# DuckAssistBot

Operator: DuckDuckGo
Purpose: AI search
Reviewed: 2026-09-14
HTTP identifier: DuckAssistBot
robots.txt token: DuckAssistBot

## What is DuckAssistBot?

Retrieves pages for DuckDuckGo’s AI-assisted answers.

## How to identify it

Look for the DuckAssistBot identifier in a request’s User-Agent. This is a name match, not identity verification. Version strings may change.

## How to check identity

Match the source IP with DuckDuckGo’s published duckassistbot.json list linked from its crawler help page.

## Access and robots.txt

Disallow DuckAssistBot to stop this retrieval after up to 72 hours. This setting does not affect ordinary DuckDuckGo search results.

Optional full-site opt-out; merge with existing rules only if intended. Not a security control.

```text
User-agent: DuckAssistBot
Disallow: /
```

## What it means in your analytics

A real-time retrieval can support an answer, but the request alone does not prove a citation.

## Useful measures

Fetched pages; Failed retrievals; Repeat fetches.

## What to check next

Keep this traffic separate from DuckDuckBot and inspect failures on answer-worthy pages.

## Sources

- [duckduckgo.com](https://duckduckgo.com/duckduckgo-help-pages/results/duckassistbot)

Operator facts are source-backed; interpretation and actions are Apostl guidance.

## Related profiles

- [DuckDuckBot](https://apostl.dev/bots/duckduckbot)
- [OAI-SearchBot](https://apostl.dev/bots/oai-searchbot)
- [Claude-SearchBot](https://apostl.dev/bots/claude-searchbot)

[Start measuring agent traffic](https://apostl.dev/start/agent-analytics)