FriendlyCrawler: User Agent, robots.txt Rules & Safety

Q: What user-agent string does FriendlyCrawler use?

FriendlyCrawler is reported to identify itself with FriendlyCrawler. That spelling comes from ai.robots.txt, not from FriendlyCrawler, which has not published crawler documentation naming it. Use it in robots.txt as the best available match, and treat a request carrying it as a clue rather than proof of who sent it.

Q: Is FriendlyCrawler safe?

FriendlyCrawler is rated Safe in this directory, meaning there are no credible public reports of abusive crawling under this name. It is a Reported token: FriendlyCrawler has not published documentation for it, so its purpose, crawl rate and robots.txt behaviour are not confirmed by the operator, and anyone can send the same user-agent string. Allow or block it on its stated purpose, and back the robots.txt rule with a firewall rule if the traffic matters to you.

Q: Will blocking FriendlyCrawler hurt my SEO?

✅ No SEO Impact - Blocking FriendlyCrawler does not affect your rankings in Google, Bing, or any other search engine. FriendlyCrawler is an AI crawler, not a traditional search indexer. You can freely block it via User-agent / Disallow: / without any SEO penalty.

Q: How do I block FriendlyCrawler in robots.txt?

Add the following lines to your /robots.txt file: User-agent: FriendlyCrawler Disallow: / This instructs FriendlyCrawler not to crawl any path on your site. To block only specific sections, replace / with the path (e.g., Disallow: /blog/).

Q: How do I verify if FriendlyCrawler is crawling my site?

Search your access logs for FriendlyCrawler (for example grep -i "FriendlyCrawler" /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 FriendlyCrawler sent it.

Quick Facts

User-Agent:: FriendlyCrawler
Category:: Scrapers
Operator:: FriendlyCrawler
Safety:: Safe
Blocking Impact:: Low - No SEO ranking impact
SEO Impact Score:: 2/10
Official docs:: None published by FriendlyCrawler
Named by:: ai.robots.txt

Reported, not operator documented

FriendlyCrawler has not published a crawler page that names FriendlyCrawler. It is listed here because a credible public source does: ai.robots.txt. Reported crawler; operator page returns 403.

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 FriendlyCrawler?

FriendlyCrawler is a developer-facing extraction agent operated by FriendlyCrawler. It fetches and structures web content on behalf of applications and AI agents built on FriendlyCrawler's platform. Traffic volume depends on how third-party developers configure it, so monitor your logs if you see heavy activity.

FriendlyCrawler is a developer-facing extraction agent operated by FriendlyCrawler. It fetches and structures web content on behalf of applications and AI agents built on FriendlyCrawler's platform. Traffic volume depends on how third-party developers configure it, so monitor your logs if you see heavy activity.
FriendlyCrawler uses the user-agent token FriendlyCrawler. You can control it via robots.txt, meta tags (noai), or the emerging llms.txt standard. Robots.txt is voluntary; for hard enforcement, combine it with server-level IP blocking.

What happens if you block FriendlyCrawler?

✅ No SEO Impact - Blocking FriendlyCrawler does not affect your rankings in Google, Bing, or any other search engine. FriendlyCrawler is an AI crawler, not a traditional search indexer. You can freely block it via User-agent / Disallow: / without any SEO penalty.

Generally safe to allow; provides legitimate crawling value.

How to block FriendlyCrawler with robots.txt

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

Block completely (robots.txt)

User-agent: FriendlyCrawler
Disallow: /

Allow all (robots.txt)

User-agent: FriendlyCrawler
Allow: /

Block private only (robots.txt)

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

Nginx server block

# Nginx: Hard-block FriendlyCrawler
if ($http_user_agent ~* "FriendlyCrawler") {
    return 403 "Bot blocked";
}

Apache .htaccess

# Apache: Hard-block FriendlyCrawler
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "FriendlyCrawler" 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 FriendlyCrawler safe to allow?

FriendlyCrawler is rated Safe in this directory, meaning there are no credible public reports of abusive crawling under this name. It is a Reported token: FriendlyCrawler has not published documentation for it, so its purpose, crawl rate and robots.txt behaviour are not confirmed by the operator, and anyone can send the same user-agent string. Allow or block it on its stated purpose, and back the robots.txt rule with a firewall rule if the traffic matters to you.

FriendlyCrawler publishes no IP ranges or reverse-DNS pattern for FriendlyCrawler, so the user-agent string cannot be verified. Rate-limit unusual volume instead of trusting the name.

What does FriendlyCrawler do?

Understanding FriendlyCrawler's purpose helps you decide whether to allow or block it.

Extracts and structures web content for developer applications
Powers AI agents built on the operator platform
Volume depends on third-party developer configuration
Monitor logs if you notice heavy activity
Can be rate-limited via robots.txt or server rules

Frequently Asked Questions

What user-agent string does FriendlyCrawler use?

FriendlyCrawler is reported to identify itself with FriendlyCrawler. That spelling comes from ai.robots.txt, not from FriendlyCrawler, which has not published crawler documentation naming it. Use it in robots.txt as the best available match, and treat a request carrying it as a clue rather than proof of who sent it.

Is FriendlyCrawler safe?

FriendlyCrawler is rated Safe in this directory, meaning there are no credible public reports of abusive crawling under this name. It is a Reported token: FriendlyCrawler has not published documentation for it, so its purpose, crawl rate and robots.txt behaviour are not confirmed by the operator, and anyone can send the same user-agent string. Allow or block it on its stated purpose, and back the robots.txt rule with a firewall rule if the traffic matters to you.

Will blocking FriendlyCrawler hurt my SEO?

✅ No SEO Impact - Blocking FriendlyCrawler does not affect your rankings in Google, Bing, or any other search engine. FriendlyCrawler is an AI crawler, not a traditional search indexer. You can freely block it via User-agent / Disallow: / without any SEO penalty.

How do I block FriendlyCrawler in robots.txt?

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

User-agent: FriendlyCrawler
Disallow: /

This instructs FriendlyCrawler not to crawl any path on your site. To block only specific sections, replace / with the path (e.g., Disallow: /blog/).

Does FriendlyCrawler respect robots.txt?

Not documented. FriendlyCrawler has published no statement that FriendlyCrawler reads robots.txt. A rule for FriendlyCrawler will stop a client that chooses to honour it; for enforcement, add a firewall or CDN rule as well.

How do I verify if FriendlyCrawler is crawling my site?

Search your access logs for FriendlyCrawler (for example grep -i "FriendlyCrawler" /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 FriendlyCrawler sent it.