OpenAI crawlers: GPTBot, OAI-SearchBot, ChatGPT-User

Applies to: OpenAI (ChatGPT) web crawlers

Published technical requirements
RequirementPublished rule
GPTBotTraining crawler — content may be used to train OpenAI models. Respects robots.txt.
OAI-SearchBotSurfaces sites in ChatGPT search results. Respects robots.txt.
ChatGPT-UserFetches a page when a ChatGPT user asks for it; not automatic crawling.
Verify IPsopenai.com/gptbot.json, /searchbot.json, /chatgpt-user.json

Official source: OpenAI — Overview of OpenAI crawlers · Last verified by us on 2026-08-30. Requirements change — always confirm against the official page before submitting.

OpenAI documents three separate crawlers, each controlled independently in robots.txt. Blocking one does not block the others, and they serve very different purposes — blocking GPTBot (training) has no effect on whether ChatGPT can cite you in search, which is OAI-SearchBot.

How to allow ChatGPT search but not training

A common goal is to appear in ChatGPT's search answers while keeping your content out of model training. Per OpenAI's documentation that means allowing OAI-SearchBot and ChatGPT-User while disallowing GPTBot:

User-agent: GPTBot → Disallow: /  ·  User-agent: OAI-SearchBot → Allow: /  ·  User-agent: ChatGPT-User → Allow: /

All three respect robots.txt per OpenAI's own documentation. Verify a request is genuinely from OpenAI against the published IP ranges rather than trusting the user-agent alone. Always confirm the current tokens on OpenAI's official page before relying on this.

Fix your file for this requirement (free, in your browser):

Open AI Crawler Access Check
OpenAI crawlers: GPTBot, OAI-SearchBot, ChatGPT-User · Am I Crawlable