DuckAssistBot
DuckDuckGo operates DuckAssistBot, a crawler that fetches pages in real time for the AI-assisted answers in DuckDuckGo Search, answers that prominently cite their sources. DuckDuckGo says the data does not train AI models. The robots.txt token is DuckAssistBot and the bot honors robots.txt. Site owners verify visits with the published IP list at duckduckgo.com/duckassistbot.json; no reverse-DNS suffix is documented.
DuckAssistBot/1.2; (+http://duckduckgo.com/duckassistbot.html)What DuckAssistBot does
In server logs the bot identifies itself with a user agent such as DuckAssistBot/1.2; (+http://duckduckgo.com/duckassistbot.html). That URL redirects to the DuckAssistBot help page. DuckDuckGo describes the crawls as real-time, triggered for AI-assisted answers, so a fetch happens when an answer in DuckDuckGo Search needs the page as a source. The help page states that the collected data is not used in any way to train AI models, and that the answers prominently cite the pages they draw on.
Allowing DuckAssistBot keeps a site eligible to appear as a cited source in DuckDuckGo's AI-assisted answers, and blocking it removes the site from those answers. DuckDuckGo states that opting out does not impact organic search rankings and does not affect whether a site appears in its search results. To opt out, add a Disallow rule for the DuckAssistBot user agent in robots.txt. DuckDuckGo says the change takes effect after 72 hours, and publishers with opt-out problems can write to crawling@duckduckgo.com.
Verification rests on the published address list. The help page prints the originating IP addresses inline and links to https://duckduckgo.com/duckassistbot.json, which holds a creationTime field and a prefixes array of ipv4Prefix entries. DuckDuckGo documents no reverse-DNS suffix and does not say whether the bot executes JavaScript.
Operator note. The documentation describes opting out: "If you're a publisher, you may opt out of being a potential source for AI-assisted answers by modifying the robots.txt file for your domain(s). Once you've updated the file to disallow the DuckAssistBot user agent, the change will take effect after 72 hours and DuckAssistBot will stop crawling your site. Publishers can contact us at crawling@duckduckgo.com with any opt-out problems. Opting out of DuckAssistBot does not impact organic search rankings and will not affect whether or not websites appear in our search results." The page's robots.txt link points to the WWW::RobotRules module page on metacpan, and crawls are described as real-time, triggered for AI-assisted answers. The URL in the user-agent string, http://duckduckgo.com/duckassistbot.html, leads to the help page at https://duckduckgo.com/duckduckgo-help-pages/results/duckassistbot. The documentation does not say whether the crawler executes JavaScript.
Controlling DuckAssistBot with robots.txt
Use the token DuckAssistBot in robots.txt. DuckDuckGo documents that DuckAssistBot honors robots.txt directives.
User-agent: DuckAssistBot
Disallow: /User-agent: DuckAssistBot
Allow: /Verifying a request is really DuckAssistBot
Anyone can put DuckAssistBot in a User-Agent header. Verification is by published IP list only. The help page lists the originating IP addresses inline and links to the machine-readable list at https://duckduckgo.com/duckassistbot.json. The published list contains IPv4 host addresses only, and no reverse-DNS suffix is documented.
DuckDuckGo publishes a machine-readable list. Our probe read it on 2026-09-06; the file's own creation time was 2026-09-01.
- Prefixes
- 486
- IPv4
- 486
- IPv6
- 0
First entries at fetch time: 104.43.54.127/32, 104.43.55.116/32, 104.43.55.117/32
SHA-256 of the fetched body: fd9039362dfaaad236d50c07ddd12bf0cc7f0d530fbff59b8feb1b22e0db2459
Common questions
Should I block DuckAssistBot?
Block it only if you do not want your pages used as cited sources in DuckDuckGo's AI-assisted answers. DuckDuckGo states the crawl data is not used to train AI models and that opting out does not affect organic rankings or inclusion in search results, so the decision concerns AI answers alone.
How do I verify DuckAssistBot?
Compare the source IP of the request with the prefixes in https://duckduckgo.com/duckassistbot.json. DuckDuckGo publishes no reverse-DNS suffix for this bot, so a hostname lookup does not confirm it. The help page also lists the addresses inline.
Does DuckAssistBot run JavaScript?
The operator's documentation does not say. DuckDuckGo describes real-time fetches of pages for AI-assisted answers but gives no information about rendering or script execution, so treat JavaScript-dependent content as possibly invisible to the bot.
Sources
Every fact on this page was checked against DuckDuckGo'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.