DuckAssistBot
DuckDuckGo •
Since 2023
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What is DuckAssistBot?
DuckAssistBot is DuckDuckGo's AI-powered assistant crawler that supports DuckAssist, their AI-powered instant answer feature. Launched as part of DuckDuckGo's AI initiatives, this bot helps provide direct answers to user queries while maintaining privacy standards. Unlike other AI assistants that may profile users, DuckAssistBot operates without tracking or storing personal data. The bot crawls and processes web content to generate helpful, concise answers that appear directly in search results, enhancing the search experience while preserving user privacy.
User Agent String
Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; DuckAssistBot/1.0; +https://duckduckgo.com/duckassist)
How to Control DuckAssistBot
Block Completely
To prevent DuckAssistBot from accessing your entire website, add this to your robots.txt file:
# Block DuckAssistBot
User-agent: DuckAssistBot
Disallow: /
Block Specific Directories
To restrict access to certain parts of your site while allowing others:
User-agent: DuckAssistBot
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: DuckAssistBot
Crawl-delay: 10
How to Verify DuckAssistBot
Verification Method:
Verify user agent and behavior
Verify user agent and behavior
Learn more in the official documentation.
⚠️ AI Training Notice
This bot may collect and use your website content for AI model training. Consider whether you want your content used for this purpose before allowing access.
This bot may collect and use your website content for AI model training. Consider whether you want your content used for this purpose before allowing access.
Detection Patterns
Multiple ways to detect DuckAssistBot in your application:
Basic Pattern
/DuckAssistBot/i
Strict Pattern
/^Mozilla/5\.0 \(compatible; DuckAssistBot/1\.0; \+https\://duckduckgo\.com/duckassist\)$/
Flexible Pattern
/DuckAssistBot[\s\/]?[\d\.]*?/i
Vendor Match
/.*DuckDuckGo.*DuckAssistBot/i
Implementation Examples
// PHP Detection for DuckAssistBot
function detect_duckassistbot() {
$user_agent = $_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'] ?? '';
$pattern = '/DuckAssistBot/i';
if (preg_match($pattern, $user_agent)) {
// Log the detection
error_log('DuckAssistBot 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($_SERVER['REQUEST_URI']) . '.html');
exit;
}
return true;
}
return false;
}
# Python/Flask Detection for DuckAssistBot
import re
from flask import request, make_response
def detect_duckassistbot():
user_agent = request.headers.get('User-Agent', '')
pattern = r'DuckAssistBot'
if re.search(pattern, user_agent, re.IGNORECASE):
# Create response with caching
response = make_response()
response.headers['Cache-Control'] = 'public, max-age=3600'
response.headers['X-Robots-Tag'] = 'noarchive'
return True
return False
# Django Middleware
class DuckAssistBotMiddleware:
def __init__(self, get_response):
self.get_response = get_response
def __call__(self, request):
if self.detect_bot(request):
# Handle bot traffic
pass
return self.get_response(request)
// JavaScript/Node.js Detection for DuckAssistBot
const express = require('express');
const app = express();
// Middleware to detect DuckAssistBot
function detectDuckAssistBot(req, res, next) {
const userAgent = req.headers['user-agent'] || '';
const pattern = /DuckAssistBot/i;
if (pattern.test(userAgent)) {
// Log bot detection
console.log('DuckAssistBot detected from IP:', req.ip);
// Set cache headers
res.set({
'Cache-Control': 'public, max-age=3600',
'X-Robots-Tag': 'noarchive'
});
// Mark request as bot
req.isBot = true;
req.botName = 'DuckAssistBot';
}
next();
}
app.use(detectDuckAssistBot);
# Apache .htaccess rules for DuckAssistBot
# Block completely
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} DuckAssistBot [NC]
RewriteRule .* - [F,L]
# Or redirect to a static version
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} DuckAssistBot [NC]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/static/
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /static/$1 [L]
# Or set environment variable for PHP
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "DuckAssistBot" is_bot=1
# Add cache headers for this bot
<If "%{HTTP_USER_AGENT} =~ /DuckAssistBot/i">
Header set Cache-Control "public, max-age=3600"
Header set X-Robots-Tag "noarchive"
</If>
# Nginx configuration for DuckAssistBot
# Map user agent to variable
map $http_user_agent $is_duckassistbot {
default 0;
~*DuckAssistBot 1;
}
server {
# Block the bot completely
if ($is_duckassistbot) {
return 403;
}
# Or serve cached content
location / {
if ($is_duckassistbot) {
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_duckassistbot) {
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 | Consider Blocking | Your content may be used for AI training without compensation |
| 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: DuckAssistBot
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: DuckAssistBot
# Blocking AI training bot
Disallow: /
SaaS/Application Configuration
User-agent: DuckAssistBot
Disallow: /app/
Disallow: /api/
Disallow: /dashboard/
Disallow: /settings/
Allow: /
Allow: /pricing/
Allow: /features/
Allow: /docs/
Quick Reference
User Agent Match
DuckAssistBot
Robots.txt Name
DuckAssistBot
Category
ai, search
Respects robots.txt
Yes
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