CrawlCheck

AI crawlers · Training crawlers

FriendlyCrawler

FriendlyCrawler is the training crawler run by FriendlyCrawler: FriendlyCrawler ML. 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 tokenFriendlyCrawler
OperatorFriendlyCrawler
What it doesFriendlyCrawler ML
Kindtraining crawler
Can a request be verified?No — user agent string only
In a CrawlCheck scanRead from robots.txt; reported, never scored

Allow or block it in robots.txt

User-agent: FriendlyCrawler
Disallow: /
User-agent: FriendlyCrawler
Allow: /

Add a group that names it: "User-agent: FriendlyCrawler" followed by "Disallow: /". A crawler follows only the most specific group that names it, so once a group names FriendlyCrawler, 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 FriendlyCrawler 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 FriendlyCrawler

QHow do I block FriendlyCrawler in robots.txt?
Add a group that names it: "User-agent: FriendlyCrawler" followed by "Disallow: /". A crawler follows only the most specific group that names it, so once a group names FriendlyCrawler, 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 FriendlyCrawler 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 FriendlyCrawler 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 FriendlyCrawler?
Not as a request. CrawlCheck reads the rules your robots.txt sets for FriendlyCrawler and reports them. Rules for it are reported and never scored, because refusing it is a policy choice.