Safe Official docs AI & LLM Bots

Cloudflare AutoRAG

Operated by Cloudflare

Quick Facts

User-Agent:
Cloudflare-AutoRAG
Category:
AI & LLM Bots
Operator:
Cloudflare
Safety:
Safe
Blocking Impact:
Low - No effect on Google or Bing rankings
SEO Impact Score:
1/10
Official docs:
developers.cloudflare.com

Confirmed by the operator

Cloudflare names Cloudflare-AutoRAG on its own documentation page, linked above. The token, purpose and robots.txt behaviour on this profile come from that page, re-checked on October 19, 2026.

What is Cloudflare AutoRAG?

Cloudflare-AutoRAG is the old name of the Cloudflare AI Search crawler. Cloudflare renamed it Cloudflare-AI-Search on 2026-02-09.

It identifies itself with the token Cloudflare-AutoRAG. Cloudflare documents it at developers.cloudflare.com.

What happens if you block Cloudflare AutoRAG?

A rule for this token still blocks Cloudflare AI Search. To be safe, name Cloudflare-AI-Search as well. No effect on Google or Bing.
Keep an existing Cloudflare-AutoRAG rule, and add Cloudflare-AI-Search next to it.

Want to see whether Cloudflare AutoRAG actually visits you? Read how do I monitor AI bot traffic to my website?

How to block Cloudflare AutoRAG with robots.txt

<code>User-agent: Cloudflare-AutoRAG</code> - Matching is case-insensitive. Robots.txt is fetched from the root of each subdomain separately.

Block completely (robots.txt)
User-agent: Cloudflare-AutoRAG Disallow: /
Allow all (robots.txt)
User-agent: Cloudflare-AutoRAG Allow: /
Block private only (robots.txt)
User-agent: Cloudflare-AutoRAG Disallow: /private/ Disallow: /api/ Disallow: /admin/ Allow: /
Nginx server block
# Nginx: Hard-block Cloudflare AutoRAG if ($http_user_agent ~* "Cloudflare-AutoRAG") { return 403 "Bot blocked"; }
Apache .htaccess
# Apache: Hard-block Cloudflare AutoRAG SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Cloudflare-AutoRAG" bad_bot Order Allow,Deny Allow from all Deny from env=bad_bot
Meta robots tag
<meta name="robots" content="noindex, nofollow">
X-Robots-Tag header
X-Robots-Tag: noindex, nofollow

Is Cloudflare AutoRAG safe to allow?

Yes. Cloudflare AutoRAG is a documented bot: Cloudflare publishes a page that names it and explains what it does.
On Cloudflare, match AI Search by Bot Detection ID 122933950, which did not change when the user agent was renamed.

What does Cloudflare AutoRAG do?

From Cloudflare's own documentation.

  • Cloudflare-AutoRAG is the old name of the Cloudflare AI Search crawler.
  • A rule for this token still blocks Cloudflare AI Search. To be safe, name Cloudflare-AI-Search as well. No effect on Google or Bing.

Cloudflare AutoRAG in context

Cloudflare AutoRAG is a retrieval crawler that feeds AI search answers operated by Cloudflare. In plain terms, it builds a search or answer index. Our database files it under AI and LLM crawlers and ranks it Tier 2, important crawlers from established AI and search operators. 74 of the 104 AI and LLM crawlers in our database share this tier.

Its safety rating is safe and its blocking impact is low. So the decision about Cloudflare AutoRAG rests on what you want from Cloudflare, not on its behaviour. How we rate safety and impact.

How site owners treat Cloudflare AutoRAG

Our robots.txt study of the Tranco top 10,000 did not track Cloudflare-AutoRAG as a named token, so we do not publish an adoption figure for it. If you run a large site, your own logs are the best evidence of how often it visits.

Does it follow robots.txt?

Cloudflare AutoRAG's operator says it follows robots.txt, so a correctly written Cloudflare AutoRAG group is enough to control it.

Cloudflare crawlers and close alternatives

Cloudflare AutoRAG is one of 4 Cloudflare crawlers in our database. A User-agent: Cloudflare-AutoRAG group controls Cloudflare AutoRAG only; the other Cloudflare tokens below need their own lines. The one exception is Cloudflare-AI-Search: it is the same crawler under its new name, and Cloudflare applies a rule for either.

  • Cloudflare-AutoRAG: this crawler (Tier 2)
  • Cloudflare-AI-Search: Cloudflare AI Search, builds a search or answer index (Tier 2)
  • Cloudflare-AI-Search-External: Cloudflare AI Search (external sites), builds a search or answer index (Tier 3)
  • CloudflareBrowserRenderingCrawler: Cloudflare Crawler (Browser Run), harvests pages for a dataset or data product (Tier 3)

To give Cloudflare AutoRAG the same answer as its siblings, stack User-agent: Cloudflare-AutoRAG with their lines above one set of rules; to treat Cloudflare AutoRAG differently, give it its own group.

Other AI and LLM crawlers that do the same job (builds a search or answer index) include AddSearchBot from AddSearch, AIWebIndex from Lyrenth, atlassian-bot from Atlassian, AzureAI-SearchBot from Microsoft, ExaBot from Exa, ExaSearchBot from Exa. Deciding about Cloudflare AutoRAG is usually a decision about the whole group, so check how your file treats these too.

We first recorded Cloudflare-AutoRAG on June 18, 2026. Cloudflare documents it on developers.cloudflare.com, and we recheck that page before each release.

Which rule Cloudflare AutoRAG actually follows

Cloudflare AutoRAG reads exactly one group in robots.txt, the most specific one that names Cloudflare-AutoRAG, and never combines rules across groups. This short file shows the trap:

User-agent: *
Disallow: /private/

User-agent: Cloudflare-AutoRAG
Disallow: /drafts/
  1. Find the group. Cloudflare AutoRAG looks for a group naming Cloudflare-AutoRAG. One exists, so it ignores User-agent: * completely.
  2. Apply only that group. It is refused /drafts/ and nothing else.
  3. The surprise. /private/ is open to Cloudflare AutoRAG, because that rule lives in the * group it no longer reads. To keep it out of both, repeat Disallow: /private/ inside its own group.
Test yourself: does a rule under User-agent: * apply to Cloudflare AutoRAG if the file also has a User-agent: Cloudflare-AutoRAG group?

No. Once a group names it, Cloudflare AutoRAG reads only that group. Put every rule you want it to follow inside its own group.

Test yourself: will blocking Cloudflare AutoRAG remove your pages from AI answers?

Often, yes. Cloudflare AutoRAG is a retrieval crawler that feeds AI search answers, so pages it cannot fetch can drop out of the answers or results it supports.

Test yourself: is User-agent: cloudflare-autorag the same as User-agent: Cloudflare-AutoRAG?

Yes. RFC 9309 makes user-agent matching case-insensitive. Paths are a different story: Disallow: /Blog/ does not block /blog/.

Should you allow Cloudflare AutoRAG? Decide by situation

Recommended setting for Cloudflare AutoRAG by type of site
If you are...Recommended setting
You publish content and want AI answers to cite itAllow it. Cloudflare AutoRAG fetches pages for answers, so blocking it can remove you from them.
You license content and want to stop AI trainingBlocking it does not stop training, because Cloudflare AutoRAG is a retrieval crawler that feeds AI search answers. Block the operator's training crawler instead.
You run an online shopAllow it on product and category pages, which are the pages shoppers ask assistants about.
Your server is under load from botsRate-limit before blocking. It is rated safe in our database.

Check Cloudflare AutoRAG on your own site

  1. Open /robots.txt on your domain and search for Cloudflare-AutoRAG. If it is not named, it follows User-agent: *.
  2. List the Disallow lines in the group Cloudflare AutoRAG follows and test your key URLs against them; the longest match wins, and Allow wins a tie.
  3. Look beyond the file. A firewall or bot manager can refuse Cloudflare AutoRAG even when robots.txt allows it, and that never shows in the file.
  4. Run our crawler access checker to see how Cloudflare AutoRAG and every other crawler we track are treated in one pass, including firewall refusals.

Common mistakes with Cloudflare AutoRAG

The errors we see most often with Cloudflare AutoRAG in the files and firewalls we test:

  1. Blocking Cloudflare AutoRAG while trying to stop AI training. Retrieval crawlers fetch pages so answers can cite them; blocking it can remove you from those answers without affecting training.
  2. Letting a firewall or bot-fight mode refuse Cloudflare AutoRAG while robots.txt allows it. The file looks right, but the crawler still gets a 403 or a challenge page.
  3. Forgetting that once a User-agent: Cloudflare-AutoRAG group exists, Cloudflare AutoRAG ignores every rule under User-agent: *.

All three hide inside a file that looks correct, so check Cloudflare AutoRAG from outside after every change.

Spotting Cloudflare AutoRAG in your logs

robots.txt says what Cloudflare AutoRAG may do; your access logs show what it actually did.

Count requests

On a server with standard Nginx or Apache logs, this counts matching requests per day (adjust the log path for your host):

grep -iE "Cloudflare-AutoRAG" /var/log/nginx/access.log \
  | awk '{print $4}' | cut -d: -f1 | sort | uniq -c

And this shows which paths it requested most, which is the quickest way to see whether your Disallow lines are being respected:

grep -iE "Cloudflare-AutoRAG" /var/log/nginx/access.log \
  | awk '{print $7}' | sort | uniq -c | sort -rn | head -20

Check the requests are genuine

Anyone can send the Cloudflare AutoRAG user-agent, so confirm the source before acting on a match:

  • Cloudflare-AutoRAG: we hold no published IP list, so use reverse DNS where the operator documents a hostname and treat an unverifiable Cloudflare AutoRAG request with caution.

Frequently Asked Questions

What user-agent string does Cloudflare AutoRAG use?
Cloudflare AutoRAG identifies itself with Cloudflare-AutoRAG, the token Cloudflare documents on its own crawler page. Yes. Cloudflare says it still honours Cloudflare-AutoRAG in robots.txt, so an existing rule keeps working. New requests say Cloudflare-AI-Search. On Cloudflare, match AI Search by Bot Detection ID 122933950, which did not change when the user agent was renamed.
Is Cloudflare AutoRAG safe?
Yes. Cloudflare AutoRAG is a documented bot: Cloudflare publishes a page that names it and explains what it does.
Will blocking Cloudflare AutoRAG hurt my SEO?
A rule for this token still blocks Cloudflare AI Search. To be safe, name Cloudflare-AI-Search as well. No effect on Google or Bing.
How do I block Cloudflare AutoRAG in robots.txt?
Add the following lines to your /robots.txt file:
User-agent: Cloudflare-AutoRAG
Disallow: /

This instructs Cloudflare AutoRAG not to crawl any path on your site. To block only specific sections, replace / with the path (e.g., Disallow: /blog/).
Does Cloudflare AutoRAG respect robots.txt?
Yes. Cloudflare says it still honours Cloudflare-AutoRAG in robots.txt, so an existing rule keeps working. New requests say Cloudflare-AI-Search.
How do I verify if Cloudflare AutoRAG is crawling my site?
Search your access logs for Cloudflare-AutoRAG (for example grep -i "Cloudflare-AutoRAG" /var/log/nginx/access.log). Because the operator publishes no IP ranges or reverse-DNS pattern, a match shows that something used the name, not that Cloudflare sent it.

Related Bots

WhatsApp us