AI crawlers
OAI-SearchBot
OAI-SearchBot is the OpenAI crawler that surfaces websites in the search features of ChatGPT.
In plain words
It is OpenAI’s search crawler, separate from GPTBot, which is about training.
To appear in search results, OpenAI recommends allowing OAI-SearchBot in robots.txt and allowing requests from its published IP ranges.
Example
A site blocks OAI-SearchBot. OpenAI says the site will then not be shown in ChatGPT search answers, although it can still appear as a navigational link.
User-agent: OAI-SearchBot
Allow: /
User-agent: GPTBot
Disallow: /Why it matters for AI search
This is the setting that decides whether ChatGPT search can show your pages in its answers.
OpenAI says it can take about 24 hours after a robots.txt change before its systems adjust.
What you can do
- Make sure no robots.txt rule, firewall or CDN setting blocks OAI-SearchBot by accident.
- Add a separate GPTBot rule if you want to opt out of training.
- Build both rules with our free robots.txt generator.
Try it: Free robots.txt generator
Often confused with
- GPTBot
- GPTBot is for training. Blocking it does not take you out of ChatGPT search.
- ChatGPT-User
- OpenAI says ChatGPT-User is not used to decide whether content may appear in search.
Quick facts
- Run by
- OpenAI
- robots.txt name
- OAI-SearchBot
- Official IP list
- searchbot.json
Sources
Facts and sources last checked on 19 October 2026.
Related terms
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