# AI Crawler Checker - GPTBot, ClaudeBot, robots.txt & llms.txt (`propped_cloak/ai-crawler-checker`) Actor

Check if websites let AI crawlers in: robots.txt rules for GPTBot, ClaudeBot, Google-Extended, PerplexityBot, CCBot and 15 more, llms.txt and noai tags. $1 per 1,000 sites.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/propped_cloak/ai-crawler-checker.md
- **Developed by:** [Emmanuel Vingadassalon](https://apify.com/propped_cloak) (community)
- **Categories:** SEO tools, AI, Developer tools
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $0.80 / 1,000 site checkeds

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.
Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## AI Crawler Checker - GPTBot, ClaudeBot, robots.txt & llms.txt

Find out **which AI crawlers a website lets in**, in bulk: the robots.txt rules for **GPTBot, ClaudeBot, Google-Extended, PerplexityBot, CCBot** and 15 more crawlers, whether the site publishes an **llms.txt**, and whether it uses `noai` directives.

- **20 crawlers, by company and purpose.** OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Perplexity, Common Crawl, ByteDance, Apple, Meta, Amazon, Microsoft, Cohere, Mistral and DuckDuckGo, each tagged `training`, `search` or `user` (fetches made when a person asks a chatbot).
- **Exact robots.txt logic.** Rules are applied like the crawlers do (RFC 9309): the crawler's own group, else the `*` group, longest match wins, `*` and `$` wildcards. Each crawler is `allowed`, `partial` (some paths blocked) or `blocked` (the whole site).
- **llms.txt and noai.** Detects a real `/llms.txt` file (not an HTML page answered with status 200) and `noai` / `noimageai` in meta robots or `X-Robots-Tag`.
- **Cheap.** Three light requests per site: **$1 per 1,000 sites.**

### What can I use it for?

- **AI visibility (GEO) audits:** check that your site, or your clients' sites, does not block the crawlers of ChatGPT search, Perplexity or Claude by mistake.
- **Publisher and market research:** see which news sites or competitors block AI training or AI search crawlers.
- **Compliance and policy reviews:** document your AI crawler policy across all your domains.
- **Lead generation for SEO/GEO agencies:** find sites without llms.txt or that block AI search crawlers.

### Input

```json
{ "urls": ["nytimes.com", "lemonde.fr", "apify.com"] }
```

### Output

One row per website. Example from a real run (lists shortened to 3 crawlers):

```json
{
    "url": "https://lemonde.fr/",
    "robotsTxtUrl": "https://lemonde.fr/robots.txt",
    "robotsTxtStatus": 200,
    "robotsTxtFound": true,
    "sitemaps": ["https://www.lemonde.fr/sitemap_news.xml", "https://www.lemonde.fr/sitemap_index.xml"],
    "aiTrainingBlocked": false,
    "blockedCrawlers": ["ClaudeBot", "Claude-SearchBot", "Claude-User", "anthropic-ai", "Google-Extended", "CCBot", "Bytespider", "Applebot-Extended", "Amazonbot", "cohere-ai", "MistralAI-User", "DuckAssistBot"],
    "allowedCrawlers": [],
    "aiCrawlers": [
        { "bot": "GPTBot", "company": "OpenAI", "purpose": "training", "status": "partial", "disallowRules": 30, "ownGroup": false },
        { "bot": "ClaudeBot", "company": "Anthropic", "purpose": "training", "status": "blocked", "disallowRules": 1, "ownGroup": true },
        { "bot": "Google-Extended", "company": "Google", "purpose": "training", "status": "blocked", "disallowRules": 1, "ownGroup": true }
    ],
    "llmsTxt": { "found": false, "url": "https://lemonde.fr/llms.txt", "bytes": null },
    "metaRobots": "index, follow, noarchive",
    "xRobotsTag": null,
    "noAiDirective": false,
    "summary": "12 of 20 crawlers blocked (ClaudeBot, Claude-SearchBot, Claude-User, anthropic-ai, Google-Extended, CCBot...).",
    "error": null
}
```

| Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
| `aiCrawlers[].status` | `allowed`, `partial` (some paths disallowed) or `blocked` (the home page is disallowed) |
| `aiCrawlers[].ownGroup` | `true` when the robots.txt names this crawler; `false` when the `*` rules apply |
| `aiTrainingBlocked` | `true` only when every training crawler is fully blocked |
| `llmsTxt.found` | A real llms.txt file exists at the site root |

If robots.txt answers with a server error (5xx), compliant crawlers treat the whole site as blocked, and so does this Actor.

### Pricing

**$0.001 per site checked ($1 per 1,000 sites)** plus Apify's small run-start fee. No subscription, lower prices on higher Apify plans. Invalid inputs, unreachable sites and internal addresses are free.

### Good to know

robots.txt is a request, not a lock: it tells you a site's policy, not what every crawler actually does. Some publishers also block AI crawlers at the firewall level, which robots.txt does not show.

### Use it from AI agents (MCP)

Add `ai-crawler-checker` to the [Apify MCP server](https://mcp.apify.com) in your MCP client (Claude, Cursor, VS Code...).

### Integrations

Apify API, schedules, webhooks, Make, Zapier, n8n. Export as JSON, CSV, Excel or HTML.

### Related tools

Same developer, same pay-per-result pricing, outputs that chain together:

- [SEO Audit Tool](https://apify.com/propped_cloak/seo-audit-checker): on-page SEO of many pages, with an A-F grade and fixes.
- [Sitemap URL Extractor](https://apify.com/propped_cloak/sitemap-url-extractor): every URL of a website from its sitemaps.
- [Web Page to Markdown for LLM & RAG](https://apify.com/propped_cloak/web-page-to-markdown): clean Markdown of web pages for LLMs and RAG.

### FAQ

**Need the full on-page SEO too?** Use [SEO Audit](https://apify.com/propped_cloak/seo-audit-checker). For the sitemap URLs, use [Sitemap URL Extractor](https://apify.com/propped_cloak/sitemap-url-extractor).

**Something wrong or missing?** Open an issue on the Issues tab.

# Actor input Schema

## `urls` (type: `array`):

Domains or URLs, one per line. robots.txt, llms.txt and the home page are read. Duplicates are removed.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "urls": [
    "nytimes.com",
    "lemonde.fr",
    "apify.com"
  ]
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

One row per website: status of 20 AI and search crawlers in robots.txt (allowed, partial, blocked), llms.txt, noai directives and sitemaps.

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "urls": [
        "nytimes.com",
        "lemonde.fr",
        "apify.com"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("propped_cloak/ai-crawler-checker").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = { "urls": [
        "nytimes.com",
        "lemonde.fr",
        "apify.com",
    ] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("propped_cloak/ai-crawler-checker").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "urls": [
    "nytimes.com",
    "lemonde.fr",
    "apify.com"
  ]
}' |
apify call propped_cloak/ai-crawler-checker --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,propped_cloak/ai-crawler-checker"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/T7NhwUYJft3mDmN1t/builds/SfrRTAFtdUKPfII4w/openapi.json