Ask the archive from software

check_coverage

check_coverage(domain)

Whether this archive observes a domain, from which sealed day onward, which machine-readable files it requests, and how often. A pasted URL is accepted and reduced to the domain name.

A negative answer is a statement about this archive, not about the domain: most of the web is not observed. A positive answer says nothing about what the observed files contain.

suggest_domain

suggest_domain(domain, email, reason)

Suggest that a domain be observed. The answer is always received with guarantee: none. It is a request, not an instruction. See what suggesting does and does not do below.

The whole root log

GET /log.json

Every sealed day, both witnesses, in one document: the number of observations, the Merkle root, the exact seal time, and which external anchors that day carries. It is the machine-readable form of the public log: no key, no pagination, no rate limit.

$ curl -s https://machinewitness.eu/log.json | jq '.days[0]'
{
  "day": "2026-08-23",
  "url": "https://machinewitness.eu/log/2026-08-23",
  "witnesses": {
    "witness-1": {
      "sealed": true,
      "observations": 645785,
      "merkle_root": "a86d011c...",
      "anchors": {"opentimestamps": true, "rfc3161": true, "qualified_eidas": true}
    },
    "witness-2": { "sealed": true, "observations": 608542, "merkle_root": "eb3e7e97..." }
  }
}

The two witnesses seal independently, so their roots differ by construction and are never presented as matching. A witness with no seal for a day says so explicitly ("sealed": false with a reason) rather than being left out. An absent line must never read as "not applicable". This document states what was sealed, never what any domain served.

Is a domain observed?

GET /coverage/{sha256(domain)}

The key is the lowercase hexadecimal SHA-256 of the bare domain name: no scheme, no www., no trailing dot. You hash the name yourself, so it is never transmitted and never appears in a log. That is deliberate: a neutral witness should not accumulate a record of who asked about whom.

$ printf 'example.eu' | shasum -a 256
5a9f...  -

$ curl https://machinewitness.eu/coverage/5a9f...
{"observed": false}

An observed domain answers with the sealed dates, the artefacts requested, and the ring that determines cadence:

{
  "observed": true,
  "first_sealed_observation": "2026-07-29",
  "last_sealed_observation": "2026-08-02",
  "artefacts": ["robots.txt", "ai.txt", "tdmrep.json", "llms.txt", "homepage"],
  "ring": "core",
  "active": true
}

A domain that is no longer observed answers "active": false. Its sealed records from the period shown remain. An archive does not un-observe the past.

Suggest a domain

POST /request

$ curl -X POST https://machinewitness.eu/request \
    -H 'content-type: application/json' \
    -d '{"domain": "example.eu",
         "email": "you@example.eu",
         "reason": "Why this domain should be observed."}'

{"status": "received",
 "guarantee": "none",
 "domain": "example.eu",
 "detail": "Recorded for review against documented criteria. ..."}

All three fields are required. A rejected suggestion answers "status": "rejected" with a reason: an unusable domain name, a missing reply address, or a reason too short to be read as one.

order_capture · POST /order/capture

order_capture(addresses, language, email, timezone)

$ curl -X POST https://machinewitness.eu/order/capture \
    -H 'content-type: application/json' \
    -d '{"addresses": ["https://example.eu/terms"],
         "language": "en",
         "email": "you@example.eu",
         "timezone": "Europe/Berlin"}'

{"status": "ok",
 "reference": "MW-K-3F9A2C1D",
 "checkout_url": "https://checkout.stripe.com/...",
 "expected_start": "2026-10-02T09:02:00.000Z",
 "delivery_notice": "...",
 "status_url": "https://machinewitness.eu/order/capture/MW-K-3F9A2C1D"}

{"status": "precheck_failed",
 "refused": [{"address": "https://example.eu/account",
              "reason": "login", "detail": "This address asks for a login."}],
 "detail": "..."}

Up to twenty addresses on one domain. language is one of en, de, es, fr, it, pl and sets the payment page and the e-mails; email prefills the payment page; timezone (IANA, for example Europe/Berlin, default Europe/Madrid) is the zone in which delivery_notice states the time. expected_start is the start promised before payment (UTC): now if the witnesses are free, otherwise the end of their daily work plus a margin; null if they gave no estimate. No capture starts after 21:30 UTC; a later order starts in the first free window of the next day.

capture_status · GET /order/capture/{reference}

capture_status(reference)

$ curl https://machinewitness.eu/order/capture/MW-K-3F9A2C1D

{"reference": "MW-K-3F9A2C1D",
 "status": "first_delivery_sent",
 "addresses": 1,
 "capture_day": "2026-10-02",
 "witnesses": {"witness-1": "captured", "witness-2": "captured"},
 "first_delivery_at": "2026-10-02T09:14:03Z",
 "complete_delivery_at": null}

Where an order stands, overall and per witness: awaiting payment, queued, capturing, first delivery sent, complete. It never returns the e-mail address, the addresses ordered or anything else about the customer.

order_extract · MCP

order_extract(domains, language, email)

Everything this archive recorded on a domain, as one verifiable document. One to twenty domains. A domain this archive never observed is refused by name before the link is created, because there would be nothing to deliver; ask check_coverage first. The extract is normally delivered by e-mail within five working days of payment.

order_observation · MCP

order_observation(domains, interval, language, email)

Daily observation as a yearly or monthly subscription (interval year or month, default year), one to 500 domains. A domain already observed daily in the core is refused by name, because it costs nothing. Subpages are added on the order page, not through the tool. Admission within five working days of payment, entered in the public record.