ExaSearchBot
Exa •
Web Crawler
What is ExaSearchBot?
Exa says ExaSearchBot fetches public pages for its search index so users and applications can find, retrieve and cite them. It follows robots.txt and does not attempt to bypass logins or paywalls. Exa documents HTTP Message Signatures for authenticating requests; the user-agent alone is not a reliable identity check.
User Agent String
Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; ExaSearchBot/1.0; +https://crawler.exa.ai/)
How to Control ExaSearchBot
Block Completely
To prevent ExaSearchBot from accessing your entire website, add this to your robots.txt file:
# Block ExaSearchBot
User-agent: ExaSearchBot
Disallow: /
Block Specific Directories
To restrict access to certain parts of your site while allowing others:
User-agent: ExaSearchBot
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: ExaSearchBot
Crawl-delay: 10
How to Verify ExaSearchBot
Verification Method:
Validate Exa's HTTP Message Signature using its published key directory; do not authenticate by user-agent alone.
Validate Exa's HTTP Message Signature using its published key directory; do not authenticate by user-agent alone.
Learn more in the official documentation.
Detection Patterns
Multiple ways to detect ExaSearchBot in your application:
Basic Pattern
/ExaSearchBot/i
Strict Pattern
/^Mozilla\/5\.0 \(compatible; ExaSearchBot\/1\.0; \+https\:\/\/crawler\.exa\.ai\/\)$/
Flexible Pattern
/ExaSearchBot[\s\/]?[\d\.]*?/i
Vendor Match
/.*Exa.*ExaSearchBot/i
Implementation Examples
// PHP Detection for ExaSearchBot
function detect_exasearchbot() {
$user_agent = $_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'] ?? '';
$pattern = '/ExaSearchBot/i';
if (preg_match($pattern, $user_agent)) {
// Log the detection
error_log('ExaSearchBot 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($_SERVER['REQUEST_URI']) . '.html');
exit;
}
return true;
}
return false;
}
# Python/Flask Detection for ExaSearchBot
import re
from flask import request, make_response
def detect_exasearchbot():
user_agent = request.headers.get('User-Agent', '')
pattern = r'ExaSearchBot'
if re.search(pattern, user_agent, re.IGNORECASE):
# Create response with caching
response = make_response()
response.headers['Cache-Control'] = 'public, max-age=3600'
response.headers['X-Robots-Tag'] = 'noarchive'
return True
return False
# Django Middleware
class exasearchbotMiddleware:
def __init__(self, get_response):
self.get_response = get_response
def __call__(self, request):
if self.detect_bot(request):
# Handle bot traffic
pass
return self.get_response(request)
// JavaScript/Node.js Detection for ExaSearchBot
const express = require('express');
const app = express();
// Middleware to detect ExaSearchBot
function detect_exasearchbot(req, res, next) {
const userAgent = req.headers['user-agent'] || '';
const pattern = /ExaSearchBot/i;
if (pattern.test(userAgent)) {
// Log bot detection
console.log('ExaSearchBot detected from IP:', req.ip);
// Set cache headers
res.set({
'Cache-Control': 'public, max-age=3600',
'X-Robots-Tag': 'noarchive'
});
// Mark request as bot
req.isBot = true;
req.botName = 'ExaSearchBot';
}
next();
}
app.use(detect_exasearchbot);
# Apache .htaccess rules for ExaSearchBot
# Block completely
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ExaSearchBot [NC]
RewriteRule .* - [F,L]
# Or redirect to a static version
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ExaSearchBot [NC]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/static/
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /static/$1 [L]
# Or set environment variable for PHP
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "ExaSearchBot" is_bot=1
# Add cache headers for this bot
<If "%{HTTP_USER_AGENT} =~ /ExaSearchBot/i">
Header set Cache-Control "public, max-age=3600"
Header set X-Robots-Tag "noarchive"
</If>
# Nginx configuration for ExaSearchBot
# Map user agent to variable
map $http_user_agent $is_exasearchbot {
default 0;
~*ExaSearchBot 1;
}
server {
# Block the bot completely
if ($is_exasearchbot) {
return 403;
}
# Or serve cached content
location / {
if ($is_exasearchbot) {
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_exasearchbot) {
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: ExaSearchBot
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: ExaSearchBot
Crawl-delay: 10
Disallow: /wp-admin/
Disallow: /drafts/
Disallow: /preview/
Disallow: /*?replytocom=
Allow: /
SaaS/Application Configuration
User-agent: ExaSearchBot
Disallow: /app/
Disallow: /api/
Disallow: /dashboard/
Disallow: /settings/
Allow: /
Allow: /pricing/
Allow: /features/
Allow: /docs/
Quick Reference
User Agent Match
ExaSearchBot
Robots.txt Name
ExaSearchBot
Category
search
Respects robots.txt
Yes
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