DuckAssistBot
DuckAssistBot is the bot for DuckDuckGo, the privacy-focused search engine. It feeds DuckAssist, its feature that generates short AI answers appearing above search results, always with a link to the source. Allowing it opens the door to being cited in front of an audience that values privacy and tends to avoid Google.
- User-agent
DuckAssistBotDuckAssistBot/1.2; (+http://duckduckgo.com/duckassistbot.html)- Does it respect robots.txt?
- Yes
- Official documentation
- https://duckduckgo.com/duckduckgo-help-pages/results/duckassistbot
How to allow it in your robots.txt
User-agent: DuckAssistBot
Allow: /How to block it (not recommended)
User-agent: DuckAssistBot
Disallow: /Frequently asked questions
Should I block DuckAssistBot?
No. DuckAssist cites and links its sources, so being accessible to this bot can bring you traffic from DuckDuckGo users. Blocking it excludes you from those answers with no benefit at all.
Does DuckAssistBot respect robots.txt?
Yes. DuckDuckGo officially documents the bot and you can control it with standard robots.txt rules using the user-agent "DuckAssistBot".
How do I know if DuckAssistBot visits my site?
Search for "DuckAssistBot" in your server logs. Its user-agent includes a link to DuckDuckGo's official help page that identifies it.