# DuckAssistBot

**Category:** Answer engine | **Operated by:** DuckDuckGo

DuckDuckGo's real-time fetcher for DuckAssist, the AI-assisted answers that appear above its search results.

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## At a glance

| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Operator | DuckDuckGo |
| Category | Answer engine |
| User-Agent token | `DuckAssistBot` |
| robots.txt token | `DuckAssistBot` |
| Respects robots.txt | Documented as compliant |
| Operator docs | duckduckgo.com |

**Category note:** Fetches your page in real time to answer a user who is asking right now. Blocking it removes you from those answers — this is the one to leave open.

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## What DuckAssistBot does

DuckAssistBot crawls pages in real time to generate DuckDuckGo's AI-assisted answers, which prominently cite the sources they were built from. DuckDuckGo states this data is not used in any way to train AI models. It is a citation surface first and last.

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## Should you block DuckAssistBot?

Blocking removes you as a potential source for DuckAssist answers, and with it the prominent citation. DuckDuckGo states that opting out does not affect organic rankings and will not change whether you appear in its ordinary search results, so the loss is narrow but real. Changes take about 72 hours to apply.

> **Our take:** Leave it open. Answer-engine fetchers only run because a person just asked a question, and the page they read is the page that gets cited. Being the source is the entire goal — blocking here buys you nothing and costs you the mention.

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## How to block DuckAssistBot

Add the rule below to the `robots.txt` file at the root of your domain (`yourdomain.com/robots.txt`). Use the `DuckAssistBot` token rather than the raw User-Agent string, and repeat the rule on every subdomain you want covered.

**Block DuckAssistBot:**
```
User-agent: DuckAssistBot
Disallow: /
```

**Allow DuckAssistBot explicitly:**
```
User-agent: DuckAssistBot
Allow: /
```

**Note:** `robots.txt` is a request, not a lock — it works because well-behaved crawlers choose to read it. It also isn't retroactive: anything already fetched stays fetched. If you need a hard stop, block at your firewall or CDN as well.

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## How MetaPilot handles DuckAssistBot

MetaPilot detects DuckAssistBot in your edge logs, so you see its real hits on your real pages rather than a guess: how often it visits, which URLs it takes, and how that trend moves week to week. From the same screen you flip DuckAssistBot between allow and deny with one click — MetaPilot rewrites only its own managed section of your `robots.txt` and serves it at the edge, so the change is live on the crawler's next visit with no deploy and no touching your own rules.

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## Related crawlers

- **Claude-User** (Anthropic) — Answer engine: The fetcher Claude uses to read a specific page while answering a user who asked about it.
- **Gemini-Deep-Research** (Google) — Answer engine: The agent behind Gemini's Deep Research mode, which reads pages as it works through a multi-step research task for one user.
- **MistralAI-User** (Mistral AI) — Answer engine: The fetcher Mistral's assistant uses to open a page when a user's question needs it.
- **ChatGPT-User** (OpenAI) — Answer engine: The fetcher ChatGPT uses to open a specific page in real time while answering someone.

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## FAQ

**What is DuckAssistBot?**
DuckDuckGo's real-time fetcher for DuckAssist, the AI-assisted answers that appear above its search results. DuckAssistBot crawls pages in real time to generate those answers, which prominently cite the sources they were built from. DuckDuckGo states this data is not used in any way to train AI models. It is a citation surface first and last.

**Does DuckAssistBot respect robots.txt?**
Yes — DuckDuckGo documents that DuckAssistBot honours `robots.txt`. A `Disallow` for the `DuckAssistBot` token is respected.

**How do I block DuckAssistBot?**
Add these two lines to the `robots.txt` file at the root of your domain:
`User-agent: DuckAssistBot`
`Disallow: /`
Use the `DuckAssistBot` token, not the raw User-Agent string, and repeat the rule on every subdomain you want covered.

**Will blocking DuckAssistBot hurt my traffic?**
Blocking removes you as a potential source for DuckAssist answers, and with it the prominent citation. DuckDuckGo states that opting out does not affect organic rankings and will not change whether you appear in its ordinary search results, so the loss is narrow but real. Changes take about 72 hours to apply.