BraveBot
Brave •
Since 2021
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Official Docs
What is BraveBot?
BraveBot is the web crawler for Brave Search, an independent search engine from the makers of Brave Browser. Launched in 2021, Brave Search aims to provide private search results without tracking users or creating filter bubbles. The bot builds Brave's independent search index, reducing reliance on big tech search providers. Brave Search emphasizes transparency with features like Discussions (showing relevant forum conversations) and Goggles (allowing custom ranking rules). The crawler operates with a focus on user privacy and independence, supporting Brave's mission to fix the web by building alternatives to surveillance-based business models.
User Agent String
Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; BraveBot/1.0; +https://search.brave.com/help/bot)
How to Control BraveBot
Block Completely
To prevent BraveBot from accessing your entire website, add this to your robots.txt file:
# Block BraveBot
User-agent: BraveBot
Disallow: /
Block Specific Directories
To restrict access to certain parts of your site while allowing others:
User-agent: BraveBot
Disallow: /admin/
Disallow: /private/
Disallow: /wp-admin/
Allow: /public/
Set Crawl Delay
To slow down the crawl rate (note: not all bots respect this directive):
User-agent: BraveBot
Crawl-delay: 10
How to Verify BraveBot
Verification Method:
Brave crawler identification
Brave crawler identification
Learn more in the official documentation.
Detection Patterns
Multiple ways to detect BraveBot in your application:
Basic Pattern
/BraveBot/iStrict Pattern
/^Mozilla/5\.0 \(compatible; BraveBot/1\.0; \+https\://search\.brave\.com/help/bot\)$/Flexible Pattern
/BraveBot[\s\/]?[\d\.]*?/iVendor Match
/.*Brave.*BraveBot/iImplementation Examples
// PHP Detection for BraveBot
function detect_bravebot() {
$user_agent = $_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'] ?? '';
$pattern = '/BraveBot/i';
if (preg_match($pattern, $user_agent)) {
// Log the detection
error_log('BraveBot detected from IP: ' . $_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR']);
// Set cache headers
header('Cache-Control: public, max-age=3600');
header('X-Robots-Tag: noarchive');
// Optional: Serve cached version
if (file_exists('cache/' . md5($_SERVER['REQUEST_URI']) . '.html')) {
readfile('cache/' . md5($_SERVER['REQUEST_URI']) . '.html');
exit;
}
return true;
}
return false;
}
# Python/Flask Detection for BraveBot
import re
from flask import request, make_responsedef detect_bravebot():
user_agent = request.headers.get('User-Agent', '')
pattern = r'BraveBot'
if re.search(pattern, user_agent, re.IGNORECASE):
# Create response with caching
response = make_response()
response.headers['Cache-Control'] = 'public, max-age=3600'
response.headers['X-Robots-Tag'] = 'noarchive'
return True
return False# Django Middleware
class BraveBotMiddleware:
def __init__(self, get_response):
self.get_response = get_response
def __call__(self, request):
if self.detect_bot(request):
# Handle bot traffic
pass
return self.get_response(request)
// JavaScript/Node.js Detection for BraveBot
const express = require('express');
const app = express();// Middleware to detect BraveBot
function detectBraveBot(req, res, next) {
const userAgent = req.headers['user-agent'] || '';
const pattern = /BraveBot/i;
if (pattern.test(userAgent)) {
// Log bot detection
console.log('BraveBot detected from IP:', req.ip);
// Set cache headers
res.set({
'Cache-Control': 'public, max-age=3600',
'X-Robots-Tag': 'noarchive'
});
// Mark request as bot
req.isBot = true;
req.botName = 'BraveBot';
}
next();
}app.use(detectBraveBot);
# Apache .htaccess rules for BraveBot# Block completely
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} BraveBot [NC]
RewriteRule .* - [F,L]# Or redirect to a static version
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} BraveBot [NC]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/static/
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /static/$1 [L]# Or set environment variable for PHP
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "BraveBot" is_bot=1# Add cache headers for this bot
<If "%{HTTP_USER_AGENT} =~ /BraveBot/i">
Header set Cache-Control "public, max-age=3600"
Header set X-Robots-Tag "noarchive"
</If>
# Nginx configuration for BraveBot# Map user agent to variable
map $http_user_agent $is_bravebot {
default 0;
~*BraveBot 1;
}server {
# Block the bot completely
if ($is_bravebot) {
return 403;
}
# Or serve cached content
location / {
if ($is_bravebot) {
root /var/www/cached;
try_files $uri $uri.html $uri/index.html @backend;
}
try_files $uri @backend;
}
# Add headers for bot requests
location @backend {
if ($is_bravebot) {
add_header Cache-Control "public, max-age=3600";
add_header X-Robots-Tag "noarchive";
}
proxy_pass http://backend;
}
}
Should You Block This Bot?
Recommendations based on your website type:
| Site Type | Recommendation | Reasoning |
|---|---|---|
| E-commerce | Allow | Essential for product visibility in search results |
| Blog/News | Allow | Increases content reach and discoverability |
| SaaS Application | Block | No benefit for application interfaces; preserve resources |
| Documentation | Allow | Improves documentation discoverability for developers |
| Corporate Site | Allow | Allow for public pages, block sensitive areas like intranets |
Advanced robots.txt Configurations
E-commerce Site Configuration
User-agent: BraveBot
Crawl-delay: 5
Disallow: /cart/
Disallow: /checkout/
Disallow: /my-account/
Disallow: /api/
Disallow: /*?sort=
Disallow: /*?filter=
Disallow: /*&page=
Allow: /products/
Allow: /categories/
Sitemap: https://example.com/sitemap.xml
Publishing/Blog Configuration
User-agent: BraveBot
Crawl-delay: 10
Disallow: /wp-admin/
Disallow: /drafts/
Disallow: /preview/
Disallow: /*?replytocom=
Allow: /
SaaS/Application Configuration
User-agent: BraveBot
Disallow: /app/
Disallow: /api/
Disallow: /dashboard/
Disallow: /settings/
Allow: /
Allow: /pricing/
Allow: /features/
Allow: /docs/
Quick Reference
User Agent Match
BraveBotRobots.txt Name
BraveBotCategory
searchRespects robots.txt
Yes
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