What is OAI-SearchBot?
OAI-SearchBot · OpenAI · Search index crawler
OAI-SearchBot is OpenAI's crawler. It builds the index an AI answer engine retrieves and cites from. Builds the index behind ChatGPT search results. Blocking it removes you from ChatGPT search.
What it does
OAI-SearchBot builds the index that answers are retrieved from. Builds the index behind ChatGPT search results. Blocking it removes you from ChatGPT search.
It does not execute JavaScript. Whatever your server returns in the initial HTML response is the entire page as far as OAI-SearchBot is concerned — if your content is rendered client-side, this crawler reads an empty container.
Should you block OAI-SearchBot?
Only if you want out of OpenAI's AI answers. OAI-SearchBot builds the index an AI answer engine retrieves and cites from, so blocking it means your pages stop being available as a source there.
You are removed from the index that ChatGPT search draws on. When a user asks a question your page answers, your page is not a candidate. There is no partial version of this: an unindexed page is not ranked low, it is absent.
To allow it
User-agent: OAI-SearchBot
Allow: /To block it
User-agent: OAI-SearchBot
Disallow: /Put the rule in your robots.txt at the site root. A group that names OAI-SearchBot explicitly takes precedence over your User-agent: * group, so naming it is how you make your intent survive later edits to the wildcard rules.
Verifying a real OAI-SearchBot request
OpenAI publishes a separate IP range file for the search crawler, distinct from the GPTBot list. Verify against that one specifically — the ranges are not interchangeable.
The mistake people make
Copying a "block AI scrapers" robots.txt snippet from a blog post. Most of those snippets were written when GPTBot was the only OpenAI crawler and now sweep up the search crawler alongside it, quietly removing the site from ChatGPT search.
OpenAI's other crawlers
- GPTBotCollects content for OpenAI model training. Blocking it does not remove you from ChatGPT answers.
- ChatGPT-UserFetches a page when a ChatGPT user follows or asks about a specific link.
Frequently asked questions
- What is OAI-SearchBot?
- OAI-SearchBot is OpenAI's crawler. It builds the index an AI answer engine retrieves and cites from. Builds the index behind ChatGPT search results. Blocking it removes you from ChatGPT search.
- Should I block OAI-SearchBot?
- Only if you want out of OpenAI's AI answers. OAI-SearchBot builds the index an AI answer engine retrieves and cites from, so blocking it means your pages stop being available as a source there.
- How do I block OAI-SearchBot in robots.txt?
- Add a group to the robots.txt at your site root: "User-agent: OAI-SearchBot" followed by "Disallow: /". Use "Allow: /" instead to allow it explicitly.
Further reading
- The Complete Guide to robots.txt for AI Crawlers: Which Bots to Allow
GPTBot vs OAI-SearchBot, ClaudeBot vs Claude-User, Googlebot vs Google-Extended: which AI crawlers to allow, which to block, and copy-ready robots.txt templates.
- How to Create and Optimize an llms.txt File for Your Website
The llms.txt format, where the file goes, how to keep it token-efficient, working examples for Next.js and static sites, and an honest account of who uses it.
- What is Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)? The Complete 2026 Guide
How ChatGPT Search, Perplexity and Claude find, read and cite pages, why that differs from Googlebot, and what the research says actually improves AI visibility.
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