available snapshots with dates and URLs

## Example Prompt

```
Show me how apple.com looked when the iPhone was first announced. Check for Wayback Machine snapshots from January 2007.
```

## Tips

- Specify date ranges to narrow down to the time period you care about
- Ask Claude to compare snapshots from different dates to see what changed
- Use exact URLs (including paths) for more specific historical lookups
