AI crawler profile
What is OAI-SearchBot? How to allow or block OpenAI's crawler
Operator
OpenAI
Purpose
AI search & live answers
robots.txt
Respects robots.txt
Official docs
OAI-SearchBot builds the index behind ChatGPT's search experience — the linked, cited answers ChatGPT gives for current-events and lookup queries. Blocking it removes your pages from those citations without affecting model training, which is controlled separately by GPTBot.
Does OAI-SearchBot respect robots.txt?
OpenAI states OAI-SearchBot respects robots.txt rules.
Block OAI-SearchBot with robots.txt
User-agent: OAI-SearchBot Disallow: /
Explicitly allow OAI-SearchBot
User-agent: OAI-SearchBot Allow: /
Should you block OAI-SearchBot?
For most sites, no. OAI-SearchBot powers visibility: blocking it removes your pages from the cited answers OpenAI's assistant shows its users — the AI-era equivalent of de-indexing yourself from a search engine. Block it only if you deliberately don't want that audience. Our guide on blocking AI bots covers the trade-offs in detail.
Check and monitor OAI-SearchBot on your site
- AI Crawler Access Checker — see whether your current robots.txt allows or blocks OAI-SearchBot.
- robots.txt Generator for AI Bots — build a robots.txt with per-bot rules for all 15 known AI crawlers.
- AI Bot Log Analyzer — paste server logs and count real OAI-SearchBot hits, entirely in your browser.
Frequently asked questions
What is OAI-SearchBot?
OAI-SearchBot is OpenAI's agent for AI search and live answers. Powers search-style results surfaced in ChatGPT.
Does OAI-SearchBot respect robots.txt?
OpenAI states OAI-SearchBot respects robots.txt rules.
How do I block OAI-SearchBot?
Add "User-agent: OAI-SearchBot" followed by "Disallow: /" to your robots.txt file. The change takes effect the next time the bot fetches your robots.txt.
Does blocking OAI-SearchBot hurt my Google rankings?
No. OAI-SearchBot is separate from Googlebot, which handles Google Search indexing. Blocking OAI-SearchBot has no effect on your traditional search rankings, but it does remove your pages from the AI answers OpenAI's assistant serves to its users.
How can I tell if OAI-SearchBot is crawling my site?
Search your server access logs for the string "OAI-SearchBot". Our free AI Bot Log Analyzer does this in your browser: paste a log file and it counts hits per AI crawler, including OAI-SearchBot, with per-path breakdowns.
More OpenAI agents
Part of our directory of every known AI crawler, refreshed monthly. Last verified: 2026-07-15.