OAI-SearchBot: robots token, verification and how to allow or disallow it
OAI-SearchBot is an AI crawler operated by OpenAI. Its robots.txt token is OAI-SearchBot, and the vendor documentation we fetched on 2026-09-06 is the source for every statement on this page.
| Robots token | OAI-SearchBot |
|---|---|
| Vendor | OpenAI |
| Purpose | search index |
| Documented verification | published IP ranges |
| Vendor documentation last verified | 2026-09-06 |
| Share of read domains disallowing it for / | 5.5% of 128 |
| Last verified |
Identity
| Robots token | OAI-SearchBot |
|---|---|
| Matched as | oai-searchbot |
| Vendor | OpenAI |
| Purpose | search index |
| Documentation | https://platform.openai.com/docs/bots |
| Documented verification | published IP ranges: https://openai.com/searchbot.json |
Builds the search surface that produces links and citations in ChatGPT. Vendor states it is not used to train foundation models.
Allow or disallow it
User-agent: OAI-SearchBot Allow: /
User-agent: OAI-SearchBot Disallow: /
A robots.txt rule is a request that a well behaved crawler honours. It is not an access control, and this page does not tell anyone what to choose.
Questions
Does OAI-SearchBot obey robots.txt?
The vendor documentation at https://platform.openai.com/docs/bots states that OAI-SearchBot respects robots.txt. We fetched that page and it answered our checker on 2026-09-06. This records what the vendor documents, not what any individual request did.
How do I allow OAI-SearchBot in robots.txt?
Add this group to the robots.txt at the root of the host: User-agent: OAI-SearchBot Allow: /. The token is matched case insensitively as a substring of the user agent by RFC 9309, and the longest matching rule wins.
How do I disallow OAI-SearchBot in robots.txt?
Add this group to the robots.txt at the root of the host: User-agent: OAI-SearchBot Disallow: /. A robots.txt rule is a request that a well behaved crawler honours; it is not an access control.
How do I verify a request really came from OAI-SearchBot?
The vendor publishes the IP ranges this crawler fetches from at https://openai.com/searchbot.json. Check the address of the request against that file. A user agent string on its own proves nothing, because anyone can send one.
What we measure
Of the 128 seeded domains whose robots.txt we have read, 7 disallow OAI-SearchBot for / and 121 allow it, which is 5.5% disallowed, week 2026-W37. Counts only: no domain is named.
The weekly AI crawler access index
Sources
| Source | Type | HTTP | Verified | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| https://platform.openai.com/docs/bots | vendor | 200 | 2026-09-06 | 10 occurrences of OAI-SearchBot in the fetched body |
| https://openai.com/searchbot.json | vendor | 200 | 2026-09-06 | published IP ranges |
Free data
Check a domain against every token
AEO Watch is an independent, factual monitor. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by or speaking for any crawler vendor. Every statement is an observation with the date it was made and the raw evidence behind it: a robots.txt line, an HTTP status code, a header. There are no scores, no grades and no verdicts here, and nothing on this page is advice. A site opts out at any time and the opt out is honoured automatically and permanently.