AI crawler profile
What is ChatGPT-User? How to allow or block OpenAI's crawler
Operator
OpenAI
Purpose
AI search & live answers
robots.txt
Respects robots.txt
Official docs
ChatGPT-User is not a crawler in the traditional sense: it fetches a specific page only when a ChatGPT user asks about it or when a GPT action calls out to the web. Traffic from it means real people are reaching your content through ChatGPT conversations.
Does ChatGPT-User respect robots.txt?
OpenAI states ChatGPT-User honors robots.txt, though as a user-triggered fetcher it visits single pages rather than crawling.
Block ChatGPT-User with robots.txt
User-agent: ChatGPT-User Disallow: /
Explicitly allow ChatGPT-User
User-agent: ChatGPT-User Allow: /
Should you block ChatGPT-User?
For most sites, no. ChatGPT-User 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 ChatGPT-User on your site
- AI Crawler Access Checker — see whether your current robots.txt allows or blocks ChatGPT-User.
- 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 ChatGPT-User hits, entirely in your browser.
Frequently asked questions
What is ChatGPT-User?
ChatGPT-User is OpenAI's agent for AI search and live answers. Fetches pages a user asks ChatGPT to browse in real time.
Does ChatGPT-User respect robots.txt?
OpenAI states ChatGPT-User honors robots.txt, though as a user-triggered fetcher it visits single pages rather than crawling.
How do I block ChatGPT-User?
Add "User-agent: ChatGPT-User" followed by "Disallow: /" to your robots.txt file. The change takes effect the next time the bot fetches your robots.txt.
Does blocking ChatGPT-User hurt my Google rankings?
No. ChatGPT-User is separate from Googlebot, which handles Google Search indexing. Blocking ChatGPT-User 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 ChatGPT-User is crawling my site?
Search your server access logs for the string "ChatGPT-User". Our free AI Bot Log Analyzer does this in your browser: paste a log file and it counts hits per AI crawler, including ChatGPT-User, with per-path breakdowns.
More OpenAI agents
Part of our directory of every known AI crawler, refreshed monthly. Last verified: 2026-07-15.