DuckAssistBot: what it is and how to control it
DuckAssistBot is DuckDuckGo's crawler that fetches pages in real time to provide sources for its AI-assisted answers. Its robots.txt token is DuckAssistBot. DuckDuckGo says the data is not used to train AI models. Disallowing it stops visits after about 72 hours and does not change organic search rankings.
| Operator | DuckDuckGo, for DuckDuckGo AI-assisted answers |
|---|---|
| Purpose | AI search |
| robots.txt token | DuckAssistBot |
| User agent | DuckAssistBot/1.2; (+http://duckduckgo.com/duckassistbot.html) |
| Follows robots.txt | Yes. DuckDuckGo says publishers can opt out by disallowing the DuckAssistBot user agent in robots.txt, which takes about 72 hours to take effect. |
| Runs JavaScript | Not documented |
| IP ranges | Published list |
| Documentation | DuckDuckGo |
What DuckAssistBot does
DuckAssistBot crawls pages in real time to supply sources for DuckDuckGo's AI-assisted answers, which cite those sources prominently. DuckDuckGo states the crawled data is not used in any way to train AI models.
Should you block DuckAssistBot?
Allow DuckAssistBot if you want your pages cited in DuckDuckGo's AI-assisted answers, since it is not used for training. After a robots.txt Disallow, DuckDuckGo says the crawler stops visiting the site, which takes about 72 hours. DuckDuckGo says opting out does not change organic search rankings, but your pages are no longer fetched as sources for its AI-assisted answers.
User-agent: DuckAssistBot
Allow: /User-agent: DuckAssistBot
Disallow: /Rules that apply
- Rule 01: Allow OAI-SearchBot, PerplexityBot and Claude-SearchBot in robots.txt if you want AI citations
- Rule 02: Treat training bots and search bots as separate robots.txt decisions
- Rule 03: Audit your CDN and WAF bot settings; they can block AI crawlers that robots.txt allows
Questions
What is DuckAssistBot?
DuckAssistBot is DuckDuckGo's crawler for AI-assisted answers. DuckDuckGo says it crawls pages in real time to provide sources, which the answers cite prominently.
Does DuckAssistBot respect robots.txt?
Yes. DuckDuckGo says publishers can opt out by disallowing the DuckAssistBot user agent in robots.txt. The change takes about 72 hours to take effect, after which the crawler stops visiting the site.
What is the DuckAssistBot user agent?
DuckDuckGo documents it as DuckAssistBot/1.2; (+http://duckduckgo.com/duckassistbot.html). Source IP addresses are published as JSON at duckduckgo.com/duckassistbot.json.
Does DuckAssistBot train AI models?
DuckDuckGo states the crawled data is not used in any way to train AI models. Opting out does not affect your organic search rankings, according to DuckDuckGo.
Sources
- DuckAssistBot · DuckDuckGo
Checked against the operators' documentation every Monday. Last reviewed Nov 2, 2026.