Habbo API & Retrieving Old Habbo Data

I have a question around the Habbo API.

Not being literate in any coding language and having limited understanding web-based applications, I have a few questions on the Habbo API and its utility. Specifically, whether it can be used to retrieve old data no longer present on the hotel.

As far as I understand, the API is a sort of database of XML files wherein many datasets are held on a number of classes or categories of items found in Habbo, like badges, Habbos, rooms, furniture and clothing etc. An end-user can create say a PHP application that calls information from the API and displays it based on the results of the query, is that right?

The API is a 'live' database. Sites like HabboWidgets do the above process then make it available as a website. It appears to capture data live from the hotel and is ticked to update every such cycle that is near-live. The database is continually updated and responsive to new data retrieval requests.

Do 'captures' of the API exist? I.e. is there a 'capture' of the API for the UK Habbo pre-merge in 2010? I ask this because I'm wondering if it's possible to retrieve data that is now gone from Habbo, for example, of long-deleted Habbos and what they were wearing, or long-deleted rooms and their title or room ID number. Are either of these possible, are 'old' APIs a thing? If so, where and how does one retrieve data from them?

Any help from anyone with the know how would be much appreciated. If anyone knows of any other good sites that tap into the Habbo API and draw out data for end-users please post them here, and if there are any for 'old' hotels, even better!

I don’t think captures of the API exist unfortunately, one way that some fan sites are tackling this is to save a copy to a database every time something in the API changes (they poll it regularly and if there is a change that is not in the database, then save that change to the database).

This tends to only work for endpoints that give you an array of badges or furni, as there is no endpoint to give you every Habbo created, you couldn’t do the same thing on each Habbo without polling every single Habbo for their profile changes, which you then would store in a database.

I don't know much about development back then but I would assume that when they launched the new hotels on Flash that they probably came out with a whole new API (if there even was one before?) so the old data was lost. You'd have to find a fansite that's been around that long (not too many!) with databases that have never been cleared out (which many do when they launch new versions) and with pretty good dev to be able to tap into all that API data.

All the cool data things I've seen fansites doing really seems to have come out in the last 5 years or so, so I'm genuinely not even sure all that data was available before even.

Habbowidgets does the user data really well, and I really like what they've been doing with the wardrobe etc!

Probably back then hobbo made some changes in the database.

Yes, that is correct. The Habbo API is a database of XML files that contains information about various classes or categories of items found in the game, such as badges, Habbos, rooms, furniture, and clothing. Developers can use this information to create third-party tools and applications that access and display data from the game.
It's possible that "captures" of the API from specific points in time may exist, such as a capture of the API for the UK Habbo pre-merge in 2010. These captures could be made by individuals or organizations using tools such as web scraping or web archiving. However, it's important to note that the data obtained from these captures may not be complete or accurate, and using them may be against the terms of service of the game or the API usage policy.
Retrieving data from these old APIs may be possible, but it would depend on the specific data you are looking for, and the availability and accessibility of the old API captures. It's possible that some data may have been deleted or is no longer accessible, making it impossible to retrieve.
It's worth noting that accessing, scraping or using old data can be against the terms of service of the game and the API usage policy, and it's always good to check and make sure you have permission before doing so.