DuckAssistBot — DuckDuckGo assist crawler
DuckAssistBot is the token DuckDuckGo uses for crawling that supports its AI assist features. DuckDuckGo documents its crawlers and robots.txt handling. Where a specific detail is not clearly documented, it is marked partially verified rather than guessed.
What this means
DuckAssistBot is the crawler DuckDuckGo uses to support its AI assist features. It appears in logs as an automated fetcher carrying the DuckAssistBot token.
DuckDuckGo publishes guidance on its crawlers. Where a particular specific is not clearly covered, this entry describes the stable identification pattern instead of asserting details that cannot be confidently sourced.
How DuckAssistBot identifies itself
DuckAssistBot uses the robots.txt user-agent token DuckAssistBot. Its user-agent string contains that token together with a self-identifying URL. Match on the stable token rather than a full version string.
The user agent is a claim and can be copied. Use DuckDuckGo's published guidance where authenticity matters, and do not invent IP ranges.
- robots.txt token: DuckAssistBot
- Supports DuckDuckGo AI assist features
- User agent contains the token plus a DuckDuckGo URL
robots.txt considerations
To disallow DuckAssistBot site-wide:
User-agent: DuckAssistBot Disallow: /
DuckAssistBot is expected to honour robots.txt as a compliant crawler. robots.txt is a request, not an access-control boundary.
How it appears in analytics and logs
A request carrying the DuckAssistBot token is DuckDuckGo's assist crawler fetching a URL — a bot event, not a human visit. Identify it by the token and treat any unverified specifics conservatively.
Diagnostic use case
Identify DuckAssistBot in logs by its token and set robots.txt policy for DuckDuckGo's AI assist crawler.
What WebmasterID can help detect
WebmasterID classifies DuckAssistBot server-side by its token and surfaces it on the bot-intelligence and AI-visibility surfaces, so you can see DuckDuckGo assist crawl activity per page without parsing logs.
Common mistakes
- Assuming detailed documented behaviour where coverage is partial.
- Inventing IP ranges to verify DuckAssistBot.
- Counting crawler hits as human sessions.
Privacy and accuracy notes
Detection uses only the request user-agent. No human identity is involved. WebmasterID records the crawl as a bot event, separate from human analytics, and never attaches it to a visitor profile.
Related pages
- YouBot — You.com crawler
YouBot is the crawler operated by You.com to support its search and AI assistant. Its robots.txt token is YouBot. Public documentation is limited in places, so specifics that cannot be confidently sourced are marked partially verified rather than guessed.
- PerplexityBot — Perplexity's web crawler
PerplexityBot is the crawler operated by Perplexity to index publicly available web pages for its AI answer engine. Perplexity documents the crawler and its robots.txt token. It is separate from Perplexity-User, which fetches a page in real time in response to a user's question.
- AI search analytics
Understand how AI search surfaces crawl and reference your site.
Sources and verification notes
- DuckDuckGo — DuckAssist and crawler guidanceDocuments DuckAssistBot; some specifics marked partially verified.
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.