# OAI-SearchBot

## In short

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.

| Fact | Value |
| --- | --- |
| 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 | 2026-09-06 |

## 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.

## Source

- https://platform.openai.com/docs/bots (HTTP 200, Verified 2026-09-06)
- https://openai.com/searchbot.json (HTTP 200, Verified 2026-09-06)

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.