Meta-ExternalTest
Operated by Meta
Quick Facts
- User-Agent:
- meta-externaltest
- Category:
- AI & LLM Bots
- Operator:
- Meta
- Safety:
- Safe
- Blocking Impact:
- Low - No SEO ranking impact
- SEO Impact Score:
- 2/10
- Official docs:
- None published by Meta
- Named by:
- Cloudflare Radar verified bots
Reported, not operator documented
Meta has not published a crawler page that names meta-externaltest. It is listed here because a credible public source does: Cloudflare Radar verified bots. Cloudflare lists Meta-ExternalTest (meta-externaltest/1.1) as a Meta bot used to test external integrations, signed through meta.com's Web Bot Auth directory. Meta's crawler page does not name it.
What that means for you: the robots.txt rule on this page is the best available spelling, and a well-behaved crawler using this string will honour it, but there is no vendor statement of purpose, crawl rate or robots.txt compliance to rely on. Treat a matching request in your logs as a detection clue, not proof of who sent it, and combine the rule with a firewall rule if the traffic matters to you. If the operator publishes documentation, this profile moves to Official docs.
What is Meta-ExternalTest?
Meta-ExternalTest is a Meta bot that Cloudflare's verified-bot registry describes as "used to test external integrations". It sends the user-agent <code>meta-externaltest/1.1</code> and signs its requests through meta.com's Web Bot Auth key directory.
Meta's web crawlers page documents FacebookExternalHit, Meta-WebIndexer, Meta-ExternalAds, Meta-ExternalAgent and Meta-ExternalFetcher, but not Meta-ExternalTest, so this profile carries the Reported badge. Low, irregular volume is expected: it appears when a Meta product checks a connection to your site, for example a Muse connector or a business integration.
What happens if you block Meta-ExternalTest?
Want to see whether Meta-ExternalTest actually visits you? Read how do I monitor AI bot traffic to my website?
How to control Meta-ExternalTest on your site
<code>User-agent: meta-externaltest</code> is accepted by robots.txt syntax, but no operator documents that this agent reads robots.txt. Personal agents act for one signed-in person, so treat a robots.txt rule as a statement of intent and use your CDN or firewall (bot rules, Web Bot Auth verification, rate limits) to enforce it.
Is Meta-ExternalTest safe to allow?
What does Meta-ExternalTest do?
Understanding Meta-ExternalTest's purpose helps you decide whether to allow or block it.
- Tests that an external integration responds correctly
- Low, irregular request volume
- Signs requests with Web Bot Auth (meta.com key directory)
- Does not collect training data, per Cloudflare's description
- robots.txt behaviour not documented by Meta