Who operates ClaudeBot?

ClaudeBot is operated by Anthropic. It functions as Anthropic's AI crawler.

Does ClaudeBot respect robots.txt?

Yes. ClaudeBot generally follows robots.txt directives, so you can allow or disallow it with a rule for its user agent.

Should I block ClaudeBot?

Block it if you do not want your content used to train AI models. Allow it if you want to contribute to and potentially be referenced by those systems.

Can I see when ClaudeBot crawls my site?

Yes. Promptwatch classifies ClaudeBot from your server and CDN logs in real time, showing which pages it hits, the response codes it gets, and how its crawls relate to AI citations.

ClaudeBot - What It Is & How to Handle It

What is ClaudeBot?

ClaudeBot is Anthropic's AI crawler. ClaudeBot helps enhance the utility and safety of our generative AI models by collecting web content that could potentially contribute to their training.

ClaudeBot matters for AI visibility because the pages it collects can shape what large language models learn about your brand, products, and expertise. Allowing it can strengthen how accurately AI systems describe and recommend you, while disallowing it keeps your content out of training data. Either way, knowing ClaudeBot visits is the first step to managing how your brand shows up in AI search.

Tracking which AI crawlers and agents reach your site, and what they do once there, is the foundation of generative engine optimization. See our guides to AI crawlers and robots.txt to control automated access and protect your AI search visibility.

Promptwatch tracks ClaudeBot in real time from your server and CDN logs, so you can see exactly when it visits, which pages it requests, and how those crawls relate to citations. Learn more in AI crawler logs.

Track ClaudeBot with Promptwatch

Promptwatch classifies ClaudeBot (ClaudeBot) in real time from your server and CDN logs. See exactly when it visits, which pages it requests, the status codes it gets, and how those crawls map to AI citations.

How to handle ClaudeBot

If you do not want ClaudeBot using your content for AI training, disallow it in robots.txt. If you are comfortable contributing to AI systems, leave it allowed.

To control ClaudeBot, add a rule for its user agent to your robots.txt:

User-agent: ClaudeBot
Disallow: /

ClaudeBot generally honors robots.txt directives.

Examples

A publisher reviews server logs, sees ClaudeBot requesting long-form articles, and decides whether to allow or disallow it in robots.txt.
A site owner adds a Disallow rule for ClaudeBot to keep premium guides out of AI training datasets.

Related bots

Claude-SearchBot

Claude-SearchBot navigates the web to improve search result quality for users. It analyzes online content specifically to enhance the relevance and accuracy of search responses.

AI Assistant