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OAI-SearchBot user agent

Operated by OpenAI · AI search index · Finding you

robots.txt token
OAI-SearchBot
Full User-Agent string
Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko); compatible; OAI-SearchBot/1.0; +https://openai.com/searchbot

OAI-SearchBot identifies itself with the token OAI-SearchBot. That is the case-insensitive substring to grep for in access logs, and the exact name to put after User-agent: in robots.txt. It builds the index an AI search product answers from.

Allow or block OAI-SearchBot in robots.txt

Robots.txt applies the most specific matching group, so a group naming OAI-SearchBot overrides your User-agent: * rules for this bot alone.

Allow
User-agent: OAI-SearchBot
Allow: /
Block
User-agent: OAI-SearchBot
Disallow: /

What blocking costs you: You won't be cited in ChatGPT Search results.

To see which AI crawlers your robots.txt allows right now, run your domain through the AI crawler access checker. To check whether AI answers actually cite you, use the AI citation checker.

OpenAI's other crawlers

Blocking one OpenAI bot does not block the others — each token is a separate group.

OpenAI's own documentation: https://platform.openai.com/docs/bots

FAQ

What is the OAI-SearchBot user agent?
OAI-SearchBot announces itself with the User-Agent token "OAI-SearchBot". That token is the case-insensitive substring to match in server logs and the exact name to put after "User-agent:" in robots.txt. The full line OpenAI publishes is: Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko); compatible; OAI-SearchBot/1.0; +https://openai.com/searchbot
Who operates OAI-SearchBot and what does it collect?
OAI-SearchBot is run by OpenAI and builds the index an AI search product answers from. In the AI picture that puts it under "Finding you": Building the AI index that decides who gets cited.
How do I block OAI-SearchBot?
Add a robots.txt group naming the token exactly: User-agent: OAI-SearchBot followed by Disallow: /. Robots.txt matches the most specific group, so a OAI-SearchBot group overrides whatever your User-agent: * group says. You won't be cited in ChatGPT Search results.
Should I block OAI-SearchBot?
That depends on what you lose. You won't be cited in ChatGPT Search results. Sites chasing AI citations usually keep the live-answer and AI-search bots open and make a separate decision about the training crawlers. Run your domain through the AI crawler access checker to see which ones your robots.txt lets in today.
Can OAI-SearchBot be spoofed?
Yes. A User-Agent header is self-reported, so any scraper can claim to be OAI-SearchBot. The token is fine for reporting and for robots.txt, but if you are rate-limiting or firewalling on it, verify the request IP against OpenAI's published ranges before you trust the name.

Paste a full User-Agent line and identify any crawler with the AI bot user agent list and lookup, or see every token side by side.