Robots.txt Generator Tool Online

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Build your robots.txt file visually. Add crawler rules, block AI bots with one click, choose CMS presets, add your sitemap, and download a ready-to-use file.

Quick Presets
🤖 Block AI Crawlers
📋 Custom Rules
🗺️ Sitemap URL
📄 Live Preview
 
   
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
How the Robots.txt Generator Works
 

This tool builds a valid robots.txt file through a visual interface. Here's the process:

 
     
  1. Choose a preset — start with a default, WordPress, Shopify, allow-all, or block-all template. You can customize from there.
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  2. Block AI crawlers — toggle individual AI bots (GPTBot, ClaudeBot, CCBot, etc.) or use "Block all AI" to opt out of AI training with one click.
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  3. Add custom rules — create Allow or Disallow rules for specific bots and paths. For example, disallow /admin/ for all bots, or allow /api/ only for Googlebot.
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  4. Add your sitemap — enter your sitemap URL to include a Sitemap directive that helps search engines discover your pages.
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  5. Copy or download — the live preview updates as you build. Copy to clipboard or download as a .txt file, then place it at your site's root.
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Why Your Robots.txt File Matters
 

The robots.txt file is small but powerful. It directly controls how search engines and AI crawlers interact with your website:

 
     
  • Crawl budget optimization — by blocking crawlers from low-value pages (admin areas, tag pages, search results), you direct crawl budget toward your important content.
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  • Prevent duplicate content — block paths that generate duplicate or near-duplicate pages (URL parameters, print versions, sorted listings) from being indexed.
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  • AI training control — with the rise of AI crawlers, robots.txt is your primary tool for controlling whether your content is used to train language models. GPTBot alone accounts for 7.5% of bot traffic and grew 305% in one year.
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  • Security through obscurity — while not a security mechanism, keeping admin paths, staging environments, and internal tools out of search results reduces your exposure to automated attacks.
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  • Sitemap discovery — the Sitemap directive in robots.txt is one of the primary ways search engines discover your XML sitemap, especially for new sites without many inbound links.
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After generating your robots.txt, test it with the
Robots.txt Tester & Validator
to verify it works as expected, and check your
sitemap
to ensure the URLs it references are accessible.

 
 
  
 
 
AI Crawlers You Should Know About
 

The AI crawler landscape has exploded. Here are the major bots and what they do:

 
     
  • GPTBot (OpenAI) — crawls for model training. Blocking GPTBot does not affect ChatGPT Search.
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  • OAI-SearchBot (OpenAI) — powers ChatGPT Search results. Blocking this removes you from ChatGPT's search citations.
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  • ChatGPT-User (OpenAI) — triggered when a ChatGPT user asks it to visit a URL directly.
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  • ClaudeBot / anthropic-ai (Anthropic) — crawls for Claude model training and search.
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  • Google-Extended (Google) — controls Gemini AI training and grounding. Blocking it does not affect Google Search rankings.
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  • CCBot (Common Crawl) — crawls for the Common Crawl dataset, used by many AI companies as training data.
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  • PerplexityBot (Perplexity) — crawls for Perplexity search indexing.
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  • Bytespider (ByteDance) — TikTok's parent company crawler, used for AI and content analysis.
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  • Meta-ExternalAgent (Meta) — Meta's AI training crawler.
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For a deeper dive into how AI search engines select and cite sources, read our guide on
Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)
and
how AI search engines pick sources.
        After setting your robots.txt, use the AI Search Visibility Checker to audit how discoverable your site is across ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini. You can also generate a llms.txt file to give AI assistants a structured overview of your site's content.

 
 
  
 
 
Robots.txt Generator: FAQ
 
 
  What is a robots.txt file?   
 A robots.txt file is a plain text file placed at the root of your website (example.com/robots.txt) that tells search engine crawlers and bots which pages or sections they are allowed or not allowed to access. It follows the Robots Exclusion Protocol, a standard that all major search engines respect. 
 
  What does this robots.txt generator do?   
 This tool lets you visually build a robots.txt file without writing syntax manually. You can add rules for specific bots, set allow/disallow paths, block AI crawlers with one click, choose CMS-specific presets, add your sitemap URL, and get a ready-to-use file that you can copy or download. 
 
  Why should I block AI crawlers?   
 AI crawlers like GPTBot (OpenAI), ClaudeBot (Anthropic), and CCBot (Common Crawl) scrape web content to train large language models. Blocking them prevents your content from being used for AI training without attribution. Note that blocking GPTBot does not affect ChatGPT Search (which uses OAI-SearchBot) — you can block training while keeping AI search visibility. 
 
  Does blocking Googlebot affect my search rankings?   
 Yes. If you disallow Googlebot from crawling pages, those pages will be dropped from Google Search results. Only disallow Googlebot for pages you genuinely do not want indexed (admin areas, staging, internal tools). Google-Extended is the bot to block if you want to opt out of Gemini AI training without affecting Search. 
 
  What is the difference between Allow and Disallow?   
 Disallow tells a bot it cannot access a specific path or directory. Allow overrides a Disallow for a more specific path. For example, you can Disallow /admin/ but Allow /admin/public-page/. The most specific rule wins. 
 
  Should I add a sitemap to robots.txt?   
 Yes. Adding a Sitemap directive (Sitemap: https://example.com/sitemap.xml) helps search engines discover your sitemap even if they have not crawled your site before. Google recommends including the sitemap URL in your robots.txt file. 
 
  What are CMS presets?   
 CMS presets are pre-configured robots.txt rules optimized for specific platforms. For example, the WordPress preset blocks /wp-admin/ (except admin-ajax.php), /wp-includes/, and common WordPress paths that should not be indexed. This saves you from having to know each CMS's internal URL structure. 
 
  Can robots.txt block all bots?   
 It can instruct well-behaved bots to stay away, but it cannot enforce access control. Malicious bots and scrapers may ignore robots.txt entirely. For true access control, use server-side authentication, IP blocking, or a WAF (Web Application Firewall). Robots.txt is a guideline, not a security mechanism. 
 
  Is this robots.txt generator free?   
 Yes. Completely free, no signup, and no ads. The tool runs entirely in your browser — nothing is sent to any server. Your rules and sitemap URL stay private. 
 
  How do I install the generated robots.txt?   
 Download or copy the generated file and place it at the root of your website so it is accessible at https://yourdomain.com/robots.txt. On WordPress, you can edit it via Yoast SEO or Rank Math settings. On Vercel/Netlify, place the file in your public/ directory. On Apache/Nginx, place it in your document root. 
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
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