APIs-Google
Google operates APIs-Google, a special-case user agent whose crawling preferences affect the delivery of push notification messages by Google APIs. Its robots.txt token is APIs-Google and it ignores the global "*" group, so rules must name it. Verification is reverse DNS to a rate-limited-proxy hostname under google.com with forward confirmation, or a match against Google's special-crawlers.json IP list.
APIs-Google (+https://developers.google.com/webmasters/APIs-Google.html)What APIs-Google does
Requests from this agent carry the user-agent string "APIs-Google (+https://developers.google.com/webmasters/APIs-Google.html)". Google classes it as a special-case crawler and describes its function in one sentence, which says that crawling preferences addressed to the APIs-Google user agent affect the delivery of push notification messages by Google APIs. The documentation does not describe the visits as indexing or content collection. It gives no crawl frequency, and Google says nothing about JavaScript execution for this agent.
Because Google says the APIs-Google agent ignores the global user agent "*", a general Disallow in robots.txt does not restrict it. To change its behavior you need a group that names "User-agent: APIs-Google" directly. Per Google's wording, the practical effect of such a rule is on push notification delivery by Google APIs to the affected URLs, so blocking it interferes with that delivery. Beyond this, the operator's documentation does not describe what allowing or blocking the agent changes.
Google gives two ways to verify the source. Reverse-resolve the requesting IP and confirm the hostname takes the form rate-limited-proxy-***-***-***-***.google.com, then forward-resolve that hostname and check it maps back to the same IP. Alternatively, compare the IP with the ranges Google publishes at https://developers.google.com/static/crawling/ipranges/special-crawlers.json, the list for its special-case crawlers. A user-agent string on its own is not proof of origin.
Operator note. Special-case crawler; 'The global user agent (*) is ignored.'
Controlling APIs-Google with robots.txt
Use the token APIs-Google in robots.txt. Google documents limits on how this bot applies robots.txt; see the operator note.
User-agent: APIs-Google
Disallow: /User-agent: APIs-Google
Allow: /Verifying a request is really APIs-Google
Anyone can put APIs-Google in a User-Agent header. Reverse DNS to rate-limited-proxy-***-***-***-***.google.com with matching forward DNS, or match the source IP against special-crawlers.json.
host <request-ip>
# expect a hostname ending in google.com (rate-limited-proxy-***-***-***-***.google.com)
host <that-hostname>
# expect it to resolve back to <request-ip>Google publishes a machine-readable list. Our probe read it on 2026-09-06; the file's own creation time was 2026-09-04.
- Prefixes
- 272
- IPv4
- 136
- IPv6
- 136
First entries at fetch time: 2001:4860:4801:2008::/64, 2001:4860:4801:200c::/64, 2001:4860:4801:200d::/64
SHA-256 of the fetched body: 9da99f8a169f35bc80153ec102d0be5674975861f3705614ef6ae51fd32ea5a1
Common questions
Should I block APIs-Google?
Google states that crawling preferences for the APIs-Google user agent affect the delivery of push notification messages by Google APIs. If you rely on those notifications, blocking it disrupts them, per Google's wording. The operator's documentation gives no other consequence. A rule under "User-agent: *" has no effect; you must name APIs-Google explicitly.
How do I verify APIs-Google?
Run a reverse DNS lookup on the source IP and confirm the hostname matches rate-limited-proxy-***-***-***-***.google.com, then forward-resolve it and check it returns the same IP. Or match the IP against Google's special-crawlers.json list at developers.google.com/static/crawling/ipranges/special-crawlers.json. Either method confirms the request is from Google.
Does APIs-Google obey robots.txt?
Partially. Google documents that the global user agent "*" is ignored for this special-case crawler, so only directives addressed to "User-agent: APIs-Google" apply. Whether it executes JavaScript, or how it treats other directives, is not stated in the operator's documentation.
Sources
Every fact on this page was checked against Google's own documentation, listed below, and re-checked by a second reviewer before publication. Reviewed September 2026.
Related crawlers
This registry documents how operators describe their own bots so site owners can identify and control them. It does not publish third-party IP lists or guess at undocumented behaviour. To see how your own site responds to automated visitors, the bot detection scanner reads a URL's live response and names the protection it finds.