Bot signals · Web crawler
What is Discordbot?
Discordbot link previews
Discordbot builds Discord’s link previews. When someone shares a link in a Discord message, it visits the link to read the page’s title, description and image for the preview card. Discord says this only happens when a link is shared, with no continuous scanning or crawling of websites, and that it may keep a copy of a linked image or video for a while so it loads faster.
01 · Profile
Discordbot at a glance.
What to look for in your logs, and what the lookup API returns for its addresses.
- Type
- Web crawler
- User agent
Discordbot- API flag
risk.is_crawler
A user agent alone never sets a flag. Anyone can claim to be Discordbot; the flag follows the address the request comes from.
02 · In the response
What a match looks like.
A lookup of a Discordbot address sets risk.is_crawler. The flags come with geolocation and network data in the same response, for API keys on every paid plan.
The response says which kind of bot an address belongs to, not which operator. A request that claims to be Discordbot while risk.is_crawler is false should not be trusted as Discordbot.
{
// … location and network fields …
"risk": {
"is_ai": false,
"is_crawler": true,
"is_scanner": false
}
}
03 · Control
Allow or block Discordbot.
Your options
- robots.txt works only for crawlers that choose to follow it. Check the operator’s documentation for the token it reads.
- Firewall, WAF or CDN. Many offer bot rules you can allow or deny by category. Use them to enforce what robots.txt only asks for.
- In your app. Look up the client address and allow or deny on
risk.is_crawler, alongside the user agent. - Never on the user agent alone. Blocking the name stops only honest clients; allowing it lets anyone in who borrows it.
04 · Questions
About Discordbot.
What is Discordbot?
Discordbot builds Discord’s link previews. When someone shares a link in a Discord message, it visits the link to read the page’s title, description and image for the preview card. Discord says this only happens when a link is shared, with no continuous scanning or crawling of websites, and that it may keep a copy of a linked image or video for a while so it loads faster.
How do I block Discordbot?
Deny it at your firewall, WAF or CDN, or look up each client address and deny requests where risk.is_crawler is true. Do not rely on the user agent alone.
Can I trust a request that says it is Discordbot?
Not on the user agent alone: any client can send “Discordbot” in its user agent. A user agent alone never sets a flag. Check the address with the free bot checker or the lookup API.
Which risk flag does Discordbot set?
Its addresses set risk.is_crawler in the lookup response. The risk flags come with every paid plan.
From the blog
Go deeper.
Related bots
Recognise Discordbot on every request.
is_ai, is_crawler and is_scanner in every lookup, on every paid plan, from 9,00 € a month (VAT included).