Buck
Buck •
Since 2017
Quick Actions
Official Docs
What is Buck?
Buck is the web crawler for Hypefactors, a media intelligence and reputation management platform. The bot monitors news sites, blogs, and online publications to track media mentions for PR and communications teams. Buck helps organizations understand their media coverage, measure PR impact, and manage their reputation by providing comprehensive media monitoring across multiple channels. The crawler focuses on news and editorial content, making it essential for PR professionals tracking media coverage.
User Agent String
Buck/2.3.1; (+https://app.hypefactors.com/media-monitoring/about-buck)
How to Control Buck
Block Completely
To prevent Buck from accessing your entire website, add this to your robots.txt file:
# Block Buck
User-agent: Buck
Disallow: /
Block Specific Directories
To restrict access to certain parts of your site while allowing others:
User-agent: Buck
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: Buck
Crawl-delay: 10
How to Verify Buck
Verification Method:
Buck/Hypefactors identification
Buck/Hypefactors identification
Learn more in the official documentation.
Detection Patterns
Multiple ways to detect Buck in your application:
Basic Pattern
/Buck/i
Strict Pattern
/^Buck/2\.3\.1; \(\+https\://app\.hypefactors\.com/media\-monitoring/about\-buck\)$/
Flexible Pattern
/Buck[\s\/]?[\d\.]*?/i
Vendor Match
/.*Buck.*Buck/i
Implementation Examples
// PHP Detection for Buck
function detect_buck() {
$user_agent = $_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'] ?? '';
$pattern = '/Buck/i';
if (preg_match($pattern, $user_agent)) {
// Log the detection
error_log('Buck 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($_SERVER['REQUEST_URI']) . '.html');
exit;
}
return true;
}
return false;
}
# Python/Flask Detection for Buck
import re
from flask import request, make_response
def detect_buck():
user_agent = request.headers.get('User-Agent', '')
pattern = r'Buck'
if re.search(pattern, user_agent, re.IGNORECASE):
# Create response with caching
response = make_response()
response.headers['Cache-Control'] = 'public, max-age=3600'
response.headers['X-Robots-Tag'] = 'noarchive'
return True
return False
# Django Middleware
class BuckMiddleware:
def __init__(self, get_response):
self.get_response = get_response
def __call__(self, request):
if self.detect_bot(request):
# Handle bot traffic
pass
return self.get_response(request)
// JavaScript/Node.js Detection for Buck
const express = require('express');
const app = express();
// Middleware to detect Buck
function detectBuck(req, res, next) {
const userAgent = req.headers['user-agent'] || '';
const pattern = /Buck/i;
if (pattern.test(userAgent)) {
// Log bot detection
console.log('Buck detected from IP:', req.ip);
// Set cache headers
res.set({
'Cache-Control': 'public, max-age=3600',
'X-Robots-Tag': 'noarchive'
});
// Mark request as bot
req.isBot = true;
req.botName = 'Buck';
}
next();
}
app.use(detectBuck);
# Apache .htaccess rules for Buck
# Block completely
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} Buck [NC]
RewriteRule .* - [F,L]
# Or redirect to a static version
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} Buck [NC]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/static/
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /static/$1 [L]
# Or set environment variable for PHP
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Buck" is_bot=1
# Add cache headers for this bot
<If "%{HTTP_USER_AGENT} =~ /Buck/i">
Header set Cache-Control "public, max-age=3600"
Header set X-Robots-Tag "noarchive"
</If>
# Nginx configuration for Buck
# Map user agent to variable
map $http_user_agent $is_buck {
default 0;
~*Buck 1;
}
server {
# Block the bot completely
if ($is_buck) {
return 403;
}
# Or serve cached content
location / {
if ($is_buck) {
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_buck) {
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 | Optional | Evaluate based on bandwidth usage vs. benefits |
| Blog/News | Allow | Increases content reach and discoverability |
| SaaS Application | Block | No benefit for application interfaces; preserve resources |
| Documentation | Selective | Allow for public docs, block for internal docs |
| Corporate Site | Limit | Allow for public pages, block sensitive areas like intranets |
Advanced robots.txt Configurations
E-commerce Site Configuration
User-agent: Buck
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: Buck
Crawl-delay: 10
Disallow: /wp-admin/
Disallow: /drafts/
Disallow: /preview/
Disallow: /*?replytocom=
Allow: /
SaaS/Application Configuration
User-agent: Buck
Disallow: /app/
Disallow: /api/
Disallow: /dashboard/
Disallow: /settings/
Allow: /
Allow: /pricing/
Allow: /features/
Allow: /docs/
Quick Reference
User Agent Match
Buck
Robots.txt Name
Buck
Category
other
Respects robots.txt
Yes
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