OAI-SearchBot: what it is and how to allow it

OAI-SearchBot is an OpenAI user-agent used when OpenAI systems fetch public web pages for search-oriented product flows — separate from GPTBot (broad ChatGPT retrieval crawl) and ChatGPT-User (often tied to user-initiated browsing features). You may see OAI-SearchBot in server logs, CDN bot dashboards, or Microsoft Clarity Bot Activity. To permit it, add an explicit Allow in robots.txt and ensure your WAF does not challenge that string. Blocking OAI-SearchBot while allowing GPTBot is a valid policy choice — list each user-agent on its own line. Allowing OAI-SearchBot does not guarantee ChatGPT search or browse features will cite your site.

When auditing OpenAI access, export robots.txt and log filters for all three strings: GPTBot, OAI-SearchBot, and ChatGPT-User. A single Disallow: * under User-agent: * can override narrower allows if your CMS merges rules incorrectly.