DuckDuckBot
DuckDuckGo · Primary DuckDuckGo search crawler for improving organic search results and the private search experience
By Vinespire Editorial Team, Editorial ·
Update: Verified against DuckDuckGo operator documentation for DuckDuckBot.
This page is the operator/profile guide for DuckDuckBot. To paste a full robots.txt and check DuckDuckBot plus other AI crawlers in one pass, use the Robots.txt AI Crawler Validator. Short definitional entries also live in the AI search glossary.
Related free utilities are in free AI SEO tools.
What is DuckDuckBot?
DuckDuckBot is DuckDuckGo’s documented web crawler for improving search results and offering users a secure search experience. Official help documentation states the crawler’s user agent appears as DuckDuckBot/1.1; (+http://duckduckgo.com/duckduckbot.html), that it respects WWW::RobotRules (robots.txt), and that it originates from published IP addresses also available in JSON. DuckDuckBot is the classic search-indexing agent; it is separate from DuckAssistBot, which DuckDuckGo documents for real-time AI-assisted answers and explicitly not for AI model training. Site owners who care about visibility in DuckDuckGo organic results should treat DuckDuckBot like other search crawlers: allow public indexable content, keep robots.txt intentional, and avoid accidental User-agent: * Disallow rules that block discovery. For AI search programs, knowing the split prevents confusing a training opt-out with a search opt-out. Always verify the current user-agent string and IP list on DuckDuckGo’s official DuckDuckBot help page when updating firewall allowlists or bot management rules.
How to block DuckDuckBot
Add this group to robots.txt to disallow DuckDuckBot. Path rules can be narrowed if you only need to protect parts of the site.
User-agent: DuckDuckBot Disallow: /
How to allow DuckDuckBot
For most public marketing and documentation sites, allowing well-behaved AI agents is the default recommended stance for AI visibility—while remaining a factual robots.txt Allow rule you can reverse later.
User-agent: DuckDuckBot Allow: /
Should you block DuckDuckBot?
Most sites that want DuckDuckGo organic discovery allow DuckDuckBot. Blocking reduces or removes crawl for DuckDuckGo’s search index without necessarily matching your AI-answer policy—that is DuckAssistBot’s control surface. If privacy, capacity, or legal constraints require blocking search crawlers, Disallow DuckDuckBot explicitly and accept the discovery tradeoff. Do not assume blocking DuckDuckBot stops DuckAssistBot or vice versa. Confirm IP ranges from DuckDuckGo’s published list when allowlisting at the edge. robots.txt remains voluntary compliance infrastructure, not encryption. Document search versus AI-answer intent separately so stakeholders do not conflate the two DuckDuckGo agents.
Category: Search indexing
Official documentation (DuckDuckGo)
Last verified: . Re-check operator docs after major crawler announcements.
Related bots (Search indexing)
DuckDuckBot FAQ
- DuckDuckGo documents that DuckDuckBot respects WWW::RobotRules (robots.txt). Use User-agent: DuckDuckBot with Allow or Disallow as needed.