Claude-SearchBot is an Anthropic crawler that navigates the web to improve the quality of search results for Claude users. It is one of three Anthropic bots. ClaudeBot collects content for model training, and Claude-User fetches pages when a person asks Claude a question.
At a glance
- Operator
- Anthropic
- Purpose
- improving search result quality in Claude (indexing web content)
- robots.txt token
Claude-SearchBot- Respects robots.txt
- yes, Anthropic says its bots honor robots.txt
- IP list
- yes (JSON)
Last checked:
What happens if you block it?
Anthropic states that blocking Claude-SearchBot may reduce a site’s visibility and the accuracy of search results in Claude. Anyone who only wants to keep content out of training would block ClaudeBot instead, since each bot is controlled by its own user agent. Some third-party bot directories also link Claude-SearchBot to AI training, which Anthropic’s description does not mention.
| Bot | Operator | Purpose | robots.txt token | robots.txt according to the operator | IP list published? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Google-Extended | Controls Gemini training and grounding (no crawler of its own) | Google-Extended | robots.txt token only; fetching is done by existing Google crawlers | n/a (no user agent of its own) | |
| GPTBot | OpenAI | Training | GPTBot | Disallowing it signals content should not be used to train foundation models | yes (openai.) |
| OAI-SearchBot | OpenAI | Search (ChatGPT) | OAI-SearchBot | opted-out sites are not shown in ChatGPT search answers | yes (openai.) |
| ChatGPT-User | OpenAI | User-triggered fetch | ChatGPT-User | robots.txt rules may not apply, says OpenAI (user-initiated) | yes (openai.) |
| ClaudeBot | Anthropic | Training | ClaudeBot | yes, Anthropic says its bots honor robots.txt | yes (claude.) |
| Claude-SearchBot (this term) | Anthropic | Search (Claude) | Claude-SearchBot | yes, Anthropic says its bots honor robots.txt | yes (claude.) |
| PerplexityBot | Perplexity | Search (Perplexity), not used for model training | PerplexityBot | controllable via robots.txt; the docs contain no explicit compliance statement | yes (perplexity.) |
| Applebot-Extended | Apple | Controls AI training (does not crawl, says Apple) | Applebot-Extended | robots.txt token only, applies to content Applebot already crawled | n/a (no crawler of its own) |
| CCBot | Common Crawl | Open web crawl archive | CCBot | can be blocked via robots.txt, says Common Crawl | yes (index.) |
| Meta-ExternalAgent | Meta | Training foundation AI models, improving products | meta-externalagent | can be blocked via robots.txt, says Meta | not stated by the operator |
A selection of ten AI bots from major operators, not a complete list. All values come from each operator's own documentation (as of 8 October 2026). The table does not show whether a bot actually complies with robots.txt; it only reflects what operators state. User agents can be spoofed; published IP lists or reverse DNS identify genuine requests. Sources: OpenAI: Overview of OpenAI Crawlers; Anthropic: Does Anthropic crawl data from the web, and how can site owners block the crawler? (updated 2026-04-07); Perplexity: Perplexity Crawlers; Google: Google's common crawlers (last updated 2026-07-14); Google: Overview of Google crawlers and fetchers (last updated 2026-06-12); Google: Verifying Google crawlers and fetchers (IP range files); Apple: About Applebot (2026-09-04); Meta: Meta Web Crawlers; Common Crawl: CCBot. Last checked: .
Example
The pattern comes from Anthropic’s ClaudeBot example, applied here to Claude-SearchBot:
User-agent: Claude-SearchBot
Disallow: /
Anthropic also documents the Crawl-delay directive for slowing the bots down:
User-agent: Claude-SearchBot
Crawl-delay: 1
A note on IP blocking
Anthropic advises against blocking its bots by IP address. A bot blocked that way cannot read the site’s robots.txt and does not learn about the site owner’s preferences. For checking genuine requests, Anthropic publishes the official IP list.
Common mistakes
- Blocking Claude-SearchBot to exclude training. According to Anthropic, blocking it removes content from search indexing. ClaudeBot collects training data.
- Setting the rule on the main domain only. Anthropic says the directive must be applied to each subdomain separately.
FAQ
Is Claude-SearchBot the same as ClaudeBot? No. They are separate bots with separate user agents and purposes.
Sources
Last updated: