The Tool Desk
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To check whether an AI agent can reach your website, test one agent, one hostname and one URL at a time. Confirm the agent’s documented identity, fetch that hostname’s live /robots.txt, request the page and record the status, redirects and body, then check your CDN, firewall and origin logs for what the agent’s real requests received. A request with a copied user-agent string is a useful first test, but it does not prove that the real agent passes your network and security controls.
Bot names, operator roles and IP ranges change. The details below come from the following documentation: OpenAI’s Help Center article “Advertiser Guidance for Allowing OpenAI Web Crawlers”, Anthropic’s Help Center article “Does Anthropic crawl data from the web, and how can site owners block the crawler?” (dated April 7, 2026), Cloudflare’s AI Crawl Control documentation (the bot reference, “Manage AI crawlers” and “Directives” pages), and OpenAI’s Help Center article “ChatGPT Work’s Cloud browser allowlisting”. Check the current version of each page before you change a policy.
Start by naming the agent and the goal
“AI agent” covers several kinds of traffic. A provider may run one bot to collect data for model training, another to power search results, and a third that fetches a page only when a user asks about it. Each can have its own identity and its own controls, so a result for one bot tells you little about the others.
| Provider | Bot name | Role as the provider or Cloudflare describes it |
|---|---|---|
| OpenAI | GPTBot | AI crawler (Cloudflare’s bot reference) |
| OpenAI | OAI-SearchBot | AI search (Cloudflare’s bot reference) |
| OpenAI | ChatGPT-User | AI assistant identity (Cloudflare’s bot reference) |
| Anthropic | ClaudeBot | Potential model-training collection (Anthropic’s Help Center) |
| Anthropic | Claude-SearchBot | Search quality (Anthropic’s Help Center) |
| Anthropic | Claude-User | Retrieval in response to user queries (Anthropic’s Help Center) |
Cloudflare’s bot reference also lists Perplexity, Google, Microsoft and other operators. Use each operator’s own documentation for the current token and role, because the inventory changes.
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Browser agents are a separate case
Interactive browser agents do not necessarily identify themselves the way crawlers do. For ChatGPT Work’s Cloud browser, OpenAI documents signed outbound HTTP requests that follow the HTTP Message Signatures standard (RFC 9421). The Signature-Agent header identifies https://chatgpt.com, and a public-key directory lets a server verify the signature. OpenAI also publishes allowlisting instructions for Akamai, Cloudflare, HUMAN and Vercel, plus a direct verification route for other CDNs. At launch, that article says the Cloud browser cannot sign in to websites or complete payments. These details describe one product as documented at that time. Do not apply crawler user-agent rules to other browser agents without checking their documentation.
The six checks
1. Define what “reach” means
Write down the provider and product, the exact URL, whether the agent is a crawler or an interactive browser, and whether you want to permit or prevent access. Do not assume that blocking a training crawler also blocks search or user-directed retrieval. Anthropic distinguishes ClaudeBot, Claude-SearchBot and Claude-User and describes separate consequences for disabling each.
2. Fetch the live robots.txt for each hostname
- Request
https://your-hostname/robots.txtdirectly. Confirm that it returns HTTP 200 on that hostname and does not redirect to a different one. - Find the group that applies to the bot’s token, or the
*group if none matches, and check the rules for your target path. - Repeat for every subdomain you want to cover. Anthropic says its opt-out rules must be applied to each subdomain the owner intends to cover.
Do not rely on a local copy of the file. A CDN, hosting layer or managed robots feature can change what is served. OpenAI states that its crawlers respect robots.txt, but a robots rule is a permission signal, not proof that the page will be delivered.
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Request the exact public URL and record the status code, every redirect hop, the relevant response headers and a short inspection of the body. Repeat the request with an ordinary browser user agent so you have a comparison. OpenAI’s guidance for landing-page access asks for a successful HTTP response, so a 403, 429, redirect or interstitial is a signal to investigate. A copied user-agent request tests one request pattern from your own machine and network. It is a diagnostic, not a guarantee of how the provider’s infrastructure will be treated.
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4. Review the CDN, WAF and bot controls
Search the security layer’s event log for the time, hostname, path, suspected bot identity, action taken and response returned. A request can be allowed by robots.txt and still be challenged or blocked by an edge rule.
Cloudflare’s AI Crawl Control documentation describes crawler-specific allow or block actions, reporting on requests and unsuccessful requests, robots.txt violation reporting, and advanced WAF rules. Its bot reference notes that some plans identify crawlers by user-agent string, while a more thorough detection option uses Bot Management detection IDs. These are Cloudflare features and plan distinctions, so check which mode your plan uses.
Where a provider offers verified-bot identification, use its documented mechanism. OpenAI advises against relying only on short-term IP observations, because crawler infrastructure may change. It publishes crawler IP-range files, but those ranges can change too, so recheck the files before writing IP-based rules.
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5. Check application-level barriers and the content served
Review authentication, session checks, CAPTCHAs, JavaScript challenges, behavioral analysis and geographic rules. OpenAI lists these as barriers that can stop automated access even when the network layers are passed. Then confirm that the response contains the content the agent needs. An HTML shell or an access interstitial is not the same as the page’s real content. The guidance reviewed for this article does not establish a test that works for every agent’s handling of client-rendered content, so report only what you actually tested.
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6. Confirm in logs, then retest
Check both edge or CDN logs and origin logs. A request rejected at the edge never reaches the origin, so application logs alone can miss it. Compare the timestamp, requested URL, user agent or verified identity, status code and mitigation action. Retest after each specific configuration change, using the same provider and the same path, and confirm the result in the logs.
Run the checks with code
The scripts below run checks 2 and 3 from your own network. Set AGENT_UA to the full user-agent string from the provider’s documentation, and set BROWSER_UA to an ordinary desktop browser string. The Python script evaluates simple path rules with the standard library parser, which does not handle * or $ wildcards, so check wildcard rules by eye.
Python
import os
import sys
from urllib import robotparser
from urllib.parse import urlsplit
import requests
target = sys.argv[1] # e.g. https://www.example.com/pricing
agent_token = sys.argv[2] # robots.txt token, e.g. GPTBot
agent_ua = os.environ['AGENT_UA'] # full UA string from the provider's docs
browser_ua = os.environ['BROWSER_UA'] # ordinary desktop browser UA for comparison
parts = urlsplit(target)
robots_url = f'{parts.scheme}://{parts.netloc}/robots.txt'
# Check 2: robots.txt on this exact hostname
r = requests.get(robots_url, timeout=20)
print(f'robots.txt: HTTP {r.status_code}, final URL {r.url}')
if r.status_code == 200:
rp = robotparser.RobotFileParser()
rp.parse(r.text.splitlines())
print(f'allowed for {agent_token}: {rp.can_fetch(agent_token, target)}')
print('check * and $ wildcard rules by eye; this parser does not evaluate them')
else:
print('no usable robots.txt on this hostname: check redirects, subdomains and the CDN')
# Check 3: the page as the agent, then as a normal browser
for label, ua in [('agent', agent_ua), ('browser', browser_ua)]:
resp = requests.get(target, headers={'User-Agent': ua, 'Accept': 'text/html,*/*;q=0.8'}, timeout=30)
body = resp.text.lower()
markers = [m for m in ('captcha', 'verify you are human', 'access denied', 'unusual traffic') if m in body]
shown = ', '.join(markers) or 'none'
hops = [h.status_code for h in resp.history]
print(f'[{label}] status={resp.status_code} redirects={hops} final={resp.url}')
print(f'[{label}] body_chars={len(resp.text)} challenge_markers={shown}')
for name in ('Server', 'Content-Type', 'Retry-After', 'CF-Ray'):
if name in resp.headers:
print(f'[{label}] {name}: {resp.headers[name]}')
Run it with:
AGENT_UA='paste the full UA string from the provider docs' BROWSER_UA='your browser UA' python check_agent.py https://www.example.com/pricing GPTBotcURL
# Check 2: robots.txt on this exact hostname
curl -s -o /tmp/robots.txt -w 'robots HTTP %{http_code}\n' https://www.example.com/robots.txt
grep -n -i -A4 'user-agent: GPTBot' /tmp/robots.txt
# Check 3: the page as the agent, following redirects
curl -sL -o /tmp/agent.html -A "$AGENT_UA" -w 'agent status=%{http_code} redirects=%{num_redirects} final=%{url_effective}\n' https://www.example.com/pricing
# Check 3: the same page as a normal browser
curl -sL -o /tmp/browser.html -A "$BROWSER_UA" -w 'browser status=%{http_code} redirects=%{num_redirects} final=%{url_effective}\n' https://www.example.com/pricing
# Compare sizes and look for challenge text
wc -c /tmp/agent.html /tmp/browser.html
grep -i -c -E 'captcha|verify you are human|access denied' /tmp/agent.htmlIf the grep for user-agent: GPTBot returns nothing, the file has no group for that token, so the * group applies.
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This version uses Node 18 or later with ES modules, saved as check-agent.mjs. Node has no built-in robots.txt parser, so it prints the file for manual review.
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const [target, agentToken] = process.argv.slice(2);
const { origin } = new URL(target);
// Check 2: robots.txt on this exact hostname
const robots = await fetch(`${origin}/robots.txt`);
console.log(`robots.txt: HTTP ${robots.status}, final ${robots.url}`);
if (robots.ok) console.log((await robots.text()).split('n').slice(0, 40).join('n'));
console.log(`review the group for ${agentToken} by hand`);
// Check 3: the page as the agent, then as a normal browser
for (const [label, ua] of [['agent', process.env.AGENT_UA], ['browser', process.env.BROWSER_UA]]) {
const res = await fetch(target, { headers: { 'User-Agent': ua, Accept: 'text/html,*/*;q=0.8' }, redirect: 'follow' });
const body = (await res.text()).toLowerCase();
const markers = ['captcha', 'verify you are human', 'access denied', 'unusual traffic'].filter(m => body.includes(m));
console.log(`[${label}] status=${res.status} final=${res.url} redirected=${res.redirected}`);
console.log(`[${label}] body_chars=${body.length} challenge_markers=${markers.length ? markers.join(',') : 'none'}`);
console.log(`[${label}] retry-after=${res.headers.get('retry-after') ?? 'none'}`);
}Run it with AGENT_UA='...' BROWSER_UA='...' node check-agent.mjs https://www.example.com/pricing GPTBot.
Read the results
- robots.txt returns 200, the group allows the token, the agent request returns 200 and the body matches the browser response: the path is reachable from your network with that request pattern. Confirm in the logs that the real agent’s requests arrive and get the same response.
- robots.txt disallows the token for that path: the permission signal says no. Change the group only for the bot you intend to affect, then retest.
- Any other status, redirect or challenge marker: go to the troubleshooting table below.
Troubleshooting
| Symptom | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| robots.txt returns 404 | The hostname serves no robots.txt, so no robots rules are published there | Confirm you tested the hostname agents actually crawl. Check for a redirect to another host. A missing file is not a block on its own. |
| robots.txt returns 5xx or times out | The origin or a WAF rule is failing to serve the file | Cloudflare’s documentation advises checking upstream WAF or other security settings when the file exists but cannot be reached. Allow requests for /robots.txt through those rules. |
| Agent request gets 403, browser request gets 200 | An edge rule matches the agent’s user agent, or a bot score is blocking it | Find the matching event in the security log. Allow the verified bot through the provider’s documented mechanism rather than through a broad rule that also opens the site to other traffic. |
| Agent request gets 429 | Rate limiting | Review throttling rules and 429 events for that user agent. OpenAI recommends this check when rate limiting is suspected. Check the Retry-After header if present. |
| 200 response containing a challenge or CAPTCHA | A JavaScript challenge or CAPTCHA is served to that client | Review bot mitigation for that path. A 200 status alone does not prove the agent received the page. |
| Redirect to a login or region page | An authentication or geographic rule | Confirm the page is meant to be public. Repeat the test from the region the agent operates in if you can. |
| 200 response with an almost empty HTML shell | The content is loaded client-side | Compare the output with the browser response. The sources reviewed here do not establish how every agent renders JavaScript, so confirm against the provider’s documentation. |
When the script passes but the real agent still fails
Your test ran from your own machine and network, and the provider’s requests may come from different addresses and carry verification signatures your test does not send. Start with the logs for the real agent’s requests. If they show a block, the cause is almost always an IP-based, verified-bot or security-rule decision that a copied user-agent test cannot reproduce. Fix that rule, using the provider’s documented identification method where one exists, and retest from the logs.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Sources and dates
- OpenAI Help Center, “Advertiser Guidance for Allowing OpenAI Web Crawlers”: robots.txt, WAF and CDN rules, bot mitigation, rate limiting, IP-range caution.
- Cloudflare, “Bot reference” (AI Crawl Control documentation): crawler names, operators and categories.
- Cloudflare, “Manage AI crawlers”: request reporting, allow and block controls, detection modes and WAF integration.
- Cloudflare, “Directives”: robots.txt availability and status by hostname, and upstream security checks.
- Anthropic Help Center, “Does Anthropic crawl data from the web, and how can site owners block the crawler?” (April 7, 2026): bot purposes, robots.txt behavior, subdomain scope.
- OpenAI Help Center, “ChatGPT Work’s Cloud browser allowlisting”: signed requests and provider-specific allowlisting, as documented at launch.
Or skip the browser setup
The checks above need you to run requests from a machine you control and to read logs you have access to. If you only need a current image of what a public page looks like to a rendering browser, ScreenshotNeo is a website screenshot API and MCP server. One GET request with a URL returns a PNG, JPEG or WebP screenshot or a PDF. It is a visual check of what a browser received. It does not show what a specific AI agent received, so keep using the robots.txt and log checks for that.
curl -G "https://api.screenshotneo.com/v1/shot" -d access_key=YOUR_API_KEY --data-urlencode url=https://example.com/pricing -o shot.webpimport requests
r = requests.get("https://api.screenshotneo.com/v1/shot", params={"access_key": "YOUR_API_KEY", "url": "https://example.com/pricing"}, timeout=90)
open("shot.webp", "wb").write(r.content)import { writeFile } from 'node:fs/promises';
const q = new URLSearchParams({ access_key: 'YOUR_API_KEY', url: 'https://example.com/pricing' });
const res = await fetch(`https://api.screenshotneo.com/v1/shot?${q}`);
await writeFile('shot.webp', Buffer.from(await res.arrayBuffer()));Parameters are listed in the ScreenshotNeo docs.
- Cookie banners, popups and chat widgets are removed before the shot. ScreenshotNeo accepts the cookie or consent banner the way a visitor would and removes 60+ known consent platforms, newsletter popups and chat widgets. Each step can be turned off.
- Bot checks, blank pages and failed loads are never billed. Bot checks and CAPTCHAs, blank pages, timeouts, failed loads and cache hits cost nothing. Each response says which it was in the X-Page-Verdict and X-Billed headers.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Can I run these checks without access to my CDN or origin logs?
Only the public side. You can test robots.txt, status codes, redirects and the response body from outside your network. Event and origin logs need dashboard or server access, so ask whoever runs your CDN or hosting for the edge events and origin logs covering the time of your test.
My page sits behind a login. Can an AI agent reach it?
Not through an anonymous request. The check will return the login response or a redirect to it. OpenAI’s Cloud browser article says that product could not sign in to websites at launch, so treat logged-in content as unreachable for that agent unless the page is public.
Does this method work for Perplexity, Google or Microsoft crawlers?
The steps are the same: confirm the identity, fetch robots.txt, request the page, and check the logs. Replace the token and user-agent string with the values from that operator’s own documentation. The sources used here cover OpenAI, Anthropic and Cloudflare, so check other operators’ documentation directly.
How should I decide which AI bots to allow?
Decide bot by bot. Compare the purpose (training, search or user-directed retrieval), the hostname and path scope, whether the operator supports verified identity, whether enforcement happens in robots.txt, at the WAF or in the application, whether the bot receives the real page content, and what allowing or blocking it does to your traffic. Check the provider’s current terms before you change policy.
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