DuckAssistBot
DuckDuckGo's user-triggered fetch crawler.
Quick answer
DuckAssistBot is DuckDuckGo's crawler for its AI-assisted answers, the summaries DuckDuckGo shows that prominently cite the pages they draw from. It fetches pages in real time to build those answers rather than gathering data to train a model on them.
What it does
DuckAssistBot crawls pages in real time specifically to generate DuckDuckGo's AI-assisted answers, the kind of summary that sits above regular search results and prominently cites the sources it pulled from. DuckDuckGo states that the data this bot gathers is not used to train AI models, keeping it focused on answering the specific query in front of it rather than building a dataset for future use. DuckAssistBot respects robots.txt, and DuckDuckGo publishes its IP ranges in a public JSON file so site owners can confirm traffic is genuine. A robots.txt change that opts a site out of DuckAssistBot takes about 72 hours to take effect, so the change is not instant.
Facts
Operator
DuckDuckGo
Robots token
DuckAssistBot
User agent string(s)
- DuckAssistBot/1.2; (+http://duckduckgo.com/duckassistbot.html)
Purpose
User-triggered fetch
Respects robots.txt
Yes
IP ranges
https://duckduckgo.com/duckassistbot.json
From DuckDuckGo's documentation, checked Oct 2026.
Should you block it?
Opting out of DuckAssistBot removes a site as a possible cited source in DuckDuckGo's AI-assisted answers, which matters to a brand hoping to be the source DuckDuckGo quotes when someone asks a question it can answer well. DuckDuckGo is explicit that this opt out does not affect organic search rankings or whether a site appears in regular search results at all, so the decision is narrowly about the AI-answer feature rather than broader search visibility. Because DuckAssistBot fetches pages in real time rather than training a model, blocking it does not protect against a model learning from the content the way blocking a training crawler would; it only stops that specific page from being cited in that DuckDuckGo feature going forward. A brand that wants citations and traffic from DuckDuckGo's AI answers should generally leave DuckAssistBot allowed, and remember a robots.txt change takes about 72 hours to take effect either way.
How to block it
Add this to robots.txt to block DuckAssistBot: User-agent: DuckAssistBot Disallow: / DuckDuckGo says this opt out takes about 72 hours to take effect and does not change a site's regular search rankings or inclusion.
Frequently asked questions
Does DuckAssistBot train AI models on crawled content?
No. DuckDuckGo says this data is not used to train AI models; it is used in real time for AI-assisted answers.
Will blocking DuckAssistBot hurt my regular search ranking?
No. DuckDuckGo says opting out does not impact organic search rankings or inclusion in search results.
How fast does a robots.txt change take effect?
DuckDuckGo says opting out of DuckAssistBot takes about 72 hours to take effect.
Related
- AI crawler directory — every AI crawler's robots.txt token, purpose and facts in one place.
- Free AI crawler checker — check which AI crawlers a domain's robots.txt actually allows or blocks.
- Glossary — definitions of the AI-visibility terms that come up alongside crawler behavior.
Sources
- DuckAssistBot crawls pages in real time for AI-assisted answers that prominently cite their sources, and this data is not used to train AI models. Source: https://duckduckgo.com/duckduckgo-help-pages/results/duckassistbot (checked Oct 2026)
- Opting out of DuckAssistBot does not impact organic search rankings or whether a site appears in search results. Source: https://duckduckgo.com/duckduckgo-help-pages/results/duckassistbot (checked Oct 2026)
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