OAI-SearchBot: what it is and how to allow or block it
OpenAI’s crawler for ChatGPT search. It decides whether ChatGPT can find and link to your pages.
Last checked 2026-10-08
- Company
- OpenAI
- Used for
- ChatGPT search
- Job
- Builds an AI search index
- Follows robots.txt
- Yes
- Name in robots.txt
- OAI-SearchBot
What OAI-SearchBot does
OAI-SearchBot reads pages so ChatGPT can show them in its search features. In OpenAI’s words, it “is used to surface websites in search results in ChatGPT’s search features.”
If you want ChatGPT to be able to cite and link to your site when people ask questions, this is the bot that has to be let in. OpenAI itself recommends allowing it.
Should you allow it?
Allow it. For almost any business that wants to be found through ChatGPT, blocking OAI-SearchBot works against you.
What blocking it changes: Your pages drop out of ChatGPT’s search results over the following day or so. ChatGPT can still mention you from what it already knows, but it can’t link to your current pages.
Allow or block OAI-SearchBot in robots.txt
You control it through robots.txt. OpenAI notes it can take about 24 hours after you change robots.txt for its systems to adjust.
To allow it
User-agent: OAI-SearchBot Allow: /
To block it
User-agent: OAI-SearchBot 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 OAI-SearchBot
OpenAI publishes the IP addresses OAI-SearchBot crawls from. Its user-agent string ends in “compatible; OAI-SearchBot/1.4; +https://openai.com/searchbot”.
Our guide to server log checks shows where to find these visits on common hosting setups.
Source: OpenAI 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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