CrawlCheck

AI crawlers · Training crawlers

Bytespider

Bytespider is the training crawler run by ByteDance: ByteDance. Its operator publishes no IP ranges or DNS names for it, so a request carrying this name cannot be verified. Treat the name in a log line as a claim.

User-agent tokenBytespider
OperatorByteDance
What it doesByteDance
Kindtraining crawler
Can a request be verified?No — user agent string only
In a CrawlCheck scanSent as a request on every scan; reported, never scored

Allow or block it in robots.txt

User-agent: Bytespider
Disallow: /
User-agent: Bytespider
Allow: /

Add a group that names it: "User-agent: Bytespider" followed by "Disallow: /". A crawler follows only the most specific group that names it, so once a group names Bytespider, rules under "User-agent: *" no longer apply to it; repeat in that group any Disallow lines you still want.

What blocking it changes

No. It collects pages for training. Refusing it is a policy choice about training, separate from whether answer engines can reach, read and quote the site.

See what Bytespider and every other named agent receive from your own site: run a free scan. The full catalogue is on AI crawlers and as JSON at /ai-crawlers.json.

Questions about Bytespider

QHow do I block Bytespider in robots.txt?
Add a group that names it: "User-agent: Bytespider" followed by "Disallow: /". A crawler follows only the most specific group that names it, so once a group names Bytespider, rules under "User-agent: *" no longer apply to it; repeat in that group any Disallow lines you still want.
QHow can I tell if a request from Bytespider is real?
Its operator publishes no IP ranges or DNS names for it, so a request carrying this name cannot be verified. Treat the name in a log line as a claim.
QDoes blocking Bytespider affect whether my site appears in AI answers?
No. It collects pages for training. Refusing it is a policy choice about training, separate from whether answer engines can reach, read and quote the site.
QDoes CrawlCheck test my site as Bytespider?
Yes. Every CrawlCheck scan fetches the homepage as Bytespider and compares the response with what a browser receives. Rules for it are reported and never scored, because refusing it is a policy choice.