Knocklog

OAI-SearchBot

OpenAI's AI search crawler.

Operator
OpenAI
Type
AI search crawler
In the user agent
OAI-SearchBot
robots.txt token
OAI-SearchBot
Follows robots.txt
says it follows robots.txt
Official documentation
developers.openai.com
Checked on
2026-11-04

What is OAI-SearchBot?

OAI-SearchBot is OpenAI's AI search crawler. It builds the index an AI assistant searches when it answers. If it cannot read your pages, the assistant cannot cite or recommend them.

The operator's description: Surfaces websites in ChatGPT search results. (developers.openai.com)

How do I block or allow OAI-SearchBot?

With robots.txt, using the token OAI-SearchBot. OpenAI says it follows robots.txt. To block the whole site:

User-agent: OAI-SearchBot
Disallow: /

To allow it, use Allow instead of Disallow. Before blocking, weigh what it brings: without it, the assistant cannot find your pages to cite or recommend them.

How do I see whether OAI-SearchBot visits my site?

In your server or CDN access logs, look for OAI-SearchBot in the user agent. Google Analytics does not show these visits: agents do not run its JavaScript.

Anyone can copy the name in a user agent, so counting log lines is not enough. Knocklog reads your site's traffic on any host, confirms who is who, and shows how often OAI-SearchBot came, which pages it read and what that brought you.

How do I know it is really OAI-SearchBot?

OpenAI publishes OAI-SearchBot's IP addresses at https://openai.com/searchbot.json. A visit that claims to be OAI-SearchBot from outside those ranges is spoofed.

Knocklog runs this check on every visit and separates the genuine agent from impostors.

Does OAI-SearchBot visit your site?

See in seconds how your site treats AI agents. Then connect your traffic to learn who really came.

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