ChatGPT-User: what it is & how to allow or block it
ChatGPT-User is the agent OpenAI uses when a ChatGPT user (or a GPT/plugin) explicitly asks it to fetch a specific URL in real time. OpenAI documents that ChatGPT-User honors robots.txt. Because requests are user-initiated, blocking it can prevent users from pulling your page into a conversation.
- User-agent
ChatGPT-User- Operator
- OpenAI
- Type
- User-triggered fetcher
- robots.txt
- OpenAI documents that ChatGPT-User honors robots.txt. Because requests are user-initiated, blocking it can prevent users from pulling your page into a conversation.
- Official docs
- platform.openai.com/docs/bots
What allowing or blocking ChatGPT-User means
Allowing ChatGPT-User lets ChatGPT users cite and quote your live pages; this is a direct, high-intent visibility channel separate from training.
Block ChatGPT-User (robots.txt)
# Block ChatGPT-User User-agent: ChatGPT-User Disallow: /
Allow ChatGPT-User (robots.txt)
# Allow ChatGPT-User User-agent: ChatGPT-User Allow: /
Declare your policy in llms.txt
robots.txt controls access; llms.txt states your intent in a machine-readable way LLMs prefer. Keep them consistent. The llms.txt generator lets you set ChatGPT-User to allowed or restricted and emits a compliant file.
FAQ
Should I block ChatGPT-User?
Usually no. It only fetches when a real user asks ChatGPT to read your page — blocking it removes you from those high-intent, citation-driving conversations.