OpenAI OAI-SearchBot
risk.is_airisk.is_crawler
- Method
- Ranges Published IP ranges
- Official file
- Format
- JSON range file
- Refresh
- Every hour. If a refresh fails, entries expire after 24 hours instead of being trusted forever.
Bot signals — AI crawler & agent
OAI-SearchBot IP addresses
OpenAI OAI-SearchBot
Documented AI search crawler egress.
01 — Verification
How IPAPI.GR verifies OAI-SearchBot.
Only from what OpenAI OAI-SearchBot publishes about itself. No third-party blocklists, no behavioural guesses. Live address counts change with every publication, so check the official file for the current list.
02 — In the response
What a match looks like.
A lookup of a OAI-SearchBot address sets risk.is_ai and risk.is_crawler. The flags come with geolocation and network data in the same response, for Pro API keys.
This publication is AI crawling or retrieval traffic, so it counts as both an AI source and a crawler.
The response says which kind of bot an address belongs to, not which operator. Pair it with the user agent: a request that claims to be OAI-SearchBot but doesn't match is unverified.
{
// … location and network fields …
"risk": {
"is_ai": true,
"is_crawler": true,
"is_scanner": false
}
}
03 — Configuration
Allow, block or verify it yourself.
User-agent: OAI-SearchBot Disallow: /
# 1. Build a geo include from the official file (cron, e.g. hourly).
# Keep the old file if the download fails or comes back empty.
curl -fsS https://openai.com/searchbot.json \
| jq -r '.prefixes[] | (.ipv4Prefix // .ipv6Prefix // empty) | "\(.) 1;"' \
> /etc/nginx/oai-searchbot-ranges.conf.new && [ -s /etc/nginx/oai-searchbot-ranges.conf.new ] && mv /etc/nginx/oai-searchbot-ranges.conf.new /etc/nginx/oai-searchbot-ranges.conf \
&& nginx -t -q && nginx -s reload
# 2. In the http block: 1 when the client IP is in the published ranges.
geo $oai_searchbot_ip {
default 0;
include /etc/nginx/oai-searchbot-ranges.conf;
}
# 3. A request that claims to be OAI-SearchBot from any other address is an impostor.
map "$http_user_agent:$oai_searchbot_ip" $fake_oai_searchbot {
default 0;
"~*(OAI-SearchBot).*:0$" 1;
}
# In the server block:
if ($fake_oai_searchbot) { return 403; }
prefixes array.04 — Questions
About OAI-SearchBot.
Where does OAI-SearchBot publish its IP addresses?
OpenAI OAI-SearchBot publishes its addresses at https://openai.com/searchbot.json. IPAPI.GR reads that publication directly, not a third-party copy.
How often is the OAI-SearchBot list refreshed?
IPAPI.GR re-fetches it every hour. If a refresh fails, the previous entries expire after at most 24 hours instead of being trusted forever.
Which risk flag does OAI-SearchBot set?
A matching address sets risk.is_ai and risk.is_crawler in the lookup response. The risk flags are returned for Pro API keys.
Related operators
Verify OAI-SearchBot on every request.
Pro: 40,000,000 requests a day with is_ai, is_crawler and is_scanner in every lookup.