Bots / OpenAI

OAI-SearchBot

OpenAI bot associated with search-style retrieval for ChatGPT.

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Identity

  • Name: OAI-SearchBot
  • Operator: OpenAI
  • User-Agent: OAI-SearchBot

OpenAI bot associated with search-style retrieval for ChatGPT. Treat this page as the entity owner for “OAI-SearchBot” / User-Agent facts. The Shopify how-to for allowing AI crawlers lives on Learn so we do not compete with that head term here.

Typical robots.txt directive

User-agent: OAI-SearchBot
Allow: /

Match the User-Agent string your logs actually see. Some operators use multiple agents (fetch vs training). When in doubt, allow the answer-oriented agents you care about and document intentional denials.

Shopify notes

Treat like GPTBot for storefront allow rules; verify PDPs are not challenge-walled.

Implementation steps

  1. Edit robots.txt in Shopify admin (or your SEO app’s robots template)
  2. Allow storefront paths; keep /checkouts, /cart, /account disallowed under User-agent: *
  3. Review security/bot apps for blanket AI blocks
  4. Test on the custom domain customers use (not only *.myshopify.com)
  5. Treat like GPTBot for storefront allow rules; verify PDPs are not challenge-walled.

When to allow

  • You want answer engines operated by this company to fetch public storefront HTML
  • Your PDPs and collections should be eligible as citation or Shopping sources
  • robots.txt already allows general crawling but AI agents were accidentally blocked

When teams deny

  • A security incident requires temporary lockdown (re-open when safe)
  • You intentionally do not want this operator fetching your storefront

How to verify

  1. Confirm robots.txt includes a clear rule for OAI-SearchBot / OAI-SearchBot
  2. Fetch homepage and a hero PDP; expect HTTP 200 with real product HTML
  3. Ensure bot challenges / walls do not trigger for this User-Agent on public paths
  4. Re-run a TopMention tech scan to confirm crawler checks move toward pass

Related

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