Python-requests
Python •
Since 2011
Quick Actions
Official Docs
What is Python-requests?
Python-requests is the default user agent for the popular Python Requests library, known for its human-friendly HTTP interface. This user agent is more common than urllib as Requests has become the de facto standard for HTTP operations in Python. It appears in logs from various applications including web scrapers, API clients, and monitoring tools. The Requests library's ease of use has made it popular among developers, data scientists, and researchers. While often used legitimately, some websites monitor this user agent for potential automated access.
User Agent String
python-requests/2.31.0
How to Control Python-requests
Block Completely
To prevent Python-requests from accessing your entire website, add this to your robots.txt file:
# Block Python-requests
User-agent: python-requests
Disallow: /
Block Specific Directories
To restrict access to certain parts of your site while allowing others:
User-agent: python-requests
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: python-requests
Crawl-delay: 10
How to Verify Python-requests
Verification Method:
Requests library default user agent
Requests library default user agent
Learn more in the official documentation.
Detection Patterns
Multiple ways to detect Python-requests in your application:
Basic Pattern
/Python\-requests/i
Strict Pattern
/^python\-requests/2\.31\.0$/
Flexible Pattern
/Python\-requests[\s\/]?[\d\.]*?/i
Vendor Match
/.*Python.*Python\-requests/i
Implementation Examples
// PHP Detection for Python-requests
function detect_python_requests() {
$user_agent = $_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'] ?? '';
$pattern = '/Python\\-requests/i';
if (preg_match($pattern, $user_agent)) {
// Log the detection
error_log('Python-requests 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($_SERVER['REQUEST_URI']) . '.html');
exit;
}
return true;
}
return false;
}
# Python/Flask Detection for Python-requests
import re
from flask import request, make_response
def detect_python_requests():
user_agent = request.headers.get('User-Agent', '')
pattern = r'Python-requests'
if re.search(pattern, user_agent, re.IGNORECASE):
# Create response with caching
response = make_response()
response.headers['Cache-Control'] = 'public, max-age=3600'
response.headers['X-Robots-Tag'] = 'noarchive'
return True
return False
# Django Middleware
class PythonrequestsMiddleware:
def __init__(self, get_response):
self.get_response = get_response
def __call__(self, request):
if self.detect_bot(request):
# Handle bot traffic
pass
return self.get_response(request)
// JavaScript/Node.js Detection for Python-requests
const express = require('express');
const app = express();
// Middleware to detect Python-requests
function detectPythonrequests(req, res, next) {
const userAgent = req.headers['user-agent'] || '';
const pattern = /Python-requests/i;
if (pattern.test(userAgent)) {
// Log bot detection
console.log('Python-requests detected from IP:', req.ip);
// Set cache headers
res.set({
'Cache-Control': 'public, max-age=3600',
'X-Robots-Tag': 'noarchive'
});
// Mark request as bot
req.isBot = true;
req.botName = 'Python-requests';
}
next();
}
app.use(detectPythonrequests);
# Apache .htaccess rules for Python-requests
# Block completely
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} Python\-requests [NC]
RewriteRule .* - [F,L]
# Or redirect to a static version
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} Python\-requests [NC]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/static/
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /static/$1 [L]
# Or set environment variable for PHP
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Python\-requests" is_bot=1
# Add cache headers for this bot
<If "%{HTTP_USER_AGENT} =~ /Python\-requests/i">
Header set Cache-Control "public, max-age=3600"
Header set X-Robots-Tag "noarchive"
</If>
# Nginx configuration for Python-requests
# Map user agent to variable
map $http_user_agent $is_python_requests {
default 0;
~*Python\-requests 1;
}
server {
# Block the bot completely
if ($is_python_requests) {
return 403;
}
# Or serve cached content
location / {
if ($is_python_requests) {
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_python_requests) {
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: python-requests
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: python-requests
Crawl-delay: 10
Disallow: /wp-admin/
Disallow: /drafts/
Disallow: /preview/
Disallow: /*?replytocom=
Allow: /
SaaS/Application Configuration
User-agent: python-requests
Disallow: /app/
Disallow: /api/
Disallow: /dashboard/
Disallow: /settings/
Allow: /
Allow: /pricing/
Allow: /features/
Allow: /docs/
Quick Reference
User Agent Match
Python-requests
Robots.txt Name
python-requests
Category
other
Respects robots.txt
May not respect
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