What is DuckAssistBot?
DuckAssistBot is DuckDuckGo's user-triggered fetcher. A user-triggered fetcher runs when a person asks an AI product to open a page, not on a schedule. From the operator's wording: real-time crawling for AI-assisted answers.
| Operator | DuckDuckGo |
|---|---|
| Purpose (operator wording) | user-triggered fetch / search (real-time crawling for AI-assisted answers) |
| robots.txt token | DuckAssistBot |
| User agent string | DuckAssistBot/1.2; (+http://duckduckgo.com/duckassistbot.html) |
| Respects robots.txt | Yes |
| IP ranges | https://duckduckgo.com/duckassistbot.json |
| Last verified |
What else should I know about DuckAssistBot?
What is the DuckAssistBot user agent string?
This is the user agent string DuckDuckGo documents for DuckAssistBot, as of October 29, 2026. Version numbers and details can change, so match on the token in robots.txt, not on the whole string.
DuckAssistBot/1.2; (+http://duckduckgo.com/duckassistbot.html)How do I block DuckAssistBot in robots.txt?
Add this group to the robots.txt file at the root of your site. It asks DuckAssistBot to stay out of every page.
User-agent: DuckAssistBot
Disallow: /To allow it explicitly, for example while a broader rule blocks other bots:
User-agent: DuckAssistBot
Allow: /Does blocking DuckAssistBot affect AI answers?
DuckDuckGo: 'Opting out of DuckAssistBot does not impact organic search rankings and will not affect whether or not websites appear in our search results.' Opting out removes the site as a potential source for AI-assisted answers.
Does DuckAssistBot follow robots.txt?
Yes. DuckDuckGo: publishers can opt out by disallowing the DuckAssistBot user agent in robots.txt; takes effect after 72 hours.
Robots.txt is a request, not a lock (RFC 9309).
What IP addresses does DuckAssistBot use?
DuckDuckGo publishes a list at https://duckduckgo.com/duckassistbot.json. We did not download or parse it. A request that claims to be DuckAssistBot but comes from outside that list is not DuckAssistBot.
What should I read next?
Next: give AI tools something to quote
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