---
schema_version: "newruntime-reader-dossiers-v1"
type: "reader_dossier"
slug: "oai-searchbot"
kind: "ai_answer"
operator: "OpenAI"
researched_at: "2026-10-23"
confidence: "high"
json_url: "https://newruntime.com/readers/oai-searchbot.json"
canonical_url: "https://newruntime.com/readers/oai-searchbot/"
---

# OAI-SearchBot

> OpenAI's search crawler that surfaces and links websites in ChatGPT search features; not used for model training.

## Dossier

- Kind: AI search & answer engines
- Operator: OpenAI (https://openai.com/)
- Documentation: https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/bots
- robots.txt tokens: OAI-SearchBot
- Feeds: search index
- Respects robots.txt: Yes, per its documentation. Sites opted out are not shown in ChatGPT search answers (may still appear as navigational links); changes take ~24h.
- Verification: Published IP ranges (https://openai.com/searchbot.json)
- Labels matched in our logs: openai searchbot, oai-searchbot

## Why it matters to New Runtime (our interpretation)

Being in OpenAI's search index is the precondition for ChatGPT citing and linking New Runtime pages.

## Observed behaviour

- Baseline 2026-10-24 (94-day window): 10,128 requests on 93 days; first seen 2026-07-23, last seen 2026-10-23; Regular.
- Reading mix (crawler journeys): 1,082 content reads, 561 feed or discovery reads, 540 machine-consumption reads; 377 unique materials.
- Identity check: verified 2,275 requests.
- Live numbers: https://newruntime.com/bot-traffic-history.json and https://newruntime.com/crawler-journeys.json

## Sources

- https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/bots

Identity: A family name is what a client claims in its user agent. It is verified only when its request came from the operator's published IP ranges or passed forward-confirmed reverse DNS, as reported per family in /crawler-journeys.json. Anyone can claim any name.

All dossiers: https://newruntime.com/readers.md