# robots.txt Parser & URL Tester (`scrapeworks/robots-txt`) Actor Fetch and parse robots.txt for any site: user-agent rules, crawl-delay, and declared sitemaps. Optionally test whether specific URLs are allowed for a given user-agent, using correct longest-match rules. - **URL**: https://apify.com/scrapeworks/robots-txt.md - **Developed by:** [Nicolas van Arkens](https://apify.com/scrapeworks) (community) - **Categories:** Automation, Other, Open source - **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, NaN bookmarks - **User rating**: No ratings yet ## Pricing from $1.00 / 1,000 results This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events. Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event ## What's an Apify Actor? Actors are a software tools running on the Apify platform, for all kinds of web data extraction and automation use cases. 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. Actors are written with capital "A". ## 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. The best way to integrate Actors is as follows. In JavaScript/TypeScript projects, use official [JavaScript/TypeScript client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js.md): ```bash npm install apify-client ``` In Python projects, use official [Python client library](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python.md): ```bash pip install apify-client ``` In shell scripts, use [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): ````bash # MacOS / Linux curl -fsSL https://apify.com/install-cli.sh | bash # Windows irm https://apify.com/install-cli.ps1 | iex ```bash In AI frameworks, you might use the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/mcp.md). If your project is in a different language, use the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md). For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below. For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt). # README ## robots.txt Parser & URL Tester πŸ€– Fetch and parse **robots.txt** for any site and get a clean, structured breakdown β€” per-user-agent **allow/disallow rules**, **crawl-delay**, and every declared **sitemap**. Optionally test whether specific URLs are **allowed or blocked** for a chosen crawler, using correct longest-match precedence. Built for SEO audits, crawler and bot development, compliance checks, and anyone who needs to know what a site permits before crawling it. ### Why use it - πŸ“‹ **Structured rules** β€” allow/disallow lists per user-agent, not raw text - πŸ€– **User-agent aware** β€” see the rules that actually apply to Googlebot, bingbot, or `*` - βœ… **URL allow/deny testing** β€” check exact paths against the rules with proper `*` wildcard, `$` anchor, and longest-match logic - 🐌 **Crawl-delay** β€” extracted per user-agent - πŸ—ΊοΈ **Sitemaps** β€” every sitemap the site declares, ready to feed into a sitemap extractor - 🌐 **Batch** β€” check many sites at once ### Use cases - **SEO audits** β€” verify a site isn't accidentally blocking important pages - **Crawler development** β€” respect robots.txt correctly before scraping - **Compliance** β€” confirm what a site permits for your user-agent - **Sitemap discovery** β€” pull declared sitemaps to drive further crawling - **Monitoring** β€” track robots.txt changes over time ### Input | Field | Description | |-------|-------------| | **Sites** | List of sites/URLs; robots.txt is fetched at each root. | | **User-agent** | Which crawler's rules to apply (e.g. `Googlebot`, or `*`). | | **Test paths** | Optional paths/URLs to test for allowed/blocked. | ### Output ```json { "site": "https://example.com", "robotsUrl": "https://example.com/robots.txt", "success": true, "userAgentChecked": "*", "sitemaps": ["https://example.com/sitemap.xml"], "userAgentsDeclared": ["*", "googlebot", "badbot"], "appliedGroupDisallow": ["/private/", "/tmp/"], "appliedGroupAllow": ["/private/public-page"], "crawlDelay": 10, "testResults": [ { "path": "/private/secret", "allowed": false }, { "path": "/private/public-page", "allowed": true } ] } ```` Export to JSON, CSV, or Excel, or pull via the Apify API. ### Notes - Implements standard robots.txt semantics: longest-match wins between Allow and Disallow, with `*` wildcards and `$` end-anchors (per Google's specification). - A site with no robots.txt (404) is reported as such β€” by convention, that means all crawling is allowed. - Independent tool. Always honor robots.txt in your own crawling. # Actor input Schema ## `sites` (type: `array`): List of sites or URLs to check. The actor fetches /robots.txt at each site's root (scheme added automatically if omitted). ## `userAgent` (type: `string`): Which user-agent's rules to apply and report (e.g. 'Googlebot', 'bingbot'). Use '\*' for the default/all-robots group. ## `testPaths` (type: `array`): Optional list of paths or URLs to test for the chosen user-agent. The output marks each as allowed or disallowed using standard longest-match rules. Example: \['/search', '/admin/', '/products/123']. ## Actor input object example ```json { "sites": [ "https://www.apify.com", "https://github.com" ], "userAgent": "*" } ``` # 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 '' with your token const client = new ApifyClient({ token: '', }); // Prepare Actor input const input = { "sites": [ "https://www.apify.com", "https://github.com" ] }; // Run the Actor and wait for it to finish const run = await client.actor("scrapeworks/robots-txt").call(input); // Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any) console.log('Results from dataset'); console.log(`πŸ’Ύ 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); }); // πŸ“š Want to learn more πŸ“–? Go to β†’ 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 '' with your token. client = ApifyClient("") # Prepare the Actor input run_input = { "sites": [ "https://www.apify.com", "https://github.com", ] } # Run the Actor and wait for it to finish run = client.actor("scrapeworks/robots-txt").call(run_input=run_input) # Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any) print("πŸ’Ύ Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"]) for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items(): print(item) # πŸ“š Want to learn more πŸ“–? Go to β†’ https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start ``` ## CLI example ```bash echo '{ "sites": [ "https://www.apify.com", "https://github.com" ] }' | apify call scrapeworks/robots-txt --silent --output-dataset ``` ## MCP server setup ```json { "mcpServers": { "apify": { "command": "npx", "args": [ "mcp-remote", "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=scrapeworks/robots-txt", "--header", "Authorization: Bearer " ] } } } ``` ## OpenAPI specification ```json { "openapi": "3.0.1", "info": { "title": "robots.txt Parser & URL Tester", "description": "Fetch and parse robots.txt for any site: user-agent rules, crawl-delay, and declared sitemaps. Optionally test whether specific URLs are allowed for a given user-agent, using correct longest-match rules.", "version": "0.1", "x-build-id": "TNbEg06uapiGNsU9h" }, "servers": [ { "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2" } ], "paths": { "/acts/scrapeworks~robots-txt/run-sync-get-dataset-items": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-scrapeworks-robots-txt", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for its completion, and returns Actor's dataset items in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } }, "/acts/scrapeworks~robots-txt/runs": { "post": { "operationId": "runs-sync-scrapeworks-robots-txt", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK", "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema" } } } } } } }, "/acts/scrapeworks~robots-txt/run-sync": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-scrapeworks-robots-txt", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } } }, "components": { "schemas": { "inputSchema": { "type": "object", "properties": { "sites": { "title": "Sites", "type": "array", "description": "List of sites or URLs to check. The actor fetches /robots.txt at each site's root (scheme added automatically if omitted).", "items": { "type": "string" } }, "userAgent": { "title": "User-agent", "type": "string", "description": "Which user-agent's rules to apply and report (e.g. 'Googlebot', 'bingbot'). Use '*' for the default/all-robots group.", "default": "*" }, "testPaths": { "title": "Test paths (optional)", "type": "array", "description": "Optional list of paths or URLs to test for the chosen user-agent. The output marks each as allowed or disallowed using standard longest-match rules. Example: ['/search', '/admin/', '/products/123'].", "items": { "type": "string" } } } }, "runsResponseSchema": { "type": "object", "properties": { "data": { "type": "object", "properties": { "id": { "type": "string" }, "actId": { "type": "string" }, "userId": { "type": "string" }, "startedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "finishedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "status": { "type": "string", "example": "READY" }, "meta": { "type": "object", "properties": { "origin": { "type": "string", "example": "API" }, "userAgent": { "type": "string" } } }, "stats": { "type": "object", "properties": { "inputBodyLen": { "type": "integer", "example": 2000 }, "rebootCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "restartCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "resurrectCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "computeUnits": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "options": { "type": "object", "properties": { "build": { "type": "string", "example": "latest" }, "timeoutSecs": { "type": "integer", "example": 300 }, "memoryMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 1024 }, "diskMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 2048 } } }, "buildId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultKeyValueStoreId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultDatasetId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultRequestQueueId": { "type": "string" }, "buildNumber": { "type": "string", "example": "1.0.0" }, "containerUrl": { "type": "string" }, "usage": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 1 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "usageTotalUsd": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "usageUsd": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } } } } } } } } } ```