Bytespider: who runs it and how to allow or block it
Bytespider is ByteDance's web crawler. Cloudflare's July 2024 AI crawler analysis cites reports that it gathers training data for ByteDance's large language models, including Doubao.
Bytespider at a glance
- Operator
- ByteDance
- Purpose
- Training It collects content for AI model training.
- Kind
- Crawler. Visits your pages under its own user agent and reads the robots.txt group that names Bytespider.
- What it feeds
- ByteDance AI models
- User agent string
- Match it in robots.txt by its token, Bytespider. Agent tokens are compared without regard to case.
- Verified
- . ByteDance publishes no crawler documentation page for Bytespider; its classification follows Cloudflare's July 2024 AI crawler analysis (opens in a new tab).
Allow or block Bytespider.
Paste one group into the robots.txt at the root of your domain. A group that names Bytespider replaces your * group for Bytespider, so copy any * Disallow lines you still want applied into it.
User-agent: Bytespider
Allow: /
User-agent: Bytespider
Disallow: /
# AI crawler access, generated by Suede AI Agent Studio
User-agent: OAI-SearchBot
Allow: /
User-agent: ChatGPT-User
Allow: /
User-agent: Claude-SearchBot
Allow: /
User-agent: Claude-User
Allow: /
User-agent: PerplexityBot
Allow: /
User-agent: Perplexity-User
Allow: /
User-agent: Amzn-SearchBot
Allow: /
User-agent: Amzn-User
Allow: /
User-agent: Meta-WebIndexer
Allow: /
User-agent: Meta-ExternalFetcher
Allow: /
User-agent: Bytespider
Disallow: /
Opens OAI-SearchBot, ChatGPT-User, Claude-SearchBot, Claude-User, PerplexityBot, Perplexity-User, Amzn-SearchBot, Amzn-User, Meta-WebIndexer and Meta-ExternalFetcher, the crawlers behind live answers in ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Alexa and Meta AI, while Bytespider stays out.
How Bytespider reads your robots.txt
Major crawlers apply the robots.txt standard (RFC 9309) the same way. Three rules decide every path.
- A named group beats *. When a group says
User-agent: Bytespider, Bytespider follows that group and ignores the * group entirely. With no named group, the * group applies; with neither, every path is allowed. - The longest matching rule wins. Inside the group, the Allow or Disallow line with the longest matching path decides, so
Allow: /blog/pressoverridesDisallow: /blogfor/blog/press.*matches any run of characters and$marks the end of the path. The example below keeps your articles and audio out of model training while press pages stay readable. - Allow wins a tie. When an Allow and a Disallow match with the same length, the path is allowed.
User-agent: *
Disallow: /
User-agent: Bytespider
Disallow: /blog
Allow: /blog/press
Disallow: /*.mp3$
| Path | Result | Deciding rule |
|---|---|---|
/ | Allowed | No rule in the Bytespider group matches, so it is allowed |
/blog/how-we-price | Blocked | line 5: Disallow: /blog |
/blog/press | Allowed | line 6: Allow: /blog/press |
/demo-track.mp3 | Blocked | line 7: Disallow: /*.mp3$ |
Line 2 still blocks every crawler without a group of its own. Bytespider reads only lines 4 to 7, which is why the homepage stays open to it.
See which line decides Bytespider on your site.
Bytespider, answered.
What is Bytespider?
Bytespider is ByteDance's web crawler. Cloudflare's July 2024 AI crawler analysis cites reports that it gathers training data for ByteDance's large language models, including Doubao. Bytespider is run by ByteDance and collects content for AI model training.
How do I allow Bytespider in robots.txt?
Add a group that names it: a line reading "User-agent: Bytespider" followed by "Allow: /". A group that names Bytespider replaces your * group for Bytespider, so repeat any Disallow lines from your * group that should still apply to it. To block it instead, use "Disallow: /" in that group.
Does blocking Bytespider remove me from AI answers?
Blocking Bytespider governs whether your content is used for ByteDance AI models. Live answers come from answer bots such as OAI-SearchBot, Claude-SearchBot and PerplexityBot, which follow their own robots.txt groups, so you can block Bytespider and keep those open.
Crawlers to set alongside it.
Every crawler, its operator and its docs are in the full AI crawler list.
Last updated .
Keep Bytespider where you want it. Every Monday.
Run the free check for the full crawler table and ranked fixes, unlock the $9.99 fix kit for paste-ready files, then let the AI Visibility Watch template read your robots.txt weekly and flag any answer bot that becomes blocked.