# ai.robots.txt This list contains AI-related crawlers of all types, regardless of purpose. We encourage you to contribute to and implement this list on your own site. See [information about the listed crawlers](./table-of-bot-metrics.md) and the [FAQ](https://github.com/ai-robots-txt/ai.robots.txt/blob/main/FAQ.md). A number of these crawlers have been sourced from [Known Agents](https://knownagents.com) and we appreciate the ongoing effort they put in to track these crawlers. If you'd like to add information about a crawler to the list, please make a pull request with the bot name added to `robots.txt`, `ai.txt`, and any relevant details in `table-of-bot-metrics.md` to help people understand what's crawling. ## Usage This repository provides the following files: - `robots.txt` - `.htaccess` - `nginx-block-ai-bots.conf` - `Caddyfile` - `haproxy-block-ai-bots.txt` - `lighttpd-block-ai-bots.conf` `robots.txt` implements the Robots Exclusion Protocol ([RFC 9309](https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc9309.html)). `.htaccess` may be used to configure web servers such as [Apache httpd](https://httpd.apache.org/) to return an error page when one of the listed AI crawlers sends a request to the web server. Note that, as stated in the [httpd documentation](https://httpd.apache.org/docs/current/howto/htaccess.html), more performant methods than an `.htaccess` file exist. `nginx-block-ai-bots.conf` implements a Nginx configuration snippet that can be included in any virtual host `server {}` block via the `include` directive. `Caddyfile` includes a Header Regex matcher group you can copy or import into your Caddyfile, the rejection can then be handled as followed `abort @aibots` `haproxy-block-ai-bots.txt` may be used to configure HAProxy to block AI bots. To implement it; 1. Add the file to the config directory of HAProxy 2. Add the following lines in the `frontend` section; ``` acl ai_robot hdr_sub(user-agent) -i -f /etc/haproxy/haproxy-block-ai-bots.txt http-request deny if ai_robot ``` (Note that the path of the `haproxy-block-ai-bots.txt` may be different in your environment.) `lighttpd-block-ai-bots.conf` can be included with `include "fragments/lighttpd-block-ai-bots.conf"` in your lighttpd configuration either globally or in any conditional section. [Bing uses the data it crawls for AI and training, you may opt out by adding a `meta` tag to the `head` of your site.](./docs/additional-steps/bing.md) ### Related - [Robots.txt Traefik plugin](https://plugins.traefik.io/plugins/681b2f3fba3486128fc34fae/robots-txt-plugin): middleware plugin for [Traefik](https://traefik.io/traefik/) to automatically add rules of [robots.txt](./robots.txt) file on-the-fly. - Alternatively you can [manually configure Traefik](./docs/traefik-manual-setup.md) to centrally serve a static `robots.txt`. ## Contributing A note about contributing: updates should be added/made to `robots.json`. A GitHub action will then generate the updated `robots.txt`, `table-of-bot-metrics.md`, `.htaccess` and `nginx-block-ai-bots.conf`. You can run the tests by [installing](https://www.python.org/about/gettingstarted/) Python 3, installing the dependencies: ```console pip install -r requirements.txt ``` and then issuing: ```console code/tests.py ``` The `.editorconfig` file provides standard editor options for this project. See [EditorConfig](https://editorconfig.org/) for more information. ## Releasing Admins may ship a new release `v1.n` (where `n` increments the minor version of the current release) as follows: * Navigate to the [new release page](https://github.com/ai-robots-txt/ai.robots.txt/releases/new) on GitHub. * Click `Select tag`, choose `Create new tag`, enter `v1.n` in the pop-up, and click `Create`. * Enter a suitable release title (e.g. `v1.n: adds user-agent1, user-agent2`). * Click `Generate release notes`. * Click `Publish release`. A GitHub action will then add the asset `robots.txt` to the release. That's it. ## Subscribe to updates You can subscribe to list updates via RSS/Atom with the releases feed: ``` https://github.com/ai-robots-txt/ai.robots.txt/releases.atom ``` You can subscribe with [Feedly](https://feedly.com/i/subscription/feed/https://github.com/ai-robots-txt/ai.robots.txt/releases.atom), [Inoreader](https://www.inoreader.com/?add_feed=https://github.com/ai-robots-txt/ai.robots.txt/releases.atom), [The Old Reader](https://theoldreader.com/feeds/subscribe?url=https://github.com/ai-robots-txt/ai.robots.txt/releases.atom), [Feedbin](https://feedbin.me/?subscribe=https://github.com/ai-robots-txt/ai.robots.txt/releases.atom), or any other reader app. Alternatively, you can also subscribe to new releases with your GitHub account by clicking the ⬇️ on "Watch" button at the top of this page, clicking "Custom" and selecting "Releases". ## License content with RSL It is also possible to license your content to AI companies in `robots.txt` using the [Really Simple Licensing](https://rslstandard.org) standard, with an option of collective bargaining. A [plugin](https://github.com/Jameswlepage/rsl-wp) currently implements RSL as well as payment processing for WordPress sites. ## Report abusive crawlers If you use [Cloudflare's hard block](https://blog.cloudflare.com/declaring-your-aindependence-block-ai-bots-scrapers-and-crawlers-with-a-single-click) alongside this list, you can report abusive crawlers that don't respect `robots.txt` [here](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScbUZ2vlNSdcsb8LyTeSF7uLzQI96s0BKGoJ6wQ6ocUFNOKEg/viewform). But even if you don't use Cloudflare's hard block, their list of [verified bots](https://radar.cloudflare.com/traffic/verified-bots) may come in handy. ## Additional resources - [Blocking Bots with Nginx](https://rknight.me/blog/blocking-bots-with-nginx/) by Robb Knight - [Blockin' bots.](https://ethanmarcotte.com/wrote/blockin-bots/) by Ethan Marcotte - [Blocking Bots With 11ty And Apache](https://flamedfury.com/posts/blocking-bots-with-11ty-and-apache/) by fLaMEd fury - [Blockin' bots on Netlify](https://www.jeremiak.com/blog/block-bots-netlify-edge-functions/) by Jeremia Kimelman - [Blocking AI web crawlers](https://underlap.org/blocking-ai-web-crawlers) by Glyn Normington - [Block AI Bots from Crawling Websites Using Robots.txt](https://originality.ai/ai-bot-blocking) by Jonathan Gillham, Originality.AI