Source-backed crawler reference
OAI-SearchBot Robots.txt Reference
OpenAI search discovery for ChatGPT search features.
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Documented role and policy effect
OpenAI documents OAI-SearchBot as the robots.txt token for managing automatic search crawl and Search opt-outs.
This is the OpenAI crawler relevant to search discovery, separate from model training and user-triggered requests.
OAI-SearchBot is used for OpenAI search discovery. GPTBot is documented separately for model training, and ChatGPT-User is used for user-initiated requests. A site can therefore allow search discovery while making a different policy decision about training.
How to interpret a robots.txt result
An allow result means the matched robots.txt directive does not block this compliant crawler on the tested path. It does not guarantee a visit, indexing, inclusion, ranking, or citation. A block is a public crawler directive, not authentication or access control.
Recommended action: Allow it when ChatGPT search discovery matches your policy. A robots allow does not guarantee crawling, inclusion, or citation.
Official source
OpenAI documentation for OAI-SearchBot
See the AI Index Check methodology for verification, scoring, limitations, and correction policy.