hammadtq

<p><strong>OpenBotAuth</strong> helps publishers control automated access from AI crawlers and agents. It verifies requests using RFC 9421 HTTP Message Signatures (via a configurable verifier) and applies per-site or per-post policies like allow, deny, teaser previews, and 402 payment-required responses. It also publishes AI-friendly endpoints like llms.txt, a JSON feed, and per-post Markdown.</p>
<p>Instead of blocking all bots or allowing unrestricted access, you can:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>See AI bot traffic</strong> – Local-only analytics showing which bots are crawling your site</li>
<li><strong>Verify bot identity</strong> using cryptographic signatures (RFC 9421)</li>
<li><strong>Show teasers</strong> to unverified bots (first N words)</li>
<li><strong>Rate limit</strong> bot access per agent</li>
<li><strong>Whitelist/blacklist</strong> specific bots</li>
</ul>
<h4>Key Features</h4>
<ul>
<li><strong>Bot Traffic Analytics</strong> – See which AI bots (GPTBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot, etc.) are visiting your site</li>
<li><strong>Signature Verification</strong> – Verifies RFC 9421 HTTP Message Signatures using Ed25519 cryptography</li>
<li><strong>Content Teasers</strong> – Show first N words to unverified bots with customizable per-post settings</li>
<li><strong>Rate Limiting</strong> – Per-agent rate limits with configurable time windows</li>
<li><strong>Access Control</strong> – Whitelist/blacklist with wildcard pattern matching</li>
<li><strong>Local Analytics</strong> – Visual dashboard with charts, stats cards, and decision breakdowns (no external tracking)</li>
<li><strong>AI-Ready Endpoints</strong> – Serve llms.txt, JSON feed, and markdown for AI crawlers</li>
<li><strong>Tabbed Admin Interface</strong> – Clean organization with Analytics, AI Endpoints, and Configuration tabs</li>
</ul>
<h4>AI-Ready Endpoints</h4>
<p>OpenBotAuth provides machine-readable endpoints for AI systems:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>/llms.txt</strong> – Standardized AI feed discovery (also at /.well-known/llms.txt)</li>
<li><strong>/.well-known/openbotauth-feed.json</strong> – JSON list of all published posts</li>
<li><strong>/.well-known/openbotauth/posts/{ID}.md</strong> – Per-post markdown content</li>
</ul>
<p>Configure which post types to include (posts, pages, or custom types) and set the feed limit (up to 500 items). All data is served locally from your WordPress database. No external tracking or telemetry. Only published, non-password-protected posts are exposed.</p>
<h4>How It Works</h4>
<ol>
<li>AI agent signs HTTP request with its private key (RFC 9421 signature)</li>
<li>WordPress plugin extracts signature headers and sends them to a verifier service</li>
<li>Verifier fetches agent’s public key from registry and verifies signature</li>
<li>Plugin applies policy: allow full content, show teaser, require payment, or deny</li>
</ol>
<h4>External Service Disclosure</h4>
<p><strong>This plugin connects to an external verifier service.</strong> When a signed bot request is received, the plugin sends the following data to your configured verifier URL via <code>wp_remote_post</code>:</p>
<ul>
<li>HTTP method (GET, POST, etc.)</li>
<li>The accessed URL (including query string, if present)</li>
<li>HTTP signature headers (Signature, Signature-Input, Signature-Agent)</li>
<li>Additional HTTP header values explicitly listed in the Signature-Input header (e.g., content-type, accept, user-agent)</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Privacy protection:</strong> Sensitive headers (cookies, authorization, proxy-authorization, www-authenticate) are NEVER forwarded, even if present in the request. If a bot’s signature covers a sensitive header, verification will fail with a clear error.</p>
<p><strong>No WordPress user accounts or personal data is transmitted.</strong> Only the headers explicitly covered by the bot’s signature are forwarded to enable cryptographic verification. Note that the URL may include query parameters depending on your site’s structure.</p>
<p>You can:<br />
* Use the hosted verifier at <code>https://verifier.openbotauth.org/verify</code><br />
* Self-host the verifier service (see documentation)<br />
* The verifier service may log requests server-side depending on your configuration</p>
<p><strong>Analytics are local-only.</strong> Decision counts (allow/teaser/deny/pay/rate_limit) and bot traffic observations (User-Agent based) are stored in your WordPress database. No analytics data is sent to external servers.</p>
<p>For more information, please review our <a href="https://openbotauth.org/terms" rel="nofollow ugc">Terms of Service</a> and <a href="https://openbotauth.org/privacy" rel="nofollow ugc">Privacy Policy</a>.</p>
<h3>Developer Hooks</h3>
<h4>Filters</h4>
<p><strong>openbotauth_policy</strong><br />
Modify policy before applying:</p>
<pre><code>add_filter('openbotauth_policy', function($policy, $post) {
    if ($post->post_type === 'premium') {
        $policy['price_cents'] = 1000;
    }
    return $policy;
}, 10, 2);
</code></pre>
<h4>Actions</h4>
<p><strong>openbotauth_verified</strong><br />
Triggered when a bot is verified:</p>
<pre><code>add_action('openbotauth_verified', function($agent, $post) {
    error_log("Bot {$agent['jwks_url']} accessed post {$post->ID}");
}, 10, 2);
</code></pre>
<p><strong>openbotauth_payment_required</strong><br />
Triggered when 402 is returned:</p>
<pre><code>add_action('openbotauth_payment_required', function($agent, $post, $price) {
    // Track payment requests
}, 10, 3);
</code></pre>
<h4>AI Endpoint Filters (v0.1.2+)</h4>
<p><strong>openbotauth_should_serve_llms_txt</strong><br />
Disable llms.txt endpoint (e.g., when using Yoast):</p>
<pre><code>add_filter('openbotauth_should_serve_llms_txt', '__return_false');
</code></pre>
<p><strong>openbotauth_should_serve_feed</strong><br />
Disable JSON feed endpoint:</p>
<pre><code>add_filter('openbotauth_should_serve_feed', '__return_false');
</code></pre>
<p><strong>openbotauth_should_serve_markdown</strong><br />
Disable markdown endpoints:</p>
<pre><code>add_filter('openbotauth_should_serve_markdown', '__return_false');
</code></pre>
<p><strong>openbotauth_feed_item</strong><br />
Modify feed items:</p>
<pre><code>add_filter('openbotauth_feed_item', function($item, $post) {
    $item['custom_field'] = get_post_meta($post->ID, 'my_field', true);
    return $item;
}, 10, 2);
</code></pre>
<p><strong>openbotauth_markdown_content</strong><br />
Post-process markdown output:</p>
<pre><code>add_filter('openbotauth_markdown_content', function($markdown, $post) {
    return $markdown . "\n\n---\nCopyright notice here";
}, 10, 2);
</code></pre>


OpenBotAuth – AI Crawler Access Control

Verify AI crawlers with HTTP Signatures and enforce allow/deny/teaser policies; also serves llms.txt and AI-ready feeds.

Freemius

Sajjad Ali

Pagup

<p>Better Robots.txt replaces the default WordPress robots.txt workflow with a smarter, structured version you can configure and preview before publishing.</p>
<p>Instead of a blank textarea, you get a guided wizard with presets, plain-language explanations, and a final Review & Save step so you can inspect the generated robots.txt before it goes live.</p>
<p>Built for beginners and advanced users alike, Better Robots.txt helps you control how search engines, AI crawlers, SEO tools, archive bots, bad bots, social preview bots, and other automated agents interact with your site.</p>
<p>Trusted by thousands of WordPress sites, Better Robots.txt is designed for the AI era without resorting to hype, vague promises, or hidden rules.</p>
<p>Better Robots.txt is available in Free, Pro, and Premium editions. The free plugin covers the guided workflow and essential crawl control features, while Pro and Premium unlock additional governance, protection, and AI-ready modules. Some screenshots on the plugin page show features from all three editions.</p>
<h3>A quick overview</h3>
<p><iframe loading="lazy" title="Better robots.txt Video — AI-Ready Crawl Control for WordPress" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/1169756981?dnt=1&app_id=122963" width="750" height="372" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; fullscreen; picture-in-picture; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin"></iframe></p>
<h3>Why Better Robots.txt is different</h3>
<p>Most robots.txt plugins fall into one of three categories:</p>
<ul>
<li>Simple text editor</li>
<li>Virtual robots.txt manager</li>
<li>Single-purpose AI or policy add-on</li>
</ul>
<p>Better Robots.txt goes further.</p>
<p>It gives you a complete, guided crawl control workflow so you can:</p>
<ul>
<li>Choose a preset that matches your goals</li>
<li>Control major crawler categories without writing everything by hand</li>
<li>Keep core WordPress protection rules visible and editable</li>
<li>Clean up low-value crawl paths that waste crawl budget</li>
<li>Generate a cleaner robots.txt output</li>
<li>Preview the final result before saving</li>
</ul>
<h3>What you can control</h3>
<p>Better Robots.txt helps you manage:</p>
<ul>
<li>Search engine visibility</li>
<li>AI and LLM crawler behavior</li>
<li>AI usage signals such as search, ai-input, and ai-train preferences</li>
<li>SEO tool crawlers</li>
<li>Bad bots and abusive crawlers</li>
<li>Archive and Wayback access</li>
<li>Feed crawlers and crawl traps</li>
<li>WooCommerce crawl cleanup</li>
<li>CSS, JavaScript, and image crawling rules</li>
<li>Social media preview crawlers</li>
<li>ads.txt and app-ads.txt allowance</li>
<li>llms.txt generation</li>
<li>Advanced directives such as crawl-delay and custom rules</li>
<li>Final review before publishing</li>
</ul>
<h3>Editions</h3>
<p>Better Robots.txt is available in three editions:</p>
<ul>
<li>Free – Includes the guided setup, the Essential preset, core crawl control features, and the final Review & Save workflow.</li>
<li>Pro – Adds more advanced governance and protection modules, including additional AI, crawler, and cleanup controls.</li>
<li>Premium – Unlocks the most restrictive and advanced protection options, including the Fortress preset and additional high-control modules.</li>
</ul>
<p>Some options shown in the interface are marked Free, Pro, or Premium so users can immediately understand which modules belong to each edition.</p>
<h3>Presets</h3>
<p>Setup starts with four modes:</p>
<ul>
<li>Essential – A clean, practical configuration for most websites that want a better robots.txt without complexity.</li>
<li>AI-First – For publishers and content sites that want AI-ready governance without shutting down discovery.</li>
<li>Fortress – For websites that want stronger protection against scraping, archive capture, and unnecessary crawl activity.</li>
<li>Custom – For users who prefer to configure each module manually.</li>
</ul>
<p>For many sites, one preset plus a quick review is enough.</p>
<h3>Built for beginners and experts</h3>
<p>Beginners get:</p>
<ul>
<li>A guided setup instead of a raw robots.txt box</li>
<li>Preset-based configuration</li>
<li>Plain-language explanations for important choices</li>
<li>A safer workflow with a final preview step</li>
</ul>
<p>Advanced users get:</p>
<ul>
<li>Editable core WordPress protection rules</li>
<li>Fine-grained crawler controls by category</li>
<li>WooCommerce-oriented cleanup options</li>
<li>Consolidated output options</li>
<li>Advanced directives and custom rules</li>
<li>A final output they can inspect before publishing</li>
</ul>
<h3>AI-ready, without hype</h3>
<p>Better Robots.txt includes features for modern AI-related crawl governance, including:</p>
<ul>
<li>AI crawler handling</li>
<li>Optional llms.txt support</li>
<li>AI usage signals for compliant systems</li>
<li>Optional machine-readable governance signals for advanced use cases</li>
</ul>
<p>These features help you express how you want automated systems to use your content.</p>
<p>However, Better Robots.txt does not claim to control AI by force. Like robots.txt itself, these signals are most useful with compliant systems and good-faith crawlers.</p>
<h3>What Better Robots.txt is</h3>
<p>Better Robots.txt is:</p>
<ul>
<li>A robots.txt governance plugin for WordPress</li>
<li>A guided configuration workflow instead of a raw text editor</li>
<li>A crawl control layer to reduce wasteful crawling</li>
<li>A practical bridge between SEO, crawl hygiene, and AI-era policy signaling</li>
<li>A way to keep your crawl policy clearer for humans and machines</li>
</ul>
<p>Technical reference for advanced users: Better Robots.txt also maintains a public <a href="https://github.com/GautierDorval/better-robots-txt" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer ugc">GitHub repository</a> with product definition, governance notes, and machine-readable artefacts.</p>
<h3>What Better Robots.txt is not</h3>
<p>Better Robots.txt is not:</p>
<ul>
<li>A firewall or Web Application Firewall (WAF)</li>
<li>An anti-scraping enforcement engine</li>
<li>A legal compliance engine</li>
<li>A guarantee that every bot will obey your rules</li>
<li>A replacement for server-level security or access control</li>
</ul>
<p>It helps you publish a clearer crawl policy.</p>
<p>It does not replace infrastructure-level protection.</p>
<h3>Typical use cases</h3>
<p>Use Better Robots.txt if you want to:</p>
<ul>
<li>Clean up a weak or noisy default robots.txt</li>
<li>Reduce crawl waste on WordPress or WooCommerce</li>
<li>Keep major search engines allowed while restricting other bots</li>
<li>Control whether archive bots can snapshot your site</li>
<li>Publish AI usage preferences more clearly</li>
<li>Keep social preview bots allowed while limiting scrapers</li>
<li>Review the final file before making it live</li>
</ul>
<h3>Key Features</h3>
<ul>
<li>Guided step-by-step wizard</li>
<li>Preset-based setup: Essential, AI-First, Fortress, Custom</li>
<li>Search engine visibility controls</li>
<li>AI and LLM crawler governance</li>
<li>AI usage signals support</li>
<li>SEO tool crawler controls</li>
<li>Bad bot and abusive crawler options</li>
<li>Archive and Wayback access controls</li>
<li>Spam, feed, and crawl trap cleanup</li>
<li>WooCommerce crawl cleanup options</li>
<li>CSS, JavaScript, and image crawling rules</li>
<li>Social media preview crawler controls</li>
<li>ads.txt and app-ads.txt allowance</li>
<li>Optional llms.txt generation</li>
<li>Consolidated output option</li>
<li>Core WordPress protection rules remain visible and editable</li>
<li>Final Review & Save preview screen</li>
</ul>
<h4>About the publisher</h4>
<p>Better Robots.txt is developed and maintained by <a href="https://pagup.com/" rel="nofollow ugc">Pagup</a>, a digital readability firm based in Quebec, Canada. Pagup helps organizations become correctly understood by search engines, generative AI systems, and autonomous agents.</p>
<p>The robots.txt file is the first surface that AI crawlers read when they discover a site. A well-structured robots.txt that references governance files such as llms.txt, ai-manifest.json, and interpretation policies helps AI systems understand your site faster and more accurately.</p>
<p>Better Robots.txt is one component of a broader digital readability practice that includes <a href="https://pagup.com/en/services/semantic-content-architecture/" rel="nofollow ugc">semantic content architecture</a>, <a href="https://pagup.com/en/services/ai-governance-and-machine-readability/" rel="nofollow ugc">AI governance and machine readability</a>, and <a href="https://pagup.com/en/glossary/interpretive-seo/" rel="nofollow ugc">interpretive SEO</a>.</p>
<h4>Part of the Pagup ecosystem</h4>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://pagup.com/" rel="nofollow ugc">pagup.com</a> — Digital readability firm. Diagnostic, semantic architecture, AI governance.</li>
<li><a href="https://gautierdorval.com/" rel="nofollow ugc">gautierdorval.com</a> — Doctrine, canonical definitions, interpretive governance research.</li>
<li><a href="https://interpretive-governance.org/" rel="nofollow ugc">interpretive-governance.org</a> — Formal versioned standard for interpretive governance.</li>
<li><a href="https://better-robots.com/" rel="nofollow ugc">better-robots.com</a> — Documentation and resources for Better Robots.txt.</li>
</ul>


Better Robots.txt – AI-Ready Crawl Control & Bot Governance

Replace the default WordPress robots.txt workflow with a smarter, structured version you can preview before publishing, with Free, Pro, and Premium ed …

OpenBotAuth – AI Crawler Access Control vs Better Robots.txt – AI-Ready Crawl Control & Bot Governance