Can I rely on the NovaAct user-agent string?

Not fully. The SDK lets developers override the user agent, so the string only identifies traffic from the default environment.

Is NovaAct a search crawler?

No. It performs browser tasks for a developer's workflow. Amazon's search crawler is `Amzn-SearchBot`.

NovaAct: AI Crawler Guide & robots.txt

What is NovaAct?

NovaAct is the string that Amazon Nova Act's default browsing environment adds to the user agent. The Nova Act SDK documentation says to look for NovaAct in the user agent string to identify the agent, and recommends that developers who customize the user agent keep that string.

Nova Act runs agents that complete repetitive UI workflows in a browser, such as filling forms, searching inventory or finishing checkout flows. A visit is one step in a developer's workflow rather than an indexing crawl.

Amazon's crawler documentation lists Amazonbot, Amzn-SearchBot and Amzn-User, but not NovaAct, and none of the sources checked state whether NovaAct follows robots.txt. Developers can also override the user agent, so some Nova Act traffic will not carry the string.

Relevant for AI searchAmazon Nova Act

Is NovaAct relevant for AI search?

Yes. NovaAct is Amazon's browser agent, so it determines whether agents built on Nova Act can use your site.

Amazon Nova Act is a service for building agents that automate browser workflows, including search, form filling and checkout flows. NovaAct visits because a developer's agent was told to do a task. Blocking it stops those workflows on your site, but it does not remove you from any index.

How to handle NovaAct

Treat NovaAct like an automated browser acting for someone else. Public pages can follow your normal browser policy, while forms, accounts and purchases should keep their usual authorization checks.

A robots.txt group is a reasonable request, but Amazon documents no commitment to honor it:

User-agent: NovaAct
Disallow: /

For an enforceable block, match the NovaAct string at your CDN or WAF, knowing that developers can change it.

Examples

A developer's Nova Act agent searches a ticketing site and moves through a booking form.
A retailer rate-limits requests carrying `NovaAct` on checkout paths while leaving product pages open.