# User-triggered fetcher

Category: [AI Bots & Crawlers](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/category/ai-bots-crawlers/) › [Types of AI bots](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/category/ai-bots-crawlers/types-of-ai-bots/)

A **user-triggered fetcher** is an automated program that loads a web page because a person asked a product to do so. Google defines user-triggered fetchers as being initiated by users to perform a fetching function within a Google product.

## How do user-triggered fetchers treat robots.txt?

It depends on the operator. Google states that because a user requested the fetch, these fetchers generally ignore robots.txt rules. OpenAI says robots.txt rules may not apply to ChatGPT-User because users initiate those actions. Perplexity says Perplexity-User generally ignores robots.txt for the same reason. Anthropic says its bots honor robots.txt directives and lists Claude-User among them.

A robots.txt rule is therefore not a dependable way to stop these requests. Restricting them takes rules on the server or at a CDN.

## Which examples exist?

Google lists fetchers such as Google Read Aloud, Google Site Verifier, Feedfetcher and Google-Agent. Among AI assistants, ChatGPT-User, Claude-User and Perplexity-User work this way.

## Example

Someone asks an AI assistant to summarize a product page. The assistant requests the URL once. The server log shows a single request with the service's user agent and not a series of crawl requests.

## FAQ

**Is a user-triggered fetcher a crawler?**
Google files them under a separate heading from its crawlers. Crawlers run on their own, fetchers act when a user asks.

## At a glance

- **Type:** Type of fetch (triggered by users, single URL)
- **Affects:** exactly the requested page
- **Values:** ChatGPT-User, Claude-User, Perplexity-User
- **Docs:** [Google: User-Triggered Fetchers](https://developers.google.com/crawling/docs/crawlers-fetchers/google-user-triggered-fetchers)

Last checked: October 8, 2026

## AI bots compared

| Bot | Operator | Purpose | robots.txt token | robots.txt according to the operator | IP list published? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Google-Extended | Google | 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.com/gptbot.json) |
| OAI-SearchBot | OpenAI | Search (ChatGPT) | OAI-SearchBot | opted-out sites are not shown in ChatGPT search answers | yes (openai.com/searchbot.json) |
| ChatGPT-User | OpenAI | User-triggered fetch | ChatGPT-User | robots.txt rules may not apply, says OpenAI (user-initiated) | yes (openai.com/chatgpt-user.json) |
| ClaudeBot | Anthropic | Training | ClaudeBot | yes, Anthropic says its bots honor robots.txt | yes (claude.com/crawling/bots.json) |
| Claude-SearchBot | Anthropic | Search (Claude) | Claude-SearchBot | yes, Anthropic says its bots honor robots.txt | yes (claude.com/crawling/bots.json) |
| PerplexityBot | Perplexity | Search (Perplexity), not used for model training | PerplexityBot | controllable via robots.txt; the docs contain no explicit compliance statement | yes (perplexity.com/perplexitybot.json) |
| 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.commoncrawl.org/ccbot.json) |
| Meta-ExternalAgent | Meta | Training foundation AI models, improving products | meta-externalagent | can be blocked via robots.txt, says Meta | not stated by the operator |

Sources: [OpenAI: Overview of OpenAI Crawlers](https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/bots); [Anthropic: Does Anthropic crawl data from the web, and how can site owners block the crawler? (updated 2026-04-07)](https://support.claude.com/en/articles/8896518-does-anthropic-crawl-data-from-the-web-and-how-can-site-owners-block-the-crawler); [Perplexity: Perplexity Crawlers](https://docs.perplexity.ai/guides/bots); [Google: Google's common crawlers (last updated 2026-07-14)](https://developers.google.com/crawling/docs/crawlers-fetchers/google-common-crawlers); [Google: Overview of Google crawlers and fetchers (last updated 2026-06-12)](https://developers.google.com/crawling/docs/crawlers-fetchers/overview-google-crawlers); [Google: Verifying Google crawlers and fetchers (IP range files)](https://developers.google.com/crawling/docs/crawlers-fetchers/verify-google-requests); [Apple: About Applebot (2026-09-04)](https://support.apple.com/en-us/119829); [Meta: Meta Web Crawlers](https://developers.facebook.com/docs/sharing/webmasters/web-crawlers/); [Common Crawl: CCBot](https://commoncrawl.org/ccbot). Last checked: October 8, 2026

## Related terms

- [ChatGPT-User](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/chatgpt-user/index.md)
- [Claude-User](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/claude-user/index.md)
- [Perplexity-User](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/perplexity-user/index.md)
- [AI crawler](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/ai-crawler/index.md)
- [robots.txt](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/robots-txt/index.md)

## Sources

- [Google User-Triggered Fetchers – Google Search Central](https://developers.google.com/crawling/docs/crawlers-fetchers/google-user-triggered-fetchers)
- [Overview of OpenAI Crawlers – OpenAI](https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/bots)
- [Perplexity Crawlers – Perplexity Docs](https://docs.perplexity.ai/docs/resources/perplexity-crawlers)
- [Does Anthropic crawl data from the web? – Claude Help Center](https://support.claude.com/en/articles/8896518-does-anthropic-crawl-data-from-the-web-and-how-can-site-owners-block-the-crawler)

---

Last updated: October 8, 2026
URL: https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/user-triggered-fetcher/