ChatGPT Agent user agent
Operated by OpenAI
ChatGPT Agent is OpenAI's browsing agent that navigates and operates websites to complete multi-step tasks for ChatGPT users.
The ChatGPT Agent bot at a glance
- ChatGPT Agent is operated by OpenAI and loads web pages in a browser to complete tasks on behalf of a user.
- The robots.txt token for ChatGPT Agent is ChatGPT Agent.
- Blocking an AI agent has no effect on search rankings.
- ChatGPT Agent robots.txt support: Yes.
- Recommendation for Generative Engine Optimization (GEO): Allow.
What is ChatGPT Agent?
ChatGPT Agent runs a remote browser that can open pages, click, fill forms and compare options for a ChatGPT user.
Its traffic is triggered by a user task, not by crawling, so it behaves more like a visitor than a bot.
Should you block ChatGPT Agent?
Allow ChatGPT Agent unless it causes a measurable load problem.
| Effect on search rankings | Blocking an AI agent has no effect on search rankings. |
|---|---|
| Effect on AI visibility | Blocking stops agents from completing tasks on your website for their users, which can cost bookings or sales that agents would have made. |
| Follows robots.txt | Yes |
| Recommendation | Allow |
How to block or allow ChatGPT Agent
Put the robots.txt rule in the file at the root of every domain and subdomain, for example https://example.com/robots.txt. The token ChatGPT Agent is matched case-insensitively.
robots.txt: block
# Block ChatGPT Agent
User-agent: ChatGPT Agent
Disallow: /robots.txt: allow
# Allow ChatGPT Agent
User-agent: ChatGPT Agent
Allow: /robots.txt: partial
# Keep ChatGPT Agent out of private areas only
User-agent: ChatGPT Agent
Disallow: /wp-admin/
Disallow: /cart/
Disallow: /checkout/
Disallow: /my-account/
Allow: /Nginx
# Nginx: return 403 to ChatGPT Agent
if ($http_user_agent ~* "(ChatGPT Agent)") {
return 403;
}Apache
# Apache .htaccess: return 403 to ChatGPT Agent
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} (ChatGPT Agent) [NC]
RewriteRule .* - [F,L]Cloudflare WAF
# Cloudflare > Security > WAF > Custom rule, action: Block
(http.user_agent contains "ChatGPT Agent")How to verify real ChatGPT Agent traffic
OpenAI publishes no IP list or reverse DNS pattern for ChatGPT Agent, so the user agent cannot be verified. Anyone can send the same string. Rate-limit unusual volume instead of trusting the name.
How to find ChatGPT Agent in your server logs
Search the web server access log for the token. The command below counts ChatGPT Agent requests per URL on Nginx or Apache.
grep -i "ChatGPT Agent" access.log | awk '{print $7}' | sort | uniq -c | sort -rn | head -20For a full report per AI bot, upload the log to the AI Log File Analyzer, a free tool by Justin Hà.
ChatGPT Agent FAQ
ChatGPT Agent uses the robots.txt token "ChatGPT Agent". OpenAI does not publish a full user-agent string, so match the token inside the User-Agent header.
Yes. OpenAI states that ChatGPT Agent follows robots.txt rules written for the "ChatGPT Agent" token.
Blocking an AI agent has no effect on search rankings. Blocking stops agents from completing tasks on your website for their users, which can cost bookings or sales that agents would have made.
Add two lines to the robots.txt file at the root of each domain and subdomain: "User-agent: ChatGPT Agent" followed by "Disallow: /". The token is case-insensitive. Changes can take up to 24 hours to be picked up.
Not reliably. OpenAI publishes no IP list or reverse DNS pattern for ChatGPT Agent, so anyone can send the same user agent. Rate-limit unusual volume instead of trusting the name.
Search your server access log for "ChatGPT Agent", for example with: grep -i "ChatGPT Agent" access.log. The AI Log File Analyzer by Justin Hà counts visits per AI bot from an uploaded log file.
Sources: Public bot registry. Last reviewed by Justin Hà.
See which of these bots actually reach your website
The AI Log File Analyzer by Justin Hà counts visits from GPTBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot and other AI crawlers in your server log, for free. The GEO Technical Package sets up robots.txt, llms.txt and crawler access for AI search.
