ChatGPT Search vs ChatGPT-User: what is the difference?

ChatGPT Search and ChatGPT-User are distinct entries in server logs. ChatGPT-User commonly reflects user-initiated browsing, whilst search-oriented retrieval may involve OAI-SearchBot or GPTBot depending on the flow. Write separate robots.txt and edge rules for each string, then confirm access in logs. One broad allow rule does not reliably cover every OpenAI fetch path.

Merging all OpenAI traffic into a single rule hides which string is blocked. Split policy lines and log dashboards by user-agent family instead.

Operationally, document a decision for every crawler string and validate with logs after deploy. That prevents silent regressions when security templates change.