Robots.txt Generator

How to Allow AI Bots in Your Robots.txt (2026 Guide)

Allowing AI crawlers like GPTBot, ClaudeBot, and PerplexityBot in your robots.txt means your content can appear in ChatGPT responses, Claude answers, and Perplexity search results. This is a core part of any Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) strategy in 2026.

To explicitly allow a specific AI bot, add a User-agent directive followed by an Allow: / rule. Here's the syntax for each major AI crawler:

# Allow OpenAI's crawler
User-agent: GPTBot
Allow: /

# Allow Anthropic's crawler
User-agent: ClaudeBot
Allow: /

# Allow Perplexity AI's crawler
User-agent: PerplexityBot
Allow: /

Our generator includes one-click presets for allowing or blocking each of these bots, so you don't need to write the syntax manually.

What Are the AI/LLM Bot User-Agents You Should Know?

As of 2026, these are the most important AI and LLM crawler user-agents to manage in your robots.txt file:

Which Robots.txt Template Should You Use for Your Platform?

The way you deploy a robots.txt file depends on your website platform. Here's a quick guide for the most popular platforms:

• WordPress — Your robots.txt is typically served at /robots.txt and can be managed through plugins like Yoast SEO or Rank Math. These plugins let you edit rules directly from the dashboard without uploading a file.
• Shopify — Shopify auto-generates a default robots.txt. You can customize it by editing the robots.txt.liquid template in your theme files under Templates.
• Webflow — Set your robots.txt content in Project Settings under the SEO tab. Webflow hosts the file automatically at your domain root.
• Wix — Wix offers limited robots.txt control. You can set basic rules through the SEO settings panel, but advanced customization is restricted.
• Custom / Static Sites — Generate your robots.txt with our tool above, then upload the file to your website's root directory (e.g., https://yourdomain.com/robots.txt).

When Should You Block vs Allow AI Crawlers?

Deciding whether to allow or block AI bots depends on your content strategy and business goals. Here's when each approach makes sense:

Allow AI crawlers when:

• You want your content cited as a source in AI-generated responses
• You want brand visibility in AI-powered search engines like Perplexity and ChatGPT Search
• You're pursuing an Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) strategy to capture AI-driven traffic
• You want to increase content reach and earn attribution across AI ecosystems

Block AI crawlers when:

• You have proprietary or gated content you don't want used as training data
• You have concerns about your content being reproduced without proper attribution
• You want to retain full control over how and where your content appears

Important: Blocking GPTBot or other AI crawlers does not affect your Google search rankings. Google's search indexing uses Googlebot, which is entirely separate from Google-Extended (used for Gemini AI training). You can safely block AI training bots without impacting your SEO performance.