Does Perplexity-User fully respect robots.txt?

User-triggered agents are often documented with different or partial robots.txt expectations versus bulk crawlers. Read Perplexity’s official bot guide for the current statement.

Is Perplexity-User a training bot?

It is categorized as live browsing: fetches tied to user sessions rather than continuous training crawl like many dataset or training agents.

Does blocking Perplexity-User change Google SEO?

No. It only concerns Perplexity’s user-triggered fetches.

Should public docs allow Perplexity-User?

Usually yes, so answers can retrieve accurate pages when users ask. Protect private app routes with authentication instead of relying on robots.txt alone.

How is volume different from PerplexityBot?

User agents tend to be spikier and demand-driven; indexing crawlers are steadier. Confirm with your own logs.

Can I allow PerplexityBot but block Perplexity-User?

Yes, with separate groups—if that matches product and legal goals. Most sites either allow both or block both for simplicity.

Perplexity-User

Perplexity · User-triggered fetches when Perplexity retrieves a page in-session

What is Perplexity-User?

Perplexity-User identifies fetches performed in the context of a user’s Perplexity session, as distinct from bulk indexing by PerplexityBot. Live user agents may follow different robots.txt expectations than dedicated crawlers—Perplexity’s bot guide is the source of truth for current behavior. If you allow PerplexityBot for indexing but worry about on-demand fetches, or the reverse, set explicit rules per token. Public documentation pages and product marketing sites often allow both for a coherent experience when users ask Perplexity about your brand.

How to block Perplexity-User

Add this group to robots.txt to disallow Perplexity-User. Path rules can be narrowed if you only need to protect parts of the site.

User-agent: Perplexity-User
Disallow: /

How to allow Perplexity-User

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: Perplexity-User
Allow: /

Should you block Perplexity-User?

User-triggered fetch agents are usually sparse and tied to demand. Allowing Perplexity-User helps answers that need the live page. If official docs indicate limited robots.txt effect for this agent, combine robots.txt with other controls for sensitive paths. Prefer allowing public marketing content and protecting private app routes with authentication rather than relying on robots.txt alone.

Category: Live browsing

Official documentation (Perplexity)

Last verified: 2026-07-18. Re-check operator docs after major crawler announcements.

Perplexity-User FAQ

User-triggered agents are often documented with different or partial robots.txt expectations versus bulk crawlers. Read Perplexity’s official bot guide for the current statement.