Claude-User: what it is and how to allow or block it
Visits a page when a Claude user asks a question that needs it.
Last checked 2026-10-08
- Company
- Anthropic
- Used for
- Claude
- Job
- Fetches a page when a user asks
- Follows robots.txt
- Yes
- Name in robots.txt
- Claude-User
What Claude-User does
Claude-User fetches pages on behalf of people using Claude. Anthropic says that “when individuals ask questions to Claude, it may access websites using a Claude-User agent.”
Should you allow it?
Allow it. These are visits a real person asked for.
What blocking it changes: Anthropic says disabling it “prevents our system from retrieving your content in response to a user query.”
Allow or block Claude-User in robots.txt
Unlike some user-triggered bots from other companies, Anthropic lists Claude-User among the bots that honor robots.txt.
To allow it
User-agent: Claude-User Allow: /
To block it
User-agent: Claude-User Disallow: /
robots.txt lets every bot in by default, so you only need the allow lines if another rule in your file would otherwise block it. Our robots.txt guide explains how rules for different bots combine.
How to check a visit is really Claude-User
Anthropic publishes one IP list for its bots.
Our guide to server log checks shows where to find these visits on common hosting setups.
Source: Anthropic crawler documentation, checked 2026-10-08. Bots and their rules change often, so check the company’s own page before making a decision that matters.
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