Caution Official docs AI & LLM Bots

Perplexity-User/1.0

Q: What is the official user-agent string for Perplexity-User/1.0?

The official user-agent string for Perplexity-User/1.0 is: Perplexity-User . This is the exact string you must use in robots.txt, Nginx, Apache, or Cloudflare firewall rules to target this bot. User-agent matching in robots.txt is case-insensitive, but the string must be spelled correctly. You can verify that a request genuinely comes from Perplexity-User/1.0 by performing a reverse-DNS lookup on the source IP - legitimate bots resolve back to their operator's domain.

Q: Is Perplexity-User/1.0 safe?

Perplexity-User/1.0 is rated Caution. Perplexity AI documents it, so it is not a spoofing risk in itself, but it fetches content for uses you may not want to support, and it may not follow robots.txt. Decide on its purpose.

Q: How do I block Perplexity-User/1.0 in robots.txt?

Add the following lines to your /robots.txt file: User-agent: Perplexity-User Disallow: / This instructs Perplexity-User/1.0 not to crawl any path on your site. The Disallow: / directive covers the entire domain including subfolders. To only block specific sections, replace / with the path (e.g., Disallow: /blog/ ). Note: robots.txt is publicly readable - any bot or human can inspect it at yourdomain.com/robots.txt .

Q: How do I verify if Perplexity-User/1.0 is crawling my site?

Search your web server access logs for the string Perplexity-User (case-insensitive grep: grep -i "Perplexity-User" /var/log/nginx/access.log ). You can also check Google Search Console → Coverage → Crawl Stats for Googlebot variants. For Perplexity-User/1.0 specifically, filter by user-agent in your log analysis tool (GoAccess, AWStats, etc.).

Operated by Perplexity AI

Scout's quick take

Perplexity-User (Perplexity-User/1.0) visits a page only when a person asks Perplexity AI's assistant to open it. It is not a background crawler. Heads up: Perplexity AI says robots.txt may not apply to it, so use a firewall rule if you need it stopped.

# Block only if you really mean to
User-agent: Perplexity-User
Disallow: /

Check my AI search visibility Build a full robots.txt

Quick Facts

User-Agent:: Perplexity-User
Category:: AI & LLM Bots
Operator:: Perplexity AI
Safety:: Caution
Blocking Impact:: Low - No SEO ranking impact
SEO Impact Score:: 2/10
Official docs:: docs.perplexity.ai

Confirmed by the operator

Perplexity AI names Perplexity-User 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 Perplexity-User/1.0?

Perplexity-User fetches a page when a Perplexity user asks a question that needs it, and may link to the page in the answer.

Perplexity states it "is not used for web crawling or to collect content for training AI foundation models". It identifies itself with the token Perplexity-User. Perplexity AI documents it at docs.perplexity.ai.

What happens if you block Perplexity-User/1.0?

A robots.txt rule will generally not stop it. Blocking it at the firewall stops Perplexity answers from reading your page live. No effect on Google or Bing.

Consider blocking based on your content strategy.

Want to see whether Perplexity-User/1.0 actually visits you? Read how do I monitor AI bot traffic to my website?

How to block Perplexity-User/1.0 with robots.txt

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

Block completely (robots.txt)

User-agent: Perplexity-User
Disallow: /

Allow all (robots.txt)

User-agent: Perplexity-User
Allow: /

Block private only (robots.txt)

User-agent: Perplexity-User
Disallow: /private/
Disallow: /api/
Disallow: /admin/
Allow: /

Nginx server block

# Nginx: Hard-block Perplexity-User/1.0
if ($http_user_agent ~* "Perplexity\-User") {
    return 403 "Bot blocked";
}

Apache .htaccess

# Apache: Hard-block Perplexity-User/1.0
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Perplexity\-User" bad_bot
Order Allow,Deny
Allow from all
Deny from env=bad_bot

Meta robots tag

X-Robots-Tag header

X-Robots-Tag: noindex, nofollow

Is Perplexity-User/1.0 safe to allow?

Perplexity-User/1.0 is rated Caution. Perplexity AI documents it, so it is not a spoofing risk in itself, but it fetches content for uses you may not want to support, and it may not follow robots.txt. Decide on its purpose.

What does Perplexity-User/1.0 do?

From Perplexity AI's own documentation.

Perplexity-User fetches a page when a Perplexity user asks a question that needs it, and may link to the page in the answer.
Not used to train AI models, according to the operator
A robots.txt rule will generally not stop it. Blocking it at the firewall stops Perplexity answers from reading your page live. No effect on Google or Bing.

Perplexity-User/1.0 in context

Perplexity-User/1.0 is a user-triggered agent operated by Perplexity AI. In plain terms, it fetches a page when a person asks an assistant or app to open it. 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 caution and its blocking impact is low. So the decision about Perplexity-User/1.0 rests on what you want from Perplexity AI, not on its behaviour. How we rate safety and impact.

How site owners treat Perplexity-User/1.0

In our own study of robots.txt files across the Tranco top 10,000 sites (fetched October 20, 2026, 5,583 valid files), 357 files (6.4%) name Perplexity-User in a User-agent line, and 449 (8%) block it from the homepage. 225 of those blocks come from a group written for this crawler by name, and 224 come from a broad User-agent: * rule that catches it by accident. Larger sites are stricter: 15% of the top 1,000 block it, against 8.2% of the middle band and 6.8% of the tail.

Does it follow robots.txt?

Perplexity-User/1.0's operator says it does not follow robots.txt for these requests, so a robots.txt rule will not stop Perplexity-User/1.0. Use a firewall, CDN or server rule if you need to block it.

Perplexity AI crawlers and close alternatives

Perplexity-User/1.0 is one of 3 Perplexity AI crawlers in our database. A User-agent: Perplexity-User group controls Perplexity-User/1.0 only; the other Perplexity AI tokens below need their own lines.

Perplexity-User: this crawler (Tier 2)
Perplexity-User-1.0: Perplexity User v1, fetches a page when a person asks an assistant or app to open it (Tier 2)
PerplexityBot: Perplexity AI, collects pages both for training and for search or answers (Tier 1)

To give Perplexity-User/1.0 the same answer as its siblings, stack User-agent: Perplexity-User with their lines above one set of rules; to treat Perplexity-User/1.0 differently, give it its own group.

Other AI and LLM crawlers that do the same job (fetches a page when a person asks an assistant or app to open it) include ChatGPT Agent from OpenAI, ChatGPT Operator from OpenAI, ChatGPT-User from OpenAI, ChatGPT-User/2.0 from OpenAI, Claude-SearchBot from Anthropic, Claude-User from Anthropic. Deciding about Perplexity-User/1.0 is usually a decision about the whole group, so check how your file treats these too.

We first recorded Perplexity-User on March 17, 2026. Perplexity AI documents it on docs.perplexity.ai, and we recheck that page before each release.

Which rule Perplexity-User/1.0 actually follows

Perplexity-User/1.0 reads exactly one group in robots.txt, the most specific one that names Perplexity-User, and never combines rules across groups. This short file shows the trap:

User-agent: *
Disallow: /private/

User-agent: Perplexity-User
Disallow: /drafts/

Find the group. Perplexity-User/1.0 looks for a group naming Perplexity-User. One exists, so it ignores User-agent: * completely.
Apply only that group. It is refused /drafts/ and nothing else.
The surprise. /private/ is open to Perplexity-User/1.0, 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 Perplexity-User/1.0 if the file also has a User-agent: Perplexity-User group?

No. Once a group names it, Perplexity-User/1.0 reads only that group. Put every rule you want it to follow inside its own group.

Test yourself: will blocking Perplexity-User/1.0 remove your pages from AI answers?

Often, yes. Perplexity-User/1.0 is a user-triggered agent, so pages it cannot fetch can drop out of the answers or results it supports.

Test yourself: is User-agent: perplexity-user the same as User-agent: Perplexity-User?

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

Should you allow Perplexity-User/1.0? Decide by situation

Recommended setting for Perplexity-User/1.0 by type of site
If you are...	Recommended setting
You publish content and want AI answers to cite it	Allow it. Perplexity-User/1.0 fetches pages for answers, so blocking it can remove you from them.
You license content and want to stop AI training	Blocking it does not stop training, because Perplexity-User/1.0 is a user-triggered agent. Block the operator's training crawler instead.
You run an online shop	Allow it on product and category pages, which are the pages shoppers ask assistants about.
Your server is under load from bots	Rate-limit before blocking. It is rated caution in our database.

Check Perplexity-User/1.0 on your own site

Open /robots.txt on your domain and search for Perplexity-User. If it is not named, it follows User-agent: *.
List the Disallow lines in the group Perplexity-User/1.0 follows and test your key URLs against them; the longest match wins, and Allow wins a tie.
Look beyond the file. A firewall or bot manager can refuse Perplexity-User/1.0 even when robots.txt allows it, and that never shows in the file.
Run our AI crawler checker to see how Perplexity-User/1.0 and every other crawler we track are treated in one pass, including firewall refusals.

Common mistakes with Perplexity-User/1.0

The errors we see most often with Perplexity-User/1.0 in the files and firewalls we test:

Assuming a robots.txt rule will stop Perplexity-User/1.0. User-triggered fetches act for a person, and some operators say robots.txt may not apply to them. Check the operator's statement above.
Blocking Perplexity-User/1.0 as if it were a bulk crawler. It fetches one page because a person asked; blocking it means that person's assistant cannot read your page.
Counting Perplexity-User/1.0 visits as crawl volume. Each request maps to a real user question, which makes the paths it requests a useful signal of what people ask about you.

All three hide inside a file that looks correct, so check Perplexity-User/1.0 from outside after every change.

Spotting Perplexity-User/1.0 in your logs

robots.txt says what Perplexity-User/1.0 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 "Perplexity-User" /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 "Perplexity-User" /var/log/nginx/access.log \
  | awk '{print $7}' | sort | uniq -c | sort -rn | head -20

Check the requests are genuine

Anyone can send the Perplexity-User/1.0 user-agent, so confirm the source before acting on a match:

Perplexity-User: compare each address with the ranges at www.perplexity.com/perplexity-user.json. A request claiming to be Perplexity-User/1.0 from outside them is not genuine.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the official user-agent string for Perplexity-User/1.0?

The official user-agent string for Perplexity-User/1.0 is: Perplexity-User. This is the exact string you must use in robots.txt, Nginx, Apache, or Cloudflare firewall rules to target this bot. User-agent matching in robots.txt is case-insensitive, but the string must be spelled correctly. You can verify that a request genuinely comes from Perplexity-User/1.0 by performing a reverse-DNS lookup on the source IP - legitimate bots resolve back to their operator's domain.

Is Perplexity-User/1.0 safe?

Will blocking Perplexity-User/1.0 hurt my SEO?

A robots.txt rule will generally not stop it. Blocking it at the firewall stops Perplexity answers from reading your page live. No effect on Google or Bing.

How do I block Perplexity-User/1.0 in robots.txt?

Add the following lines to your /robots.txt file:

User-agent: Perplexity-User
Disallow: /

This instructs Perplexity-User/1.0 not to crawl any path on your site. The Disallow: / directive covers the entire domain including subfolders. To only block specific sections, replace / with the path (e.g., Disallow: /blog/). Note: robots.txt is publicly readable - any bot or human can inspect it at yourdomain.com/robots.txt.

Does Perplexity-User/1.0 respect robots.txt?

No. Perplexity: "Since a user requested the fetch, this fetcher generally ignores robots.txt rules." Use a firewall rule to stop it.

How do I verify if Perplexity-User/1.0 is crawling my site?

Search your web server access logs for the string Perplexity-User (case-insensitive grep: grep -i "Perplexity-User" /var/log/nginx/access.log). You can also check Google Search Console → Coverage → Crawl Stats for Googlebot variants. For Perplexity-User/1.0 specifically, filter by user-agent in your log analysis tool (GoAccess, AWStats, etc.).

What is the crawl frequency of Perplexity-User/1.0?

Crawl frequency data for Perplexity-User/1.0 is not publicly documented. Monitor your logs to understand actual visit patterns.

Can I block Perplexity-User/1.0 from specific pages only?

Yes. Instead of a global Disallow: / you can restrict Perplexity-User/1.0 to specific paths:

User-agent: Perplexity-User
Disallow: /private/
Disallow: /staging/
Allow: /

This allows Perplexity-User/1.0 everywhere except the listed paths. Path matching in robots.txt uses prefix matching - Disallow: /private/ blocks /private/page.html but NOT /public/private/.

Does blocking Perplexity-User/1.0 prevent AI training on my content?

Perplexity-User/1.0 is not used for AI training, according to Perplexity AI. Perplexity states it "is not used for web crawling or to collect content for training AI foundation models".

Is there an alternative to robots.txt to opt out of Perplexity-User/1.0?

The opt-out Perplexity AI documents is robots.txt. A firewall, CDN or server rule that returns 403 for Perplexity-User enforces it. Per-bot meta tags and llms.txt are not opt-out mechanisms any major operator documents.