What is Perplexity-User?
Perplexity-User · Perplexity · User-action fetcher
Perplexity-User is Perplexity's crawler. It fetches a page when a person asks the assistant about it. Fetches a page when a Perplexity user opens or asks about a specific link.
What it does
Perplexity-User fetches a page because a user asked about that specific link. Fetches a page when a Perplexity user opens or asks about a specific link.
It does not execute JavaScript. Whatever your server returns in the initial HTML response is the entire page as far as Perplexity-User is concerned — if your content is rendered client-side, this crawler reads an empty container.
Should you block Perplexity-User?
Only if you want out of Perplexity's AI answers. Perplexity-User fetches a page when a person asks the assistant about it, so blocking it means your pages stop being available as a source there.
When someone opens your link from within Perplexity or asks about it directly, the page cannot be read. The user sees a failure rather than your content.
To allow it
User-agent: Perplexity-User
Allow: /To block it
User-agent: Perplexity-User
Disallow: /robots.txt may not stop it. Perplexity says this fetcher generally ignores robots.txt rules, because a user requested the fetch. The rule below records your preference; to actually stop it, block its published IP ranges (https://www.perplexity.com/perplexity-user.json) at your CDN or firewall. Put the rule in your robots.txt at the site root. A group that names Perplexity-User 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 Perplexity-User request
Check the source IP against Perplexity's published ranges. As a user-action fetcher, it arrives as individual requests triggered by a person, not as a scheduled crawl.
The mistake people make
Grouping it with PerplexityBot in a single Disallow. The indexing crawler and the user fetcher serve different moments in the same journey, and blocking both closes the loop twice.
Perplexity's other crawlers
- PerplexityBotBuilds the Perplexity index. Blocking it removes you from Perplexity citations.
Frequently asked questions
- What is Perplexity-User?
- Perplexity-User is Perplexity's crawler. It fetches a page when a person asks the assistant about it. Fetches a page when a Perplexity user opens or asks about a specific link.
- Should I block Perplexity-User?
- Only if you want out of Perplexity's AI answers. Perplexity-User fetches a page when a person asks the assistant about it, so blocking it means your pages stop being available as a source there.
- How do I block Perplexity-User in robots.txt?
- Add a group to the robots.txt at your site root: "User-agent: Perplexity-User" followed by "Disallow: /". Use "Allow: /" instead to allow it explicitly. Perplexity says this fetcher generally ignores robots.txt rules, because a user requested the fetch.
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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