ChatGPT-User — OpenAI real-time fetcher
ChatGPT-User is the token OpenAI uses for real-time fetches made when a person in ChatGPT browses or asks it to read a URL. It is distinct from GPTBot, which crawls for model training, and OpenAI documents both. It honours robots.txt and identifies itself with the ChatGPT-User token plus a self-identifying URL.
What this means
ChatGPT-User represents a real-time fetch OpenAI makes when a ChatGPT user browses the web or asks ChatGPT to read a specific URL. Unlike GPTBot, it is not a background crawl for model training — it is triggered live by a person's request inside ChatGPT.
Because the two have different purposes, OpenAI documents them as separate tokens. Allowing or blocking GPTBot does not change ChatGPT-User behaviour, and vice versa. Decide each policy according to what you actually want to permit.
How ChatGPT-User identifies itself
ChatGPT-User uses the robots.txt user-agent token ChatGPT-User. Its full user-agent string contains that token together with a self-identifying URL pointing at OpenAI's bot documentation. Match on the stable token rather than a full version string, because version components change over time.
As with any crawler, the user agent is a claim and can be copied. For requests where authenticity matters, verify the source against OpenAI's published guidance rather than trusting the user agent alone.
- robots.txt token: ChatGPT-User
- User agent contains the ChatGPT-User token plus an OpenAI URL
- Distinct from GPTBot (training) and OAI-SearchBot (search)
robots.txt considerations
ChatGPT-User honours robots.txt. To disallow it site-wide, target the token specifically:
User-agent: ChatGPT-User Disallow: /
This affects only the real-time fetcher and does not block GPTBot or OAI-SearchBot. robots.txt is a request honoured by compliant clients, not an access-control mechanism.
How it appears in analytics and logs
A request carrying the ChatGPT-User token means OpenAI fetched the URL in real time because a ChatGPT user asked for it — a user-triggered bot fetch, not a background training crawl and not a human page view. Treat it as automated traffic, not audience.
Diagnostic use case
Confirm whether a page was fetched on a ChatGPT user's behalf, and set robots.txt policy for the real-time fetcher separately from the GPTBot training crawler.
What WebmasterID can help detect
WebmasterID classifies ChatGPT-User requests server-side as an AI fetcher and surfaces them on the bot-intelligence and AI-visibility surfaces, so you can see real-time ChatGPT fetches separately from GPTBot training crawls and from human visits.
Common mistakes
- Assuming a GPTBot block also stops ChatGPT-User — they are separate tokens.
- Counting real-time ChatGPT fetches as human page views.
- Treating robots.txt as enforcement rather than a request to compliant clients.
Privacy and accuracy notes
Detection uses only the request user-agent. The fetch is triggered by a person, but no visitor identity is exposed to your server beyond a bot request. WebmasterID records it as a bot event, separate from human analytics, and never builds a visitor profile from it.
Frequently asked questions
- Is ChatGPT-User the same as GPTBot?
- No. GPTBot is a background crawler used to help train OpenAI's models. ChatGPT-User is a real-time fetch made when a ChatGPT user browses or asks it to read a URL. They use different robots.txt tokens and are controlled independently.
Related pages
- GPTBot — OpenAI's web crawler
GPTBot is the crawler OpenAI uses to fetch publicly available web content that may be used to help train its foundation models. It is a declared, well-documented crawler with a stable robots.txt token, and OpenAI publishes both documentation and an IP range list so operators can identify and control it.
- OAI-SearchBot — OpenAI search crawler
OAI-SearchBot is the token OpenAI uses for crawling that supports its search features. OpenAI documents it as distinct from GPTBot, which crawls for model training, and from ChatGPT-User, the real-time browsing fetcher. It identifies itself with the OAI-SearchBot token plus a self-identifying URL.
- AI visibility analytics
See which AI crawlers and assistants reach your site, recorded server-side.
Sources and verification notes
- OpenAI — bots documentationDocuments the ChatGPT-User, GPTBot, and OAI-SearchBot tokens.
Last reviewed 2026-06-24. Facts are checked against primary/official sources where available; uncertain specifics are marked “Data not yet verified” rather than guessed.